Patent Application
20190041108
The present invention relates to an improvement on a refrigeration system, and more particularly, to an improvement on parts and components of a refrigeration system and a corresponding control method.
A cascade refrigeration system is a type of refrigeration system commonly seen in industrial applications or large-scale commercial applications. The cascade refrigeration system generally consists of two independent refrigeration systems, that is, a high temperature stage part and a low temperature stage part. The high temperature stage part may use a medium-temperature refrigerant, while the low temperature stage may use a low-temperature refrigerant. During running of the system, the refrigerant in the high temperature stage part is evaporated to condense the refrigerant in the low temperature stage part, and the two systems are connected via a condensing evaporator that is connected into the both refrigeration systems at the same time. This condensing evaporator not only functions as an evaporator in the high temperature stage part but also functions as a condenser in the low temperature stage part. The refrigerant in the low temperature stage part absorbs heat from a cooled object in the evaporator (that is, prepares a refrigerating capacity) and transfers the heat to the refrigerant in the high temperature stage part, and then the refrigerant in the high temperature stage part transfers the heat to a cooling medium (water or air).
An objective of the present invention is to provide a liquid accumulator that can sufficiently cool a gaseous refrigerant entering therein.
Another objective of the present invention is to provide a refrigeration system that has a relatively low difference between temperature of the refrigerant on both sides of a condenser.
Another objective of the present invention is to provide a cascade refrigeration system that has a relatively low refrigerant temperature difference between an evaporation part and a condensation part of an evaporative condenser.
Another objective of the present invention is to provide a control method that can control a refrigerant temperature at an inlet end of a condenser.
Another objective of the present invention is to provide another control method that can adjust and control a refrigerant temperature at an inlet end of a condenser.
In order to achieve the foregoing objectives or other objectives, the present invention provides the following technical solutions.
According to an aspect of the present invention, a liquid accumulator for a heat exchange system is provided, including a liquid accumulator housing provided with an air inlet, an air outlet, and a liquid inlet; and a cooling heat exchanger disposed in the liquid accumulator housing, where the cooling heat exchanger includes an inlet end, a main body part, and an outlet end in sequence; the inlet end of the cooling heat exchanger is connected to the air inlet on the liquid accumulator housing; and the outlet end of the cooling heat exchanger is arranged to be higher than a working liquid level of a refrigerant in the liquid accumulator.
According to another aspect of the present invention, a refrigeration system is further provided, including the liquid accumulator as described above; and a compressor, a condenser, a throttling element, and an evaporator that are sequentially connected through a pipeline, where an outlet end of the compressor is connected to the air inlet of the liquid accumulator, and is connected to an inlet end of the condenser through the air outlet of the liquid accumulator, while an outlet end of the condenser is separately connected to the throttling element and the liquid inlet of the liquid accumulator.
According to still another aspect of the present invention, a cascade refrigeration system is further provided, including the liquid accumulator as described above; and a compressor, an evaporative condenser having an evaporation part and a condensation part that exchange heat with each other, a throttling element, and an evaporator that are sequentially connected through a pipeline, where an outlet end of the compressor is connected to the air inlet of the liquid accumulator, and is connected to an inlet end of the condensation part of the evaporative condenser through the air outlet of the liquid accumulator, while an outlet end of the condensation part of the evaporative condenser is separately connected to the throttling element and the liquid inlet of the liquid accumulator.
According to yet another aspect of the present invention, a control method of a cascade refrigeration system is further provided, where the refrigeration system as described above is included, and a desired working temperature of a refrigerant at the inlet end of the condensation part of the evaporative condenser is preset as a first threshold, the method including: closing a bypass valve on the bypass branch when the temperature detected by the temperature sensor is not lower than the first threshold; or opening the bypass valve on the bypass branch when the detected temperature is lower than the first threshold.
According to further another aspect of the present invention, a control method of a cascade refrigeration system is further provided, where the refrigeration system as described above is included, and a desired working temperature of a refrigerant at the inlet end of the condensation part of the evaporative condenser is preset as a first threshold, the method including: reducing an opening degree of a bypass valve on the bypass branch when the temperature detected by the temperature sensor is not lower than the first threshold, where a change in the opening degree of the bypass valve is linearly correlated to a difference between the detected temperature and the first threshold; or increasing an opening degree of the bypass valve on the bypass branch when the detected temperature is lower than the first threshold, where a change in the opening degree of the bypass valve is linearly correlated to a difference between the detected temperature and the first threshold.
