Patent Application
20220205725
This section is intended to provide relevant background information to facilitate a better understanding of the various aspects of the described embodiments. Accordingly, these statements are to be read in this light and not as admissions of prior art.
In general, heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning (“HVAC”) systems circulate an indoor space's air over low-temperature (for cooling) or high-temperature (for heating) sources, thereby adjusting an indoor space's ambient air temperature. HVAC systems generate these low- and high-temperature sources by, among other techniques, taking advantage of a well-known physical principle: a fluid transitioning from gas to liquid releases heat, while a fluid transitioning from liquid to gas absorbs heat.
Within a typical HVAC system, a fluid refrigerant circulates through a closed loop of tubing that uses a compressor and flow-control devices to manipulate the refrigerant's flow and pressure, causing the refrigerant to cycle between the liquid and gas phases. Generally, these phase transitions occur within the HVAC system heat exchangers, which are part of the closed loop and designed to transfer heat between the circulating refrigerant and flowing ambient air. As would be expected, the heat exchanger providing heating or cooling to the climate-controlled space or structure is described adjectivally as being “indoors,” and the heat exchanger transferring heat with the surrounding outdoor environment is described as being “outdoors.”
The refrigerant circulating between the indoor and outdoor heat exchangers—transitioning between phases along the way—absorbs heat from one location and releases it to the other. Those in the HVAC industry describe this cycle of absorbing and releasing heat as “pumping.” To cool the climate-controlled indoor space, heat is “pumped” from the indoor side to the outdoor side, and the indoor space is heated by doing the opposite, pumping heat from the outdoors to the indoors.
Embodiments of the HVAC system are described with reference to the following figures. The same numbers are used throughout the figures to reference like features and components. The features depicted in the figures are not necessarily shown to scale. Certain features of the embodiments may be shown exaggerated in scale or in somewhat schematic form, and some details of elements may not be shown in the interest of clarity and conciseness.
The present disclosure describes heat exchangers for use with an HVAC system. The heat exchangers may be round tube and plate fin (“RTPF”) heat exchangers that include a plurality of tubes that pass from one side of the head exchanger to the other through a slab made of fins. The tubes in turn may be connected to a plurality of circuits providing parallel paths for the fluid flowing within. The heat exchangers may also be microchannel heat exchangers that include a plurality of tubes that each include a number of microchannels for flowing refrigerant from one side of the heat exchanger to the other, or one “pass” across the heat exchanger. The fluid may make two or more passes across the heat exchanger, with each successive pass being a different stage. One or more tubes that flow fluid in a given direction across the heat exchanger at the same stage in the flow circuit are grouped together into a section and multiple sections are fluidly connected via the headers or manifolds. The tubes may also be bonded to the fins therebetween.
Further, in the microchannel heat exchanger, the adjacent sections of tubes are separated, as discussed in more detail below. The separation between the adjacent sections of tubes is sufficient enough to reduce the cross transfer of heat between the sections, improving the performance of the microchannel heat exchanger and reducing the size of the microchannel heat exchanger when compared to a heat exchanger without a separation. The separation also reduces the thermal stress on the joints between the tubes and the header since there is a smaller temperature differential between the tube and the header.
In either case, the heat exchanger may include multiple refrigeration circuits passing therethrough. As will be explained in further detail below, by arranging the circuits such that each circuit utilizes the entire face area of the heat exchanger, the overall system efficiency is increased while operating at a part load condition. Further, this arrangement may allow for a reduction in the overall size of the heat exchanger since, under a part load condition, the operational circuit can utilize the entire face area of the heat exchanger.
Turning now to the figures,
The described HVAC system 100 is divided into two primary portions: (1) the outdoor unit 104, which mainly comprises components for transferring heat with the environment outside the structure 102; and (2) the indoor unit 106, which mainly comprises components for transferring heat with the air inside the structure 102. To heat or cool the illustrated structure 102, the indoor unit 106 draws ambient indoor air via return ducts 110, passes that air over one or more heating/cooling elements (i.e., sources of heating or cooling), and then routes that conditioned air, whether heated or cooled, back to the various climate-controlled spaces 112 through the supply ducts or ductworks 114—which are relatively large conduits that may be rigid or flexible. A blower 116 provides the motivational force to circulate the ambient air through the return ducts 110 and the supply ducts 114. Additionally, although a split system is shown in
As shown, the HVAC system 100 is a “dual-fuel” system that has multiple heating elements, such as an electric heating element or a gas furnace 118. The gas furnace 118 located downstream (in relation to airflow) of the blower 116 combusts natural gas to produce heat in furnace tubes (not shown) that coil through the gas furnace 118. These furnace tubes act as a heating element for the ambient indoor air being pushed out of the blower 116, over the furnace tubes, and into the supply ducts 114. However, the gas furnace 118 is generally operated when robust heating is desired. During conventional heating and cooling operations, air from the blower 116 is routed over an indoor heat exchanger 120 and into the supply ducts 114. The blower 116, the gas furnace 118, and the indoor heat exchanger 120 may be packaged as an integrated air handler unit, or those components may be modular. In other embodiments, the positions of the gas furnace 118, the indoor heat exchanger 120, and the blower 116 can be reversed or rearranged.
