Patent Application
20250172307
The present invention relates to air conditioning systems. In particular the present invention relates to air conditioning safety devices and methods.
Air conditioning systems are very often comprised of numerous discrete elements which may develop leaks. Refrigerants used in air conditioning systems are often damaging to the environment, health or both. Setting up and monitoring modern air conditioning systems, in particular in larger buildings, is therefore particularly difficult.
EP 2570740 first discloses a switching unit in which a plurality of shutoff valves are integrated. Each of the entrance shutoff valves and at least one corresponding exit shutoff valves are paired as an integral body, and a plurality of pairs are grouped together.
EP 3270069 discloses a cooling/heating switching unit capable of detecting refrigerant leaks. In some embodiments disclosed in the document, switching units are provided near indoor units, which switching units are provided with sensors for detecting refrigerant leaks.
The detection scope disclosed in both document is quite narrow and therefore, do not provide absolute detection reliability. More importantly, the devices and systems disclosed in the aforementioned documents fail to ensure safety of the user.
The present invention aims to resolve at least some of the problems and disadvantages mentioned above. The aim of the invention is to provide a method which eliminates those disadvantages.
Accordingly, a need arises for a system which permits to completely, reliably and efficiently detect and remedy any leaks occurring in said system.
The present invention and embodiments thereof serve to provide a solution to one or more of above-mentioned disadvantages. To this end, the present invention relates to an air conditioning system having leak safety features.
Unless otherwise defined, all terms used in disclosing the invention, including technical and scientific terms, have the meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this invention belongs. By means of further guidance, term definitions are included to better appreciate the teaching of the present invention.
As used herein, the following terms have the following meanings:
“A”, “an”, and “the” as used herein refers to both singular and plural referents unless the context clearly dictates otherwise. By way of example, “a compartment” refers to one or more than one compartment.
“Comprise”, “comprising”, and “comprises” and “comprised of” as used herein are synonymous with “include”, “including”, “includes” or “contain”, “containing”, “contains” and are inclusive or open-ended terms that specifies the presence of what follows e.g. component and do not exclude or preclude the presence of additional, non-recited components, features, element, members, steps, known in the art or disclosed therein.
Furthermore, the terms first, second, third and the like in the description and in the claims, are used for distinguishing between similar elements and not necessarily for describing a sequential or chronological order, unless specified. It is to be understood that the terms so used are interchangeable under appropriate circumstances and that the embodiments of the invention described herein are capable of operation in other sequences than described or illustrated herein.
The recitation of numerical ranges by endpoints includes all numbers and fractions subsumed within that range, as well as the recited endpoints.
Whereas the terms “one or more” or “at least one”, such as one or more or at least one member(s) of a group of members, is clear per se, by means of further exemplification, the term encompasses inter alia a reference to any one of said members, or to any two or more of said members, such as, e.g., any ≥3, ≥4, ≥5, ≥6 or ≥7 etc. of said members, and up to all said members.
Unless otherwise defined, all terms used in disclosing the invention, including technical and scientific terms, have the meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this invention belongs. By means of further guidance, definitions for the terms used in the description are included to better appreciate the teaching of the present invention. The terms or definitions used herein are provided solely to aid in the understanding of the invention.
Reference throughout this specification to “one embodiment” or “an embodiment” means that a particular feature, structure or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment is included in at least one embodiment of the present invention. Thus, appearances of the phrases “in one embodiment” or “in an embodiment” in various places throughout this specification are not necessarily all referring to the same embodiment, but may. Furthermore, the particular features, structures or characteristics may be combined in any suitable manner, as would be apparent to a person skilled in the art from this disclosure, in one or more embodiments. Furthermore, while some embodiments described herein include some but not other features included in other embodiments, combinations of features of different embodiments are meant to be within the scope of the invention, and form different embodiments, as would be understood by those in the art. For example, in the following claims, any of the claimed embodiments can be used in any combination.
