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.:
Date of Patent:
Dec. 18, 2001
Filed:
Feb. 22, 2000
Robert W. Cummings, Bedford, TX (US);
Thien D. Ta, Saginaw, TX (US);
Behr Climate Systems, Inc., Forthworth, TX (US);
Abstract
A method for detecting a low level of refrigerant circulating through a motor vehicle refrigerant circuit having a compressor (,), a condenser (,), an evaporator (,), and an accumulator (,), includes detecting a partial loss of a refrigerant fluid by measuring the temperature difference of the refrigerant fluid between an evaporator inlet and an evaporator outlet. The method further includes detecting a complete loss of refrigerant by measuring the pressure of the refrigerant in the liquid phase between the condenser (,) and the evaporator (,). The temperature and pressure measurements are converted to engineering units and then compared to predetermined engineering units that correspond to separate ranges of ambient temperatures for determining the if the refrigerant level is low.