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The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.

The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.

Patent No.:

US 11243016 B1

PDFFull Text
Date of Patent:
Feb. 08, 2022

Filed:

Sep. 10, 2018

Refrigeration system with combined superheat and subcooling control

Applicant:

Hill Phoenix, Inc., Conyers, GA (US);

Inventors:

Nassim Khaled, Decatur, GA (US);

Michael Hill, Conyers, GA (US);

Assignee:

Hill Phoenix, Inc., Conyers, GA (US);

Attorney:

Fish & Richardson P.C.

Primary Examiner:

Elizabeth J Martin

Assistant Examiner:

Nael N Babaa

Int. Cl.
CPC ...
F25B 40/02 (2006.01); F25B 49/02 (2006.01); F25B 41/20 (2021.01); F25B 41/31 (2021.01); F25B 5/02 (2006.01); F25B 6/02 (2006.01);
U.S. Cl.
CPC ...
F25B 40/02 (2013.01); F25B 41/20 (2021.01); F25B 41/31 (2021.01); F25B 49/02 (2013.01); F25B 49/022 (2013.01); F25B 5/02 (2013.01); F25B 6/02 (2013.01); F25B 2400/0403 (2013.01); F25B 2400/075 (2013.01); F25B 2500/19 (2013.01); F25B 2600/0271 (2013.01); F25B 2600/21 (2013.01); F25B 2600/2501 (2013.01); F25B 2600/2503 (2013.01); F25B 2600/2509 (2013.01); F25B 2600/2513 (2013.01); F25B 2700/191 (2013.01); F25B 2700/195 (2013.01); F25B 2700/1931 (2013.01); F25B 2700/1933 (2013.01); F25B 2700/2106 (2013.01); F25B 2700/2108 (2013.01); F25B 2700/21151 (2013.01); F25B 2700/21152 (2013.01); F25B 2700/21163 (2013.01);
Abstract

A refrigeration system includes a subcooler configured to provide subcooling for a liquid refrigerant flowing through a first side of the subcooler by transferring heat from the liquid refrigerant to a gas refrigerant flowing through a second side of the subcooler. An expansion valve is located at an inlet of the second side of the subcooler and configured to control a flow of the gas refrigerant through the second side of the subcooler. A gas temperature sensor and a gas pressure sensor are configured to measure a temperature and pressure of the gas refrigerant. A liquid temperature sensor is configured to measure a temperature of the subcooled liquid refrigerant. A controller is configured to calculate a superheat of the gas refrigerant based on the measured temperature and measured pressure of the gas refrigerant and may compare the calculated superheat to a superheat threshold. If the calculated superheat is less than the superheat threshold, the controller may close the expansion valve. If the calculated superheat is equal to or greater than the superheat threshold, the controller may operate the expansion valve using a feedback control technique to drive the temperature of the subcooled liquid refrigerant to a subcooled liquid temperature setpoint.

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