Patent Application
20230071004
The present invention relates to a method and an air condition arrangement for cooling of a user space, comprising the steps of providing an air condition arrangement including a cooling media producing heat exchanger loop having a low pressure tubing in operational connection with a cooling media, which cooling media includes water/ice, and having a high pressure tubing in operational connection with a compressor and an condenser and said air condition arrangement further including an air cooling heat exchanger including a cooling media storage member and a flow channel in operational connection with said cooling media, to enable inlet flow via at least one inlet of surrounding air into said air condition arrangement to produce a cooled air flow out from said air condition arrangement via at least one outlet during inactivity of said cooling media producing heat exchanger loop and to intermittently produce ice in said cooling media by means of said cooling media producing heat exchanger loop.
Many kinds of air conditioning arrangements are known, but most require large equipment/space and/or large amount of energy supply, making conventional methods generally costly and/or inefficient.
An ordinary portable air conditioner produce approximately twice as much heat as it produces cooling effect, which is due to the fact that delivery of cooling air occurs at the same time as heat needs to be ventilated away from the space to be cooled. This is normally achieved by means of a flexible tube that may be put through a partly open window, which may cause an inflow of outdoor air. Since the outdoor air normally is at an higher temperature then the desired room temperature present normal portable air conditioning systems often are contra productive since a considerable flow of warm air is drawn into the room at the same time as a relative small volume around the portable air conditioner is cooled.
The above problem may be minimized by the use of a cooling media, that may be created before performing cooling, e.g. ice. The principle of thermal storage using ice is well known since long, e.g. US433316 from 1890, disclosing a large cooling space where ice is used to cause self-draught and cool a storage space. Further there are known personal air conditioning system that may be used, for example, to cool a tent, as shown by US2005150251, wherein there is used a cooling lid that fits over a typical insulated cooler containing ice, wherein the cooling lid includes a heat transfer tower configured to transfer heat from the ice to a heat sink within the cooling lid and a fan draws air into the cooling lid, across the heat sink. This kind of air conditioners do have issues regarding handling.
Also internal melt ice-on-coil technology is widely known in industry or commercial buildings for redistributing and shaving cooling loads. In particular, ice is formed in a tank with the aid of a refrigeration system during off peak hours. Thermal energy is transferred to and from the ice by circulating brine in pipes which directly contact the ice or with water which directly contacts and melts the ice to generate cold water. In each of these applications, a pump is required to circulate fluid flow in and out of the storage zone and towards the area to be cooled. It is also known to use this principle in movable air conditioning arrangements, e.g. as disclosed in US2006225453.
From US2008104971 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,005,368 there are known air conditioning arrangements useful in first producing and storing thermal energy in the form of ice and subsequently using that thermal energy for cooling, which disclose installations that are complex and therefore costly.
There is therefore a need for a convenient and cost efficient air conditioning arrangement suitable for use in houses and/or office buildings, which preferably is also more flexible and more preferred without adding unduly to the cost of a house and/or an office building.
The object of the present invention is to eliminate or at least to minimize the problems described above. This is achieved by an air conditioning arrangement according to the appended claim 1.
Thanks to the invention there is provided a novel concept an air conditioning arrangement where the advantages of heat pump, in a very efficient manner, may be used to improve living conditions in a user space, by means of using water/ice as the basic cooling media. Examples of applications where this technology can provide advantages are screen walls in offices or homes, silent mobile office rooms so-called pods, location-built office rooms or similar applications.
According to a preferred aspect of the invention the flow channel (805, 806, 808) has a U-shaped form, by proving a substantially centrally positioned, longitudinal partitioning wall (14) extending within the first space (17) assisting in creating said U-shaped flow channel (805, 806, 808) extending adjacent and around the cooling media storage member (20) with said cooling media (31) and supporting said cooling media storage member (20) and by positioning and arranging a water collection device (170) communicating with a collection channel (16) under said longitudinal partition wall (14), such that when the water collection device (170) is full the water level in said collection channel (16) will reach the lower edge of the longitudinal partition wall (14) hindering air to pass through the U-shaped flow channel.