Referring to
Specifically, the cooling heat exchanger 214 includes an inlet end 214a, a main body part 214c, and an outlet end 214b in sequence. The inlet end 214a of the cooling heat exchanger 214 is connected to the air inlet 211 on the liquid accumulator housing 215; and the outlet end 214b of the cooling heat exchanger 214 is arranged to be higher than a working liquid level of a refrigerant in the liquid accumulator 210. Such an arrangement can not only ensure that the high-temperature gaseous refrigerant flowing through the cooling heat exchanger 214 can exchange heat with the low-temperature liquid refrigerant accumulated in the liquid accumulator housing 215 but also avoid the possibility that the low-temperature liquid refrigerant accumulated in the liquid accumulator housing 215 flows into the cooling heat exchanger 214. Herein, it should be noted that, the working liquid level of the refrigerant in the liquid accumulator housing 125 in an actual running state may fluctuate in certain degree. In this case, persons skilled in the art may consider the specific design of the working liquid level of the refrigerant according to an actual design requirement. For example, in a general case, the working liquid level of the refrigerant here may be equivalent to a rated design working liquid level; for another example, in a working condition where extreme cases occur frequently, the working liquid level of the refrigerant here may also be equivalent to a possible maximum working liquid level.
Based on the above description of the working principle, several details of this design may also be further improved.
For example, when the cooling heat exchanger 214 is disposed in the liquid accumulator 210, it may be considered to make the main body part 214c of the cooling heat exchanger at least partially submerged in the refrigerant in the liquid accumulator 210 when the liquid accumulator 210 works. In this way, a requirement on design precision of the arrangement position of the cooling heat exchanger 214 is relatively low, the design is less difficult, and the objective of improving the heat exchange effect between the high-temperature gaseous refrigerant and the low-temperature liquid refrigerant can also be achieved.
For another example, the main body part 214c of the cooling heat exchanger 214 may also be completely submerged in the refrigerant in the liquid accumulator 210 when the liquid accumulator 210 works. In this way, the high-temperature gaseous refrigerant can exchange heat with the low-temperature liquid refrigerant accumulated in the liquid accumulator 210 when flowing through the entire part of the main body part 214c. This will better achieve the objective of improving the heat exchange effect between the high-temperature gaseous refrigerant and the low-temperature liquid refrigerant.
Further, although the arrangement design of the cooling heat exchanger 214 carried out with the refrigerant as a reference has higher accuracy, as an actual liquid level of the refrigerant may be different from a rated condition, the actual application thereof is relatively difficult, and position adjustment may need to be performed for multiple times. Therefore, several arrangement manners of the cooling heat exchanger 214 which have fixed referential standards are also provided herein.
For example, the main body part 214c is at least partially arranged below a first height of the liquid accumulator 110; or the main body part 214c may also be at least partially arranged below a height corresponding to a first volume of the liquid accumulator 110. Here, a specific numerical value of the first height or first volume mentioned here may be determined according to a liquid level height or an accumulation volume that the refrigerant in an expected working state would reach. Such a case where the design parameter is specified will be more beneficial for the arrangement of the cooling heat exchanger 214, and the objective of improving heat exchange in the liquid accumulator can also be achieved. Further, the main body part 214c may be completely arranged below the first height of the liquid accumulator 110, or completely arranged below the height corresponding to the first volume of the liquid accumulator 110. In this way, the objective of improving the heat exchange effect between the high-temperature gaseous refrigerant and the low-temperature liquid refrigerant can be better achieved.
In addition, the position design of the outlet end 214b of the cooling heat exchanger 214 may also be further improved. For example, the outlet end 214b may be arranged close to the air outlet 212 on the liquid accumulator housing 215. This helps the gaseous refrigerant flow, via the air outlet 212 of the liquid accumulator, to the evaporative condenser 230 as quickly as possible to exchange heat after leaving the cooling heat exchanger 214.
