Claims
- 1. In a refrigeration system having a vaporized refrigerant and a noncondensable gas in a gaseous mixture above a liquid refrigerant within a storage tank, an air purge system comprising:
- (a) means, including expansion means, for feeding liquid refrigerant from said refrigeration system into an evaporator, and an outlet conduit in fluid communication with said evaporator for returning refrigerant to the refrigeration system,
- (b) means for bringing said gaseous mixture into contact with the evaporator, thereby condensing at least a portion of said vaporized refrigerant out of the gaseous mixture and increasing the concentration of said noncondensable gas within the gaseous mixture,
- (c) an air outlet in fluid communication with said evaporator for releasing the gaseous mixture out of the refrigeration system,
- (d) an insulated enclosure, at least a substantial portion of the top and sides of said evaporator being enclosed therein, and
- (e) isolation means for at least partially isolating the evaporator from the storage tank,
- wherein the evaporator is held within the storage tank above the liquid refrigerant, and said isolation means includes a baffle disposed within the storage tank between the evaporator and the liquid refrigerant, said baffle having an opening for admitting the gaseous mixture.
- 2. The air purge system of claim 1, wherein the baffle is circular in shape and includes a disc-like portion having a partially cone-shaped skirt extending downwardly therefrom, said opening being a circular hole located near the center of the disc-like portion thereof.
- 3. The air purge system of claim 1, further comprising means for opening said air outlet when the temperature in said outlet conduit varies from a predetermined temperature.
- 4. The air purge system of claim 3, wherein said means for opening said air outlet is automatically controlled.
- 5. The air purge system of claim 3, wherein said means for opening said air outlet is manually controlled.
- 6. The air purge system of claim 1, further comprising means for opening said air outlet when the temperature in said outlet conduit varies from a predetermined temperature, wherein said means for opening said air outlet includes a thermostat having a first sensor and a second sensor, the first sensor being disposed to sense a first temperature at an outlet of said evaporator, the second sensor being disposed to sense a second temperature at said storage tank.
RELATED U.S. APPLICATION DATA
This is a continuation-in-part of application Ser. No. 08/007,500 filed Jan. 22, 1993 now U.S. Pat. No. 5,291,743, which is in turn a continuation of application Ser. No. 07/332,235 filed Mar. 31, 1989 now U.S. Pat. No. 5,195,333, which is in turn a continuation of application Ser. No. 07/109,958 filed Oct. 19, 1987 now abandoned.
US Referenced Citations (4)
Continuations (2)
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Number |
Date |
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Parent |
332235 |
Mar 1989 |
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Parent |
109958 |
Oct 1987 |
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Continuation in Parts (1)
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7500 |
Jan 1993 |
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