Further advantages of the invention will be readily understood by the person skilled in the art in view of the detailed description below.
In the following the invention will be described more in detail with reference to the enclosed figures where;
In
The housing 11 may have a transversal dividing wall 19 that divides the housing into a first space 17 for parts included in a cooling heat exchanger 2 and a second space 18 for some parts of a cooling media producing heat exchanger loop 10, wherein the first space 17 is substantially larger than the second space 18. Preferably the outer walls of the housing 11 has a horizontally extending cross-section that is substantially the same along its vertical extension, wherein both the width W (e.g. 1500-3000 mm) and height H (e.g. 1000-2000 mm) are many times larger than the thickness T (e.g. 50-250 mm), thereby providing a flat shaped housing 11. The transversal dividing member 19 preferably extends vertically at a position within the housing 11 that provides a width W17 of the first space to be larger than the width W18 of the second space 18, i.e. W17>W18, preferably 8×W18>W17>3×W18.
It is evident that for the skilled person the basic principle as described in connection with
A beneficial application for use is a partitioning wall, e.g. a partitioning wall that is used in office environment to both divide a larger space into individual spaces and at the same time also provide extra cooling, in a flexible manner that may be individually adapted to different needs. Such a wall shaped housing may have vertical extension H in the range of 1200-2000 mm, a horizontal extension W in the range of 800-3000 mm, more preferred 1000-2500 and a thickness (T) in the range of 50-250 mm, more preferred 80-110 mm.
As can be seen in
The vertically extending longitudinal partitioning wall 14 is substantially centrally positioned within the first space 17, having a height H14 that is smaller than the height H of the housing 11, thereby facilitating providing an open passages below its lower horizontal edge and also providing space above of its upper horizontal edge, for a flow channel that enables air to flow across form the return space 806 to an outlet 804 on the same side as the inlet 803. Hence, the longitudinal partitioning wall 14 may assist in creating the U-shaped flow channel 805, 806, 808, that may provide a synergetic solution. Further it preferably extends from inner side to inner side wall in the first space 17 to provide a support function. In the preferred embodiment it supports the low pressure tubing 106 and/or also supports a cooling media storage member 20, which in turn supports the cooling media 31.
Further, the partitioning wall 14 is preferably arranged with openings 140 in the upper region thereof, preferably in level with the inlet 803, enabling some inlet air 801 to bypass the U-shaped flow channel 805, 806, 808 and directly enter into the flow channel with the fan 807. A control member 141, e.g. a throttle plate, may preferably be arranged such that the amount of bypassing air may be controlled. Hence, throttle plate 141 may control the amount of air that goes past the cooling media 31 and the part that goes straight to the fan 807, providing an ability to mix ambient air with cold air and thus control cooling effect and air temperature of the outlet air 802. The speed of the fan 807 may also be used to control the amount of outlet air 802 and thereby control the cooling effect and/or level of comfort in combination with bypass control. Most people desires that the outlet air 802 provides a cooling effect at a relatively warm temperature, since a larger amount of outlet air 802 at a higher temperature level T1, e.g. 18 degrees Celsius, is experienced as more comfortable than a smaller amount of outlet air 802 at a lower temperature level T2, e.g. 8 degrees Celsius, which effect, i.e. 802=T1, may be achieved by opening the throttle plate 141 to provide some bypass and at an increased fan speed that may provide the same cooling effect as using now bypass and a lower fan speed, i.e. 802=T1.
As can be seen in
At the partitioning wall 14 there is arranged a low pressure tubing 106 of a heat exchanger loop 10 that may be used to lower the temperature of the cooling media 31, i.e. produce and store cooling media 31. In the preferred embodiment the cooling media 31 is water and the heat exchange loop 10 is used to produce ice within the tubes 30.