For the model selection of the cooling heat exchanger 214, several specific heat exchangers are provided here for selection. In an implementation, the main body part 214c of the cooling heat exchanger may be constructed as a coiled tube-type heat exchanger circling in an encircling form; in another implementation, the main body part 214c of the cooling heat exchanger may be constructed as a finned heat exchanger in reciprocating arrangement. The above structures can both make the main body part 214c submerged in the liquid refrigerant as long as possible, thereby extending a passage and time for heat exchange between the high-temperature gaseous refrigerant that flows through the main body part 214c and the outside low-temperature liquid refrigerant, and therefore, the obtained cooling effect becomes better.
Though not shown in the figure, in the above situation, the main body part 214c of the cooling heat exchanger may further be connected to the bottom of the liquid accumulator housing through an end plate, to provide a firm connection between the cooling heat exchanger and the liquid accumulator.
As an alternative manner, the cooling heat exchanger 214 further includes a cooling heat exchanger housing 214d, and the main body part 214c may be arranged in the heat exchanger housing 214d. By arranging the entire cooling heat exchanger 214 in a housing, it can be more conveniently installed in the liquid accumulator. For example, the connection between the cooling heat exchanger 214 and the liquid accumulator 210 may be implemented by welding the heat exchanger housing 214d to an inner wall of the bottom of the liquid accumulator housing 215. Optionally, in this case, the cooling heat exchanger housing 214d and the liquid inlet on the liquid accumulator housing 214d should be arranged in a staggered manner.
For the entire liquid accumulator 210, in addition to the improvement on the cooling heat exchanger 214 therein, the liquid accumulator housing 215 thereof may also be improved. For example, the air inlet 211 and/or the air outlet 212 may be arranged at the top of the liquid accumulator housing 215. This will be more convenient for the gaseous refrigerant to flow out. Similarly, the liquid inlet 213 may also be arranged at the bottom of the liquid accumulator housing 215, and this will be more convenient for the liquid refrigerant to flow in. More specifically, in the actual application of such type of liquid accumulator, very likely, it cannot be ensured that the liquid accumulator is placed in a horizontal state. Therefore, the liquid inlet 213 may be arranged at a first position at the bottom of the liquid accumulator housing 215, so that when a tilt occurs in specific arrangement, the first position is located at the lowest position at the bottom of the liquid accumulator housing, and thus when the equipment stops running, the liquid refrigerant accumulated in the liquid accumulator can flow out.
The liquid accumulator according to the present invention improves, by means of the cooling heat exchanger arranged herein, the passage length and time for heat exchange between the high-temperature gaseous refrigerant from the compressor and the low-temperature liquid refrigerant from the evaporative condenser as much as possible, so that the high-temperature gaseous refrigerant from the compressor can be sufficiently cooled in the liquid accumulator.
Further referring to
In a running process of the cascade refrigeration system, after being throttled and supplying cool in the user terminal 240, a low-temperature liquid refrigerant will return to the compressor 220; the compressed refrigerant enters the main body part 214c of the cooling heat exchanger via the air inlet 211 of the liquid accumulator 210 and the inlet end 214a of the cooling heat exchanger, and during flowing, exchanges heat with the low-temperature liquid refrigerant surrounding the main body part 214c, to be sufficiently cooled; the cooled refrigerant flows out via the outlet end 214b of the cooling heat exchanger and the air outlet 212 of the liquid accumulator 210, and flows into a heat exchange section 231c of the condensation part via the inlet end 231a of the condensation part 231 of the evaporative condenser 230; a medium-temperature liquid refrigerant therein will exchange heat with the low-temperature liquid refrigerant in the evaporation part 232 of the evaporative condenser 230, to be further cooled. The cooled refrigerant will flow out from the outlet end 231b of the condensation part. Most of the refrigerant will flow into the user terminal 240 again, to be throttled and to supply cool; meanwhile, the other part of the liquid refrigerant will return to and accumulate in the liquid accumulator 210, thus preliminarily cooling a high-temperature gaseous refrigerant that enters the liquid accumulator 210 via the compressor 220. In this process, the liquid accumulator 210 undertakes most part of cooling for the high-temperature gaseous refrigerant from the compressor 220, and in this way, the downstream evaporative condenser 230 only needs to bear less and stable condensation load, which greatly mitigates the fatigue use of the evaporative condenser 230, and improves the service life of the equipment while guaranteeing the system performance.
