Carrier Corporation

August William Gutheim

L Thomas Lane

J Michael Griffin

William Paul Kistner

The compressor of a transport refrigeration system is divided into two sections, with each section having a suction inlet. The refrigerant vapor from the evaporator is passed to one of the suction inlets, whereas the refrigerant vapor from a subcooler circuit is passed to the other suction inlet. A valve is operated to selectively insert or remove the subcooler as capacity requirements vary. In one embodiment, a six cylinder reciprocating compressor is used with five cylinders compressing within a first section, and a single cylinder compressing in the other section containing the subcooler circuit.

Refrigerant compression system with selective subcooling

An enclosed container having an air conditioning unit for providing conditioned air to the mixing plenum of an air handling system for circulating conditioned air through a load of perishable goods stored within the container. An open-sided supply duct is connected to the plenum that runs along the center of the length of the container and a pair of spaced-apart, open-sided return ducts pass along the side walls of the container parallel to the supply duct. A load of perishable goods is stacked between the ducts and blower units are mounted within the return ducts for drawing supply air through the load and returning the air into the mixing plenum at an increased pressure. The return air in the plenum is combined with conditioned air from the refrigeration unit and is circulated back into the supply duct for reuse in the system.

Container for cooling perishable goods

A thermal storage monitoring and control system employed on a container refrigeration unit utilizes a 'thermal flywheel' algorithm in combination with a data processor to control the temperature level within a cargo container to a maximum value. The thermal monitoring and control system operates the refrigeration system in a manner that causes the heat gain by the load during hot afternoons and evenings to be offset by the thermal storage built into the cargo. The monitoring and control system can be configured to operate automatically or manually.

Growing community of inventors

Chittenango, NY, United States of America

August William Gutheim