The heat exchanger 10 is preferably of a conventional kind with a tubing 103, 106 containing a refrigerant such as R134a, wherein the tubing 103, 106 forms a closed loop. The heat exchanger 10 comprises a low-pressure part 10L that mainly includes the low pressure tubing 106 running along the partitioning wall 14 and a high-pressure part 10H that mainly is contained in the second separate space 17 and which includes the high pressure tubing 103. The high-pressure part 10H is pressurized by means of a compressor 100 and the pressurized gas in the high pressure tubing 103 is thereafter moved into a heat exchanger device 101, where it will give away energy to the air flowing therethrough, which air enters into the inlet 804, passes through heat exchanger device 101 and leaves through the outlet 108. In the heat exchanger device 101 the gas in the high pressure tubing 103 will condense, at least partly. Before entering the low-pressure tubing 106 the pressure of the liquid/gas will be lowered by passing through an expansion device 102, that could be in a form of an expansion valve or a capillary tube, whereupon the temperature of the liquid in the low pressure tubing will drastically drop and thereby produce ice in the tubes 30, by cooling the cooling media 31 in the tubes 30.
Preferably, the boiling point of the refrigerant in the tubing 103, 106 is well below 0° C., e.g. around −5 to −15° C. In one example the refrigerant will have a temperature of about −15° C. when entering into the low pressure tubing 106 and be evaporated by the cooling media 31 (first in water form), whereby an increase of about 5-15° C. will occur, e.g. having a temperature of about −5° C. at the inlet of the compressor 100. At this stage, the refrigerant has preferably been completely transformed from a fluid to a gas. In the compressor 100, the gas of the refrigerant is pressurized to increase its temperature, e.g. with about +80-120° C. and supplied into the pressurized tubing 103. Thereafter the refrigerant is lead into heat exchange device 101, where it is cooled to about +40-50° C. by the ambient air forced therethrough by means of the fan 105 and then condenses. After passing through the heat exchange device 101 it is again passed through the expansion device 102.
The compressor preferably has a relatively small capacity, i.e. in the range of 100-800 W. Thanks to this arrangement, extra environmental advantages such as less material consumption upon manufacture and smaller energy requirements during operation, among others, may be gained and also advantages from a cost perspective may be gained due to the fact that compressors in this size are produced for domestic use in large series, e.g. to be used in refrigerators and freezers. The arrangement according to the invention may be optimized to fit certain conditions, e.g. working conditions, i.e. operated by means of the heat exchanger loop 10 for a longer time period to produce cooling media (e.g. 13-16 hours) than the cooling function is in use (e.g. 6-11 hours), which may enable use of a smaller compressor 100.
As shown in
Further, there is shown a preferred positioning and arrangement of the collection channel 16, such that when the water collection device 170 is full the water level will reach the lower edge of the longitudinal partition wall 14. As a consequence, no air can pass through the U-shaped flow channel 805, 806, 808. Hence, this is a smart adaptation of the condensation container space so that when it is full, the water blocks the air flow and therewith additional condensation water supply is eliminated, such that undesired spillage is avoided.
The basic principle of use of the air conditioning arrangement 1 in a user space, e.g. office room, according to the invention is that cooling media 31 is produced during a time period, normally during night, when the user space is not actively used by persons and that produced cooling media is used for cooling air of the user space during active time, normally day-time. A typical place for use of the air conditioning arrangement 1 according to the invention would be an office where the air conditioning arrangement 1 would produce cooling media, e.g. in the form of ice, during night-time and where during daytime the ice is allowed to melt for production of cool air to the surroundings. Also, the opposite may be applied, e.g. for homes, where the air conditioning arrangement 1 would be used for producing cool air during night-time and production of cooling media 31 would occur during daytime.
Production of cooling media 31 is achieved by activating the heat exchange loop 10 whereby air from the surroundings may be supplied by means of a fan 105 into an air flow channel having an inlet 107 within the second space 18 of the housing 11 and thereafter moved to pass through the heat exchanger device 101 wherein heat is rejected to the air passing through the heat exchanger when the cooling media in vapor phase condence within the pressurized part of the heat exchange loop. Thereafter the cooling media now mostly in liquid phase will be depressurized in a expansion device 102 whereupon the temperature will drop drastically and provide for cooling the cooling media 31 in the tubes 30.