Further, in order to optimize the system and control process, an embodiment of a cascade refrigeration system having a temperature adjustment and control space is further provided.
Referring to
Optionally, a temperature sensor 353 close to the inlet end 331a of the condensation part 331 of the evaporative condenser 330, and a controller 352 that is electrically connected to the temperature sensor 353 and the bypass valve 351 respectively may further be arranged. The controller 352 will control opening/closing of the bypass valve 351 in response to a temperature detected by the temperature sensor 353. In this implementation, a control parameter for controlling the refrigeration system and a correspondingly configured detection element and control element are further provided. The objective of stable running of the system is achieved by detecting, adjusting and controlling the refrigerant temperature at the inlet end 331a of the condensation part 331 of the evaporative condenser 330.
Optionally, in order to further refine the control, the bypass valve 351 may further be set as an opening degree-adjustable valve, and the controller 352 will control an opening degree of the bypass valve 351 in response to the temperature detected by the temperature sensor 353. Because the detection and sensing of the temperature sensor have a certain delay, and the whole system is generally in a continuous running state, by replacing the simple opening/closing control with adjustment on the opening degree of the bypass valve 351, the entire control will be steadier.
As a preferred example, when the cascade refrigeration system works, it is expected to maintain a temperature difference between the refrigerant in the evaporation part 332 of the evaporative condenser 330 and the refrigerant in the condensation part 331 at 6 K to 10 K. This helps maintain the service life of the evaporative condenser on one hand, and on the other hand, also avoids the cost problem caused by that the heat exchange area needs to be increased as the temperature difference is further decreased.
In a conventional running process of the cascade refrigeration system, after being throttled and supplying cool in the user terminal 340, a low-temperature liquid refrigerant will return to the compressor 320; the compressed refrigerant enters a main body part 314c of a cooling heat exchanger via an air inlet 311 of a liquid accumulator 310 and an inlet end 314a of the cooling heat exchanger, and during flowing, exchanges heat with the low-temperature liquid refrigerant surrounding the main body part 314c, to be sufficiently cooled; the cooled refrigerant flows out via an outlet end 314b of the cooling heat exchanger and an air outlet 312 of the liquid accumulator 310, and flows into a heat exchange section 331c of the condensation part via the inlet end 331a of the condensation part 331 of the evaporative condenser 330; a medium-temperature liquid refrigerant therein will exchange heat with the low-temperature liquid refrigerant in the evaporation part 332 of the evaporative condenser 330, to be further cooled. The cooled refrigerant will flow out from an outlet end 331b of the condensation part. Most of the refrigerant will flow into the user terminal 340 again, to be throttled and to supply cool; meanwhile, the other part of the liquid refrigerant will return to and accumulate in the liquid accumulator 310, thus preliminarily cooling a high-temperature gaseous refrigerant that enters the liquid accumulator 310 via the compressor 320. In this process, the liquid accumulator 310 undertakes most part of cooling for the high-temperature gaseous refrigerant from the compressor 320, and in this way, the downstream evaporative condenser 330 only needs to bear less and stable condensation load, which greatly mitigates the fatigue use of the evaporative condenser 330, and improves the service life of the equipment while guaranteeing the system performance.
In the foregoing conventional running process, the high-temperature gaseous refrigerant from the compressor 320 may be excessively cooled in the liquid accumulator 310, and this will cause the refrigerant to have a temperature lower than a desired temperature when entering the evaporative condenser 330, and will also cause the temperature difference between the refrigerants in the condensation part 331 and the evaporation part 332 of the evaporative condenser 330 to be lower than a desired value. As a smaller temperature difference generally requires a larger contact area to implement equivalent heat exchange, and specifications such as a heat exchange contact area of the evaporative condenser in running are already determined, this case is adverse to the heat exchange between the two. Therefore, it is necessary to adjust and control the temperature of the refrigerant entering the condensation part 331, to restore the temperature to an expected level. In this case, the bypass branch 350 may be selectively turned on, to allow part of the high-temperature gaseous refrigerant to directly get from the compressor 320 to the inlet end 331a of the condensation part 331, to neutralize the refrigerant from the liquid accumulator 310, thus obtaining a desired refrigerant of an expected working condition.