The indoor heat exchanger 120 acts as a heating or cooling means that adds or removes heat from the structure, respectively, by manipulating the pressure and flow of refrigerant circulating within and between the indoor and outdoor units via refrigerant lines 122. Alternatively, the refrigerant could be circulated to only cool (i.e., extract heat from) the structure, with heating provided independently by another source, such as, but not limited to, the gas furnace 118. There may also be no heating of any kind. HVAC systems 100 that use refrigerant to both heat and cool the structure 102 are often described as heat pumps, while HVAC systems 100 that use refrigerant only for cooling are commonly described as air conditioners.
Whatever the state of the indoor heat exchanger 120 (i.e., absorbing or releasing heat), the outdoor heat exchanger 124 is in the opposite state. More specifically, if heating is desired, the illustrated indoor heat exchanger 120 acts as a condenser, aiding transition of the refrigerant from a high-pressure gas to a high-pressure liquid and releasing heat in the process. The outdoor heat exchanger 124 acts as an evaporator, aiding transition of the refrigerant from a low-pressure liquid to a low-pressure gas, thereby absorbing heat from the outdoor environment. If cooling is desired, the outdoor unit 104 has flow control devices 126 that reverse the flow of the refrigerant, allowing the outdoor heat exchanger 124 to act as a condenser and allowing the indoor heat exchanger 120 to act as an evaporator. The flow control devices 126 may also act as an expander to reduce the pressure of the refrigerant flowing therethrough. In other embodiments, the expander may be a separate device located in either the outdoor unit 104 or the indoor unit 106. To facilitate the exchange of heat between the ambient indoor air and the outdoor environment in the described HVAC system 100, the respective heat exchangers 120, 124 have tubing that winds or coils through heat-exchange surfaces, to increase the surface area of contact between the tubing and the surrounding air or environment.
The illustrated outdoor unit 104 may also include an accumulator 128 that helps prevent liquid refrigerant from reaching the inlet of a compressor 130. The outdoor unit 104 may include a receiver 132 that helps to maintain sufficient refrigerant charge distribution in the HVAC system 100. The size of these components is often defined by the amount of refrigerant employed by the HVAC system 100.
The compressor 130 receives low-pressure gas refrigerant from either the indoor heat exchanger 120 if cooling is desired or from the outdoor heat exchanger 124 if heating is desired. The compressor 130 then compresses the gas refrigerant to a higher pressure based on a compressor volume ratio, namely the ratio of a discharge volume, the volume of gas outputted from the compressor 130 once compressed, to a suction volume, the volume of gas inputted into the compressor 130 before compression. In the illustrated embodiment, the compressor is a multi-stage compressor 130 that can transition between at least two volume ratios depending on whether heating or cooling is desired. In other embodiments, the HVAC system 100 may be configured to only cool or only heat, and the compressor 130 may be a single-stage compressor having only a single volume ratio.
The compressor 130 receives electrical power from a control system 134 that may include an inverter system, as described in more detail below with reference to
Referring now to
As shown in
Referring now to
Referring now to
Referring back to
As described above, the heat exchanger 300 acts as either a condenser or an evaporator to condense or vaporize the refrigerant, respectively. In either scenario, there is a large temperature differential between the refrigerant passing through header 302 and section 308 and the refrigerant passing through section 310 and header 306. The temperature differential can lead to a heat transfer between adjacent sections of tubes, resulting in a loss of efficiency and increased thermal stress on the joints between the tubes and the header. The above-mentioned temperature differential is much larger in the case of a condenser or gas cooler than in the case of an evaporator. In order to reduce this cross heat transfer, separations have been introduced between header 302 and header 306, and section 308 and section 310 to remove any direct contact between header 306 and header 306 and to remove any direct contact between section 308 and section 310. The separations are large enough to reduce, or even minimize, the cross heat transfer between adjacent sections because the heat transfer from each section is with the surrounding environment rather than between the adjacent sections of tubes.