In
In the embodiment shown in
In
As an alternative (not shown), to the embodiment shown in
The arrangement according to the invention provides a novel concept where the advantages of heat pump, in a very efficient manner, may be used to improve living conditions, wherein ice is used as the basic cooling media 31.
The invention is not to be seen as limited by the preferred embodiment described above, but can be varied within the scope of the claims, as will be readily apparent to the person skilled in the art. For instance, the different portions of the loops can be positioned in various manners, at separate locations within the arrangement.
In
The air condition arrangement 1 includes an evaporator 2 and a condenser 3 connected in a heat exchange loop 20, 4, 30, 5, which is of a conventional kind with a tubing containing a heat exchange fluid, e.g. water/air mixture (at under pressure) or a refrigerant such as R134a (tetrafluoroethene, CH2FCF3). Said tubing forming a closed loop inside the air condition arrangement 1. Preferably water may be used to minimise any risk in the case of leakage. The boiling point of the fluid used has to be lower than ambient air t2, e.g. around 15 to 30° C. lower than t2. The air will then evaporate the fluid in the evaporator 2 and thereby give off heat, which increases the density of the air causing a downward flow of air through the evaporator 2. The air will then leave the evaporator 2 at the bottom thereof at lower temperature t3, thereby providing a flow of cold air. Within the tubing 20 of the evaporator 2 the incoming fluid has a temperature t4 of about the boiling point, e.g. 5° C. that provides it in at least partly liquid state. In the evaporator 2 the fluid will be heated by the down flowing air, such that the fluid in the tubing 4 after the evaporator 2 will have a temperature t1 that is about 5-20° C. higher than t4, e.g. 15° C.
From the evaporator 2 the tubing 4 leads into the condenser 3. Here within the condenser 3 the tubing 30 gets in contact with a cold media 31. The cold media, may be ice or very cold water, or a mixture thereof, having a temperature t5 of about +2-0° C. As a consequence the fluid will condense and move downwards, causing circulation within the loop 20,4, 30, 5. As long as ice is melting in the cold media 31 the process will continue by itself and provide a down ward flow of cold air.
In
In
A low pressure part 106 leads from an expansion valve 102 into the interior of the condenser 3 where it will cool the media 31, i.e. water, therein and create ice. Preferably, the boiling point of the refrigerant is well below 0° C., e.g. around −5 to −15° C. In one example the refrigerant will have a temperature of about −15° C. when entering into the condenser 3 and evaporated by the media (first in water form), whereby an increase of about 5-15° C. will occur, e.g. having a temperature of about −5° C. at the outlet and the tubing part 107 before the compressor 100. At this stage, the refrigerant has been completely transformed from a fluid to a gas. In the compressor 100, the gas of the refrigerant is pressurized to increase its temperature, e.g. with about +80-120° C. and supplied into a pressurized part 103. The pressurized part 107 may be lead through a condense container 7, to possibly evaporate remaining water in the condense container 7. Thereafter the refrigerant is lead into a spirally arranged heat exchange tubing 104, where it is cooled to about +40-50° C. by the ambient air. After passing through the tubing 104 it is again transferred through the expansion valve 9.
The compressor preferably has a relatively small capacity, i.e. in the range of 100-800 W. Thanks to this arrangement, extra environmental advantages such as less material consumption upon manufacture and smaller energy requirements during operation, among others, may be gained and also advantages from a cost perspective may be gained due to the fact that compressors in this size are produced in large series, e.g. to be used in refrigerators.
As is clear from
In the left-hand side of
The invention is not limited by the appended claims, but may be varied within the enclosure of the application seen as whole. For instance, it is foreseen that one or more divisional applications may be filed, e.g. providing protection for the modified embodiments presented in
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2050061-7 | Jan 2020 | SE | national |
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/SE2020/051265 | 12/30/2020 | WO |