In a first aspect, the invention relates to an air conditioning system comprising:
In this system, the controller has information of associating each of the shutoff valves to at least one leak detection sensor, so that when a refrigerant leak is detected by any leak detection sensor, based on the information from that leak detection sensor, the controller is configured to control a shut-off valve associated with the leak detection sensor. Thereby, for example, when a leak detection sensor disposed in a room where no indoor unit is placed and only the pipe that traverses the room detects refrigerant leakage, the controller is configured to close a shut-off valve associated to the leak detection sensor, based on the signal from the leak detection sensor.
In this system the shutoff valves are operated based on information from their associated leak detection sensors. Preferably, an intermediate element is provided in order to mediate information coming from the leak detection sensors and the operation of the shutoff valves.
In this context, the terms “association” or “associated” as applied to elements of the system are to be understood as an assignment or registration of one or more elements to each other. Elements which are associated among them are understood to have a function or effect which in turn directly affects function and/or state of any other element associated to said element. For example, a pipe passing through a room may develop a leak, which leak will cause refrigerant concentration in said room to rise and thereby trigger a leak detection sensor, which the leak detection sensor will cause a shutoff valve to close, which shutoff valve is in fluid connection with the pipe. In this example, the shutoff valve and the leak detection sensor are said to be associated to each other.
In this context, the term “indoor unit” is to be understood as an indoor air-conditioning unit.
In some buildings, not all rooms will have an indoor unit. However, leaks do not occur exclusively in or next to indoor units. In a preferred embodiment, each room which has an indoor unit and/or which is traversed by at least one of the refrigerant carrying pipes is provided with at least one leak detection sensor. In this way, the detection capabilities are extended to every potential source of leak in the system, as every element of the system must be connected by at least one refrigerant carrying pipe.
In a further or another embodiment, the switching unit is a manifold configured to be connected to the compressor unit and distribute a refrigerant input throughout multiple pipe branches. By preference, the switching unit is placed before any subdivisions in the piping. This advantageously permits targeting specific potentially leaking pipes/indoor units more easily than if the switching unit is not a manifold, in the event of refrigerant leakage. In this way, the air conditioning system can still function at a reduced capacity by serving areas not reached by potentially leaking pipes.
In a further or another embodiment, the leak detection sensors are installed outside of the indoor units. In this way, the leak detection sensors are free from the shrouding effect created by the structure of said indoor units. This advantageously allows refrigerant leaks coming from sources other than indoor units to more easily reach the sensors while still being able to detect leaks coming from indoor units.
In a further or another embodiment, each leak detection sensor is associated to a room in which it is positioned. The associations are provided to or known by the controller. Said association is effectuated by assigning a unique unit identification code to each leak detection sensor and assigning said code to the room or room code wherein said leak detection sensor is installed. This association can be carried out manually. By preference, said association is carried out automatically, which advantageously permits reducing or even eliminating human error from the association process.
In a further or another embodiment, each pipe or pipe branch is associated to a shutoff valve. Said shutoff valve is capable of blocking or allowing refrigerant to flow to said pipe or pipe branch. This association is executed by means of a unique pipe or pipe branch identifying code and a unique shutoff valve identifying code. By preference, the code of a pipe or branch is associated to the code of the shutoff valve said pipe departs from. This association is provided to or known by the controller.
In a further or another embodiment, each room which has an indoor unit and/or which is traversed by at least one of the pipes is associated with at least one shutoff valve. By preference, each room which has an indoor unit and/or which is traversed by at least one of the pipes will be associated with one shutoff valve per pipe traversing said room. This association is provided or known by a controller. This advantageously permits, not only stopping any leaks that may occur in said room, but also permits diagnosing the origin of said leak, for example, by allowing refrigerant flow to one pipe at a time and monitoring the concentration of refrigerant in the room.
Other elements which are potential sources of leakages are the switching unit and the compressor units. In some cases, the switching unit will be placed inside a building. In this case, by preference, the switching unit is placed inside a ventilated room. By preference a leak detection sensor is placed inside the room containing the switching unit. More preferably, the room is ventilated by a fan, which fan is further connected to a controller, which controller is further connected to the leak detection sensor installed in the room. This permits discharging refrigerant leaking from the switching unit out of the ventilated room.