As shown in
Referring now to
The heat exchanger 500 further includes a section 520 of one or more “dead” microchannel tubes; i.e., a section of microchannel tubes that have no refrigerant passing therethrough. Section 502 separates section 508 from section 510 to reduce heat transfer while the HVAC system is in operation. In some embodiments, the fins extending between section 520 and sections 508 and 510 may also be cut longitudinally to further reduce heat transfer between section 508 and 510 via conduction across section 520. As shown in
Although the embodiments illustrated in
Turning now to
As shown most clearly in
The refrigerant passing through the first upper heat exchanger 602 then flows through a fluid coupling 614 and into the second lower heat exchanger. Similarly, the refrigerant passing through the first lower heat exchanger then flows through a fluid coupling 614 and into the second upper heat exchanger. The refrigerants then flow through the outlets 612 of the second upper heat exchanger and the second lower heat exchanger and continue through their respective circuits. This configuration of heat exchanger sections 602, 604, 606, 608 allows both the first refrigerant and the second refrigerant to flow through the majority of the face area or the entire face area of the heat exchangers, i.e., the surface area of the heat exchanger indicated by box 616, while remaining separate into two different circuits. This increases the efficiency of the heat exchanger 600 when the HVAC system is operating in a part load condition; i.e. only one of the refrigerant circuits is required to provide heating or cooling to the conditioned space, since the operational circuit can utilize a majority of the face area 616 or the entire face area 616 of the heat exchanger 600. This allows the operational circuit to transfer additional heat away from the refrigerant when compared to only utilizing a half or less of face area 616 the heat exchanger 600. Additionally, the crossing orientation of the circuits that is depicted in
As shown in
Although
Turning now to
The first upper heat exchanger section 702 and the first lower heat exchanger section 704 both include an inlet 710 that receives a first refrigerant and a second refrigerant, respectively. The refrigerants are distributed between multiple tubes 714 that extend through the first upper section 702 and the second lower section 708, and the first lower section 704 and the second upper section 706, respectively, and are then consolidated to flow through the outlets 712. This configuration of heat exchanger sections 702, 704, 706, 708 allows both the first refrigerant and the second refrigerant to flow through a majority of the face area 716 or the entire face area 716 of the heat exchangers while remaining separate into two different circuits. This increases the efficiency of the heat exchanger 600 when the HVAC system is operating in a part load condition; i.e. only one of the refrigerant circuits is operational, since the operational circuit can utilize majority of the face area 716 or the entire face area 716 of the heat exchanger 700 and transfer additional heat away from the refrigerant when compared to only utilizing a portion of face area the heat exchanger 700.
Although the heat exchanger 700 depicted in
Further examples include:
Example 1 is an HVAC system for use with a first refrigerant and a second refrigerant. The HVAC system includes a first refrigerant circuit for use with the first refrigerant, a second refrigerant circuit for use with the second refrigerant, and a heat exchanger operable as at least one of a condenser or a gas cooler. The first refrigerant circuit includes may include a first compressor, a first expansion device, and a first evaporator. The second refrigerant circuit includes a second compressor, a second expansion device, and a second evaporator. The compressor includes a first upper section, a first lower section, a second upper section in fluid communication with the first lower section, and a second lower section in fluid communication with the first upper section. The first upper section includes a first inlet to receive a first refrigerant from the first refrigerant circuit and the first lower section includes a second inlet to receive a second refrigerant from the second refrigerant circuit. The first upper section, the first lower section, the second upper section, and the second lower section are arranged such that the first refrigerant and the second refrigerant both flow through a majority of a face area of the heat exchanger while remaining in two different circuits.
Example 2 is the HVAC system of example 1 or any other appropriate example, wherein the heat exchanger is a microchannel heat exchanger.
Example 3 is the HVAC system of example 2 or any other appropriate example, wherein the first upper section, the first lower section, the second upper section, and the second lower section are heat exchanger cells.
Example 4 is the HVAC system of example 3 or any other appropriate example, wherein at least one of the first upper section, the first lower section, the second upper section, and the second lower section include a first header including an inlet for receiving refrigerant, a first section of microchannel tubes fluidly coupled to the first header for flowing the refrigerant through a first pass through the heat exchanger cell, a second header fluidly coupled to the first section, and a second section of microchannel tubes for flowing refrigerant through a second pass through the heat exchanger cell. The second section of microchannel tubes is fluidly coupled to the second header and separated from the first section of microchannel tubes enough to reduce heat transfer between the refrigerant flowing through the first pass and the refrigerant flowing through the second pass.
Example 5 is the HVAC system of example 2 or any other appropriate example, wherein the first upper section and the second upper section are spaced apart and the first lower section and the second lower section are spaced apart.
Example 6 is the HVAC system of example 2 or any other appropriate example, wherein the first upper section and the first lower section are spaced apart and the second upper section and the second lower section are spaced apart.
Example 7 is the HVAC system of example 2 or any other appropriate example, wherein the first upper section, the first lower section, the second upper section, and the second lower section are separated from each other via baffles positioned within headers of the heat exchanger.
Example 8 is the HVAC system of example 1 or any other appropriate example, wherein the heat exchanger is a RTPF heat exchanger.
Example 9 is the HVAC system of example 8 or any other appropriate example, wherein the heat exchanger further includes a first set of tubes fluidly coupled to the first inlet and extending though the first upper section and the second lower section and a second set of tubes fluidly coupled to the second inlet and extending though the first lower section and the second upper section.
Example 10 is the HVAC system of example 1 or any other appropriate example, wherein the first refrigerant and the second refrigerant are different types of refrigerant.
Example 11 is a heat exchanger for use with an HVAC system having a first refrigerant circuit and a second refrigerant circuit. The heat exchanger includes a first upper section, a first lower section, a second upper section in fluid communication with the first lower section, and a second lower section in fluid communication with the first upper section. The first upper section includes a first inlet to receive a first refrigerant from the first refrigerant circuit and the first lower section includes a second inlet to receive a second refrigerant from the second refrigerant circuit. The first upper section, the first lower section, the second upper section, and the second lower section are arranged such that the first refrigerant and the second refrigerant both flow through a majority of a face area of the heat exchanger while remaining in two different circuits.
Example 12 is the heat exchanger of example 11 or any other appropriate example, wherein the heat exchanger is a microchannel heat exchanger.
Example 13 is the heat exchanger of example 12 or any other appropriate example, wherein the first upper section, the first lower section, the second upper section, and the second lower section are heat exchanger cells.
Example 14 is the heat exchanger of example 13 or any other appropriate example, wherein at least one of the first upper section, the first lower section, the second upper section, and the second lower section include a first header including an inlet for receiving refrigerant, a first section of microchannel tubes fluidly coupled to the first header for flowing the refrigerant through a first pass through the heat exchanger cell, a second header fluidly coupled to the first section, and a second section of microchannel tubes for flowing refrigerant through a second pass through the heat exchanger cell. The second section of microchannel tubes is fluidly coupled to the second header and separated from the first section of microchannel tubes enough to reduce heat transfer between the refrigerant flowing through the first pass and the refrigerant flowing through the second pass.
Example 15 is the heat exchanger of example 12 or any other appropriate example, wherein at least two sections of the first upper section, the first lower section, second upper section, or the second lower section are spaced apart.
Example 16 is the heat exchanger of example 15 or any other appropriate example, wherein the at least two sections are spaced apart via a non-conductive material.
Example 17 is the heat exchanger of example 15 or any other appropriate example, wherein the at least two sections are spaced apart via dead microchannel tubes.
Example 18 is the heat exchanger of example 12 or any other appropriate example, wherein the first upper section, the first lower section, the second upper section, and the second lower section are separated from each other via baffles positioned within headers of the heat exchanger.
Example 19 is the heat exchanger of example 11 or any other appropriate example, wherein the heat exchanger is a RTPF heat exchanger.
Example 20 is the heat exchanger of example 19 or any other appropriate example, further including a first set of tubes fluidly coupled to the first inlet and extending though the first upper section and the second lower section and a second set of tubes fluidly coupled to the second inlet and extending though the first lower section and the second upper section.
Example 21 is the heat exchanger of example 19 or any other appropriate example, wherein the RTPF heat exchanger is a slit fin heat exchanger.
Example 22 is the heat exchanger of example 11 or any other appropriate example, wherein at least two of the first upper section, the first lower section, the second upper section and the second lower section are different sizes.
Certain terms are used throughout the description and claims to refer to particular features or components. As one skilled in the art will appreciate, different persons may refer to the same feature or component by different names. This document does not intend to distinguish between components or features that differ in name but not function. Further, terms such as upper, lower, front, and/or back are only used as general references within the individual components. The terms are not intended to imply any directionality within the overall HVAC system.
Reference throughout this specification to “one embodiment,” “an embodiment,” “embodiments,” “some embodiments,” “certain embodiments,” or similar language means that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment may be included in at least one embodiment of the present disclosure. Thus, these phrases or similar language throughout this specification may, but do not necessarily, all refer to the same embodiment. Reference to “includes” means, “includes, but is not limited to.”
The embodiments disclosed should not be interpreted, or otherwise used, as limiting the scope of the disclosure, including the claims. It is to be fully recognized that the different teachings of the embodiments discussed may be employed separately or in any suitable combination to produce desired results. In addition, one skilled in the art will understand that the description has broad application, and the discussion of any embodiment is meant only to be exemplary of that embodiment, and not intended to suggest that the scope of the disclosure, including the claims, is limited to that embodiment.
