Trane International Inc.

American Standard Inc.

American Standard International Inc.

Benjamin Elias Dingel

Jon Phillip Hartfield

Lee L Sibik

Harry Kenneth Ring

H Kenneth Ring

Steven Erwin Meloling

James W Larson

Todd J Love

Florian Weber

Alain Fleurette

Michael Carl Boehde

Shane A Moeykens

A suction duct is disposed within a shell and tube heat exchanger. The suction duct is located relatively high and above the tube bundle so as to not entrain liquid or droplets that may be splashing and spraying upward. The suction duct is configured with an area schedule in fluid communication with a flow path inside the suction duct. The flow path is in fluid communication with an outlet of the shell. This is advantageous relative to traditional top of the shell outlets which generally have higher vertical footprints. The area schedule of the suction duct can facilitate and/or maintain relatively smooth vapor flow within the shell. The area schedule can achieve vapor flows that have some uniformity along the length of the shell, which can manage and/or avoid localized vapor flow and/or local currents, such as where high velocity may be present and where entrainment can result.

Suction duct and multiple suction ducts inside a shell of a flooded evaporator

Methods and systems to manage refrigerant levels in a chiller system are provided. An evaporator of the chiller system may be configured to have a spill over port allowing oil containing refrigerant to spill over through the spill over port. The spill over port may be positioned at a place that corresponds to a desired refrigerant level in the evaporator. The spill over refrigerant may be directed into a heat exchanger that is configured to substantially vaporize refrigerant of the spill over refrigerant to a slightly superheat temperature. A method of maintaining a proper refrigerant level in the evaporator may include regulating a refrigerant flow to the evaporator so that the vaporized refrigerant of the spill over refrigerant is maintained at the slightly superheat temperature.

Refrigerant level management in heat exchangers of an HVAC chiller

A spill over tank for an evaporator of a HVAC system may be configured to receive a refrigerant spilled over from the evaporator. The spill over tank may be configured to have an outlet that directs the refrigerant in the spill over tank out of the spill over tank. The refrigerant may flow through the outlet back to a compressor of the HVAC system. The spill over tank may be equipped with a refrigerant level sensor configured to measure a refrigerant level in the spill over tank. The measured refrigerant level in the spill over tank may be used to control and/or maintain a refrigerant level in the evaporator, and/or may be used to control a return refrigerant flow into the compressor of the HVAC system so as to manage an oil return to the compressor.

Fluid management in a HVAC system

A refrigeration system that induces lubricant-liquid refrigerant mixture flow from a flooded or falling film evaporator by means of the lubricant-liquid refrigerant mixture flow adsorbing heat from an electronic component.

Electronics cooling using lubricant return for a shell-and-tube style evaporator

Refrigerant management in a HVAC system

A system for managing fluid level in an HVAC system includes a spill over tank for an evaporator of the HVAC system. The spill over tank may be configured to receive a refrigerant directed out of the evaporator. The spill over tank may be configured to include an outlet directing refrigerant into the spill over tank, out of the spill over tank and flowing back to a compressor of the HVAC system. The spill over tank may be equipped with a refrigerant level sensor measuring a refrigerant level in the spill over tank. The measured refrigerant level in the spill over tank may be used to control and/or maintain a refrigerant level in the evaporator, and/or to control a return refrigerant flow into the compressor of the HVAC system so as to manage an oil return to the compressor.

System and method for managing fluid level in a HVAC system

Electronics cooling using lubricant return for a shell-and-tube evaporator

A falling film evaporator includes a flow distributor for uniformly distributing a two-phase refrigerant mixture across a tube bundle. The flow distributor includes a stack of at least three perforated plates each of which are separated by nearly full-width, full-length gaps or chambers. The flow distributor may also include a suction baffle and/or a distributor baffle. The distributor baffle extends downward to provide a hairpin turn past which refrigerant travels before exiting the evaporator. This directional change helps separate liquid from a primarily gaseous refrigerant stream. The suction baffle has various size openings to ensure that the flow rate of refrigerant through the hairpin turn is generally uniform and is maintained low enough to ensure liquid disentrainment over and along the length of the tube bundle within the evaporator.

Flow distributor and baffle system for a falling film evaporator

Oil cooling is accomplished in a refrigeration chiller by flowing hot oil into heat exchange contact with liquid refrigerant which is sourced from the chiller's condenser and returned thereto. The rejection of heat from the oil to the refrigerant in an oil-cooling heat exchanger causes vaporization of the refrigerant and, in turn, creates a density difference in the refrigerant flowing from the condenser and refrigerant in and downstream of the oil-cooling heat exchanger. This density difference is responsible for inducing and maintaining refrigerant flow through the heat exchanger for oil cooling purposes.

Growing community of inventors

La Crosse, WI, United States of America

Benjamin Elias Dingel