Patent Application
20170160006
This application claims the benefit of priority to an Iran patent application having a serial number 139450140003013187 filed on Feb. 14, 2016, which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.
The present disclosure relates generally to a thermal exchange refrigeration system and, in particular, relates to a commercial cooling panel for cooling either a small or a large space using coolant fluid coupled with radiators.
Refrigeration is a process of moving heat from one location to another in controlled conditions. The work of heat transport is traditionally driven by mechanical work, but can also be driven by heat, magnetism, electricity, laser, or other means. Refrigeration has many applications, including, but not limited to: household refrigerators, industrial freezers, cryogenics, and air conditioning. Heat pumps may use the heat output of the refrigeration process, and also may be designed to be reversible, but are otherwise similar to air conditioning units. Refrigeration has had a large impact on industry, lifestyle, agriculture and settlement patterns.
In a typical thermal exchange refrigeration system, the liquid coolant flows through a thermal refrigeration system, removing excess heat and in doing so, raising the temperature of the coolant liquid. This coolant then needs to be returned to set point temperature by flowing through a heat exchanger. In a typical household refrigerator, this step occurs inside a condenser behind the refrigerator. The condenser consumes energy and thereby increase the energy consumption of the refrigeration system. There is a need, however, to reduce the energy consumption of the refrigeration system. Hence, there is a need for a refrigeration system that is configured to return the temperature of the coolant to a desired temperature point without using a condenser or as efficiently as possible.
In one general aspect, the instant application describes a thermal exchange refrigeration system. The thermal exchange refrigeration system includes a first radiator placed inside a refrigerating room and configured to cool a temperature inside the refrigerating room via a coolant; a second radiator connected to the first radiator and exposed to an outside temperature, the second radiator being configured to cool the coolant of the first radiator using the outside temperature; and a temperature sensor placed inside the refrigerating room and configured to sense a temperature inside the refrigerating room.
The thermal exchange refrigeration system also includes a controller in communication with the first radiator, the second radiator, and the temperature sensor. The controller is configured to receive the temperature inside the refrigerating room, determine whether the temperature inside the refrigerating room is above a pre-defined temperature, and upon determining the temperature inside the refrigerating room is above the pre-defined temperature, instruct the first radiator to start cooling the temperature inside the refrigerating room via the coolant. In response to the instruction from the controller, the first radiator begins circulating the coolant within the refrigerating room to absorb heat within the refrