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:
May. 18, 2004
Filed:
Jun. 05, 2002
John Michael Palmer, Cicero, NY (US);
Mark Joseph Perkovich, Syracuse, NY (US);
Bradley Odum, Manchester, TN (US);
Carrier Corporation, Syracuse, NY (US);
Abstract
An air conditioning system includes an outdoor unit and multiple indoor units. Each of the indoor units has its own coil assembly and fan and is dedicated to heating a particular area within a building, for example. Not all of the indoor units operate at the same time. Managing the refrigerant charge level within the active part of the system includes controlling an amount of refrigerant flow through the inactive indoor units. When the active part of the system does not have an adequate charge, an increased return flow from the inactive indoor units to the outdoor unit serves to increase the charge. Under circumstances where there is an overcharge in the active part of the system, the inactive indoor units are effectively used as storage for excess refrigerant on a temporary basis.