In cases where the compressor unit must be placed inside a building, by preference, the compressor unit is placed inside a ventilated room. More preferably, a leak detection sensor is placed inside the room. Yet more preferably, the room is ventilated by a fan, which fan is further connected to a controller and which controller is further connected to the leak detection sensor installed in the room. In a case where, both a switching unit and a compressor unit must be placed inside a building, said switching unit and said compressor unit are preferably placed in the same ventilated room. Depending on the dimensions of the ventilated room, this permits reducing the number of leak detection sensors necessary, while maintaining a level of safety comparable to a situation where both units were in separate ventilated rooms.
In a further or another embodiment, each sensor is configured to cause the shutoff valves associated with each room which has an indoor unit and/or which is traversed by at least one of the pipes to close. For example, the sensors are connected to a central controller, which controller is configured to receive signals from leak detection sensors and interpret said signals into shutoff valve close triggering signals.
In a further or another embodiment, a refrigerant used in the air conditioning system is CO2 or R466A. These refrigerants are advantageously non-flammable and have a density much heavier than air. These refrigerants offer a highly predictable path and pooling characteristics which permit easy leak detection sensor placement and consistent leak detection.
A second aspect of the invention relates to a method of establishing a control logic for shutoff valve actuation based on leak detection signal comprising the steps of: registering leak detection sensors present in each room;
This method can advantageously be applied with the use of a floorplan of the building in which the air-conditioning system is to be installed. By preference, the application of the present method is carried out by means of a software application which allows the user to insert, connect and edit attributes of each element (e.g. pipes, indoor units, shut-off valves) of the air-conditioning system. More preferably, said software includes a graphical user interface which permits the introduction and edition of data by the user. In this way, the generation of computer and human readable set of correspondence relationships is made easier and less prone to human error.
In a preferred embodiment, each leak detection sensor is registered to any shutoff valve associated to any pipe running through or into the room where the sensor is installed. By preference, registration information is stored in a machine readable tabular format. In this way, the operator is provided with an easily read report, which report can advantageously be used as a system assembly/verification sheet. By being machine readable, the registration information is advantageously easy to copy, edit, download from/upload into a controller.
However, it is obvious that the invention is not limited to this application. The method according to the invention can be applied in all sorts of systems carrying fluids in or susceptible to be in gaseous state upon or shortly after leaking, and in which state said fluids are denser than air.
The invention is further described by the following non-limiting examples which further illustrate the invention, and are not intended to, nor should they be interpreted to, limit the scope of the invention.
The following description of the figures of specific embodiments of the invention is merely exemplary in nature and is not intended to limit the present teachings, their application or uses. Throughout the drawings, corresponding reference numerals indicate like or corresponding parts and features.
With as a goal illustrating better the properties of the invention the following presents, as an example and limiting in no way other potential applications, a description of a number of preferred embodiments of the air conditioning system, wherein:
In order to process the signal sent by a leak detection sensor in the event of a refrigerant leakage, a correspondence relationship between each leak detection sensor and each shutoff valve must first be established by means of the following steps:
Creating Table 1 associating the unique identifiers of the sensor, room, pipe, and shut-off valve identifier may be carried out manually or automatically. Furthermore, a dedicated software may be provided in order to assist to create it.
A first example of application of the method shown in flow diagram 21 in
A second example of application of the method shown in flow diagram 21 in FIG. is now presented. In this example, the method is applied to the topology shown in
A third example of application of the method shown in flow diagram 21 in
The present invention is in no way limited to the embodiments described in the examples and/or shown in the figures. On the contrary, methods according to the present invention may be realized in many different ways without departing from the scope of the invention.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022/5125 | Feb 2022 | BE | national |
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/EP2023/054372 | 2/22/2023 | WO |
