System for removing parasitic losses in a refrigeration unit

Details System for removing parasitic losses in a refrigeration unit System for removing parasitic losses in a refrigeration unit

1999-07-29

2001-05-29

Doerrler, William (Department: 3744)

Refrigeration

Structural installation

With electrical component cooling

C062S238600

Reexamination Certificate

active

06237353

ABSTRACT:

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to a refrigeration cycle and, in particular, to a system for reducing or removing parasitic losses in a refrigeration system where refrigerant being cycled through the system is used to cool various related component parts of the system.
Heretofore, refrigerant used in refrigeration systems has been utilized to provide cooling to the system's compressor motor or to the oil used to lubricate the compressor motor. Recently, as disclosed in copending application Ser. No. 09/268,573 filed in the name of the present inventors and the disclosure of which is herein incorporated by reference, apparatus has been devised wherein refrigerant from a refrigeration system has been utilized to cool the variable frequency drive (VFD) used to control the compressor motor. The VFD contains power electronics in the form of insulated gate bipolar transistors that generate a relatively large amount of heat. Failure to properly cool these electronic components can result in early failure of the motor control system.
In these prior art cooling arrangements, condensed refrigerant is drawn from the system condenser and placed in heat transfer relationship with part or parts requiring cooling to remove parasitic heat losses. The refrigerant is then returned to the system evaporator and mixed with the in process refrigerant. The refrigerant used for cooling the system related components must thus be processed through the evaporator and passed through the compressor prior to being returned to the condenser thereby adversely effecting the performance of the refrigeration system. In the case where more than one system related component is being cooled, the load on the machine due to parasitic losses can be relatively high. Because the parasitic losses remain generally constant regardless of machine operating conditions, the adverse effect of parasitic losses becomes more pronounced when the machine is operating under partial load.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is an object of the present invention to improve refrigeration systems and, in particular, to refrigeration systems utilizing the vapor-compression cycle.
It is a further object of the present invention to use refrigerant from a refrigeration machine to cool various machine related components without adversely effecting the machine's performance.
A still further object of the present invention is to remove parasitic losses in a refrigeration system without adversely effecting the performance of the refrigeration system.
Another object of the present invention is to cool a number of system related components in a refrigeration machine without placing an additional load on the system compressor.
These and other objects of the present invention are attained in a refrigeration system wherein the system evaporator is connected to a condenser by means of a compression and a return line containing an expansion device delivers condensed refrigerant from the condenser back to the evaporator to complete the cycle. A portion of the condensate generated in the condenser is passed through a pump to increase the condensate pressure and to subcool the condensate. The pump is arranged to pass the subcooled condensate through one or more system related components to absorb parasitic heat losses thereby cooling the components. During the cooling process, the condensate is vaporized and the vapor so generated is returned to the condenser. In the condenser parasitic heat losses are absorbed by the condenser coolant and carried out of the system having little, if any, effect on the performance of the system.


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