The subject matter disclosed herein relates to heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems. More specifically, the subject matter disclosed herein relates to falling film evaporators for HVAC systems.
In falling film evaporators, saturated two-phase refrigerant is distributed over an evaporator tube bundle both in an axial direction along a length of the tube bundle and a lateral direction over a width of the tube bundle. Poor or uneven distribution results in reduced efficiency of the evaporator, which is compensated for by utilizing larger evaporators.
Two-phase flow distribution inside evaporators is challenging. Liquid and vapor in a saturated mixture have substantially different enthalpies and tend to separate due the density difference between the two phases making even distribution difficult. A typical approach to alleviate this issue involves separating the liquid and vapor refrigerant in a separator upstream of the evaporator distributor, either internal to the evaporator or outside of the evaporator. The vapor is routed back to the compressor, while the liquid refrigerant is distributed over the tube bundle via gravity, flowing the liquid refrigerant through ports in a distribution plate located over the tube bundle. While separation of vapor and liquid refrigerant increases the uniformity of liquid refrigerant distribution over the tube bundle, for uniform distribution, the orifice area in the distribution plate must be small enough such that liquid covers the plate and a liquid seal over the ports is achieved at minimum load. Otherwise substantial maldistribution can occur. This creates an issue with contaminates plugging the small ports. Larger but fewer ports can result in poor coverage of liquid over the tubes. Additionally, the flow through the ports is controlled by the hydrostatic head over the plate and at full load the liquid height must increase substantially in order to satisfy the higher flow rate demand through the ports. This results in very large distributors and a large refrigerant volume.
In one embodiment, a heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) system includes a condenser flowing a flow of refrigerant therethrough and a falling film evaporator in flow communication with the condenser. The falling film evaporator includes a plurality of evaporator tubes through which a volume of thermal energy transfer medium is flowed, and a distributor to distribute a flow of liquid refrigerant over the plurality of evaporator tubes. The distributor includes a distributor box and a distribution sheet positioned at a bottom surface of the distributor box having a plurality of peaks and valleys, with sidewalls extending between each peak and each valley. A plurality of ports is located in the sidewalls to distribute the flow of liquid refrigerant downwardly over the plurality of evaporator tubes.
In another embodiment, a falling film evaporator includes a plurality of evaporator tubes through which a volume of thermal energy transfer medium is flowed, and a distributor to distribute a flow of liquid refrigerant over the plurality of evaporator tubes. The distributor includes a distributor box and a distribution sheet positioned at a bottom surface of the distributor box having a plurality of peaks and valleys, with sidewalls extending between each peak and each valley. A plurality of ports is located in the sidewalls to distribute the flow of liquid refrigerant downwardly over the plurality of evaporator tubes.
These and other advantages and features will become more apparent from the following description taken in conjunction with the drawings.
The subject matter, which is regarded as the invention, is particularly pointed out and distinctly claimed in the claims at the conclusion of the specification. The foregoing and other features, and advantages of the invention are apparent from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which:
The detailed description explains embodiments of the invention, together with advantages and features, by way of example with reference to the drawing.
Shown in
Referring now to
An embodiment of a distributor 42 is shown in
Referring now to
Other configurations are shown in the cross-sectional views of
As shown in
Referring to
The distribution sheet 48 disclosed herein improves uniformity of distribution of liquid refrigerant 30 over the tube bundles 40, resulting in improved performance over a wide range of flow conditions. It reduces refrigerant charge volume and cost and reduces system height due to reduced required liquid refrigerant 30 column height at high load conditions. Further, the arrangement of the ports 50 on the sidewalls 62 reduces contaminant plugging of the ports 50 making the system more resistant to fouling.
While the invention has been described in detail in connection with only a limited number of embodiments, it should be readily understood that the invention is not limited to such disclosed embodiments. Rather, the invention can be modified to incorporate any number of variations, alterations, substitutions or equivalent arrangements not heretofore described, but which are commensurate with the spirit and scope of the invention. Additionally, while various embodiments of the invention have been described, it is to be understood that aspects of the invention may include only some of the described embodiments. Accordingly, the invention is not to be seen as limited by the foregoing description, but is only limited by the scope of the appended claims.
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
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PCT/US2014/040799 | 6/4/2014 | WO | 00 |
Publishing Document | Publishing Date | Country | Kind |
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WO2014/197538 | 12/11/2014 | WO | A |
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8517354 | Binkley | Aug 2013 | B1 |
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2843689 | Mar 2013 | CA |
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Entry |
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Shimamura, Masayuki, Sprinkler of Absorption Water Cooler/Heater, Jun. 30, 2000, European Patent Office, English Translation. |
Shimamura, Masayuki, Sprinkler of Absorption Water Cooler/Heater, Jun. 30, 2000, European Patent Office, English Translation (Year: 2000). |
Notification of Transmittal of the International Search Report and the Written Opinion of the International Searching Authority, or the Declaration: PCT/US2014/040799; dated Sep. 17, 2014; 5 pages. |
Number | Date | Country | |
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20160123673 A1 | May 2016 | US |
Number | Date | Country | |
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61831349 | Jun 2013 | US |