Sundstrand Corporation

David B Wigmore

Bradley A Dobbs

Richard E Niggemann

Edward S Blain

Guido Biagini

Peter D Waters

James L Bettenga

John Craig Lentz

William J Godecker

Jeffrey M Wehner

A refrigeration system (10) having a compressor rotor (20) rotatably supported by a plurality of hydrodynamic bearings (22 and 24) lubricated by oiless pressurized liquid refrigerant and pressurizing refrigerant which flows to a condenser (34) providing liquid refrigerant which flows to an evaporator (68) in fluid communication with the condenser and the compressor in accordance with the invention includes a refrigeration circuit (36) coupled to the compressor, for providing pressurized refrigerant to the hydrodynamic bearings from the compressor and to the evaporator; a bearing pump (26), coupled to the refrigerant circuit and to the condenser, for providing pressurized refrigerant to the refrigeration circuit; a first temperature sensor (101) sensing a temperature Tsink of a heat exchange fluid at the condenser and providing a temperature signal representative of the temperature Tsink of the heat exchange fluid at the condenser; a second heat exchange sensor (103) sensing a temperature Tsource of a heat exchange fluid at the evaporator and providing a temperature signal representative of the temperature Tsource of the heat exchange fluid at the evaporator; and a controller (28 ), coupled to the temperature sensors, for controlling activation of the compressor and bearing pump as a function of the temperature signals to provide for three modes of operation with the first mode of operation being activation of only the compressor, the second mode of operation being activation of the bearing pump and the compressor and the third mode of operation being activation of only the bearing pump.

Refrigeration system with oiless compressor supported by hydrodynamic

A heat exchanger includes a plurality of generally planar spiral flow channels in a stacked, generally parallel array for accommodating a first fluid. Each spiral flow channel terminates in an inner end at an axial core area of the heat exchanger. Flow channels are sandwiched between the spiral flow channels for accommodating a second fluid in heat exchange relationship with the first fluid. Relatively rotatable tubes extend axially of the core area and have radial openings in axial registry with the inner ends of the spiral flow channels. Relative rotation of the tubes vary the overlapping relationship of the tube openings and thereby vary the flow to the spiral flow channels.

Multi-channel heat exchanger with uniform flow distribution

A heat exchanger is provided with a first conduit which utilizes a reverse spiral concept and a second fluid conduit which directs a fluid in thermal communication with the first conduit. One of the fluid conduits of the heat exchanger is formed with a generally S-shaped portion which creates a reverse spiral configuration and which permits a heat exchanger to take advantage of the spiral conduit design while avoiding the typical disadvantages that are generally experienced with spiral conduit configurations. The reverse spiral concept permits both ends of the reverse spiral tube to be easily accessible from a radially outward direction relative to the spiral configuration.

Swirl flow heat exchanger with reverse spiral configuration

A cooling system is disclosed for a pod (20) of an aircraft. The cooling system includes an air circulation loop (28) for supplying cooled air to an air input (32) of the pod to cool a load disposed in the pod and for receiving air discharged from an air discharge (34, 35) to the pod which has absorbed heat from the pod. A cooling apparatus (30) is disposed in the loop which is activated to cool air flowing in the loop prior to application to the pod. A fan (48) is located in the air circulation loop between the cooling apparatus and the air discharge (35) which is activated to blow discharged air toward the cooling apparatus when the aircraft is operated in a first portion of the flight envelope. A ram air supply (44) supplies ram air in response to flight of the aircraft. A valve (46), which is coupled to the ram air supply and to the loop blocks the supply of ram air to the loop in response to the aircraft being in the first portion of the flight envelope and supplies ram air to the loop when the aircraft is outside the first portion of the flight envelope. A controller (38), responsive to a temperature sensor (52) sensing air temperature of air supplied to the pod controls the activation of the cooling apparatus in response to the sensing of a temperature above a predetermined temperature when the aircraft is operating in the first portion of the flight envelope.

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San Diego, CA, United States of America

David B Wigmore