Although the embodiments described above with reference to the accompanying drawings are all applied to the cascade refrigeration system, persons skilled in the art should know that, when there is a similar technical problem in a general heat exchange system, the problem may also be solved by using such a structural design and connection manner. The application of a liquid accumulator in an embodiment of the present invention to a general refrigeration system is simply described below.
This type of refrigeration system should also include any embodiment of the liquid accumulator described above; and a compressor, a condenser, a throttling element, and an evaporator that are sequentially connected through a pipeline, where an outlet end of the compressor is connected to an air inlet of the liquid accumulator, and is connected to an inlet end of the condenser through an air outlet of the liquid accumulator, while an outlet end of the condenser is separately connected to the throttling element and an liquid inlet of the liquid accumulator. Further, in order to enhance control of this type of system, supporting detection and control elements may also be disposed. For example, the system may further include: a bypass branch connected from the outlet end of the compressor to the inlet end of the condenser, and the bypass branch is provided with a bypass valve for controlling on/off thereof; a temperature sensor arranged close to the inlet end of the condenser; and a controller electrically connected to the temperature sensor and the bypass valve respectively. The controller controls opening/closing of the bypass valve in response to a temperature detected by the temperature sensor. Similar to that as mentioned above, the control process thereof may also be refined. For example, the bypass valve is an opening degree-adjustable valve, and the controller controls an opening degree of the bypass valve in response to the temperature detected by the temperature sensor. The running process and adjustment process of the general refrigeration system are also similar to those in the above embodiment, and therefore are not described in detail herein again.
For the cascade refrigeration system provided with the bypass branch 350 and the corresponding detection, adjustment and control components and parts in the above embodiment, the present invention further provides several embodiments of a system control method herein.
As an optional solution, in the method, a desired working temperature of a refrigerant at the inlet end of the condensation part of the evaporative condenser is preset as a first threshold. In this case, the method includes: closing the bypass valve on the bypass branch when the temperature detected by the temperature sensor is not lower than the first threshold; or opening the bypass valve on the bypass branch when the detected temperature is lower than the first threshold, so that the whole refrigeration system runs according to a desired working state as far as possible.
As another optional solution, in the method, a desired working temperature of a refrigerant at the inlet end of the condensation part of the evaporative condenser is also preset as a first threshold. However, in this method, an opening degree-adjustable valve will be used as the bypass valve disposed on the bypass branch. In this case, the method is further refined as: reducing the opening degree of the bypass valve on the bypass branch when the temperature detected by the temperature sensor is not lower than the first threshold, wherein a change in the opening degree of the bypass valve is linearly correlated to a difference between the detected temperature and the first threshold; or increasing the opening degree of the bypass valve on the bypass branch when the detected temperature is lower than the first threshold, wherein a change in the opening degree of the bypass valve is linearly correlated to a difference between the detected temperature and the first threshold. This will not only make the whole refrigeration system run according to a desired working state as far as possible but also make the whole adjustment process smoother and improve the stability.
In the description of the present invention, it should be understood that direction or position relations indicated by “upper”, “lower”, “front”, “rear”, “left”, “right” and the like are direction or position relations based on the figures, are merely used to facilitate the description of the present invention and to simplify the description rather than indicating or implying that the indicated device or feature must have the specific direction or be constructed and operated in the specific direction, and therefore cannot be construed as a limitation to the present invention.
The above examples mainly describe the liquid accumulator, the refrigeration system having the same, and the control method thereof according to the present invention. Although only some implementations of the present invention are described, persons of ordinary skill in the art should understand that the present invention may be implemented in many other manners without departing from the purport and scope of the present invention. Therefore, the illustrated examples and implementations are regarded as illustrative rather than limitative, and the present invention may cover various modifications and replacements without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention as defined in the appended claims.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 201610075232.2 | Feb 2016 | CN | national |
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/US2017/014536 | 1/23/2017 | WO | 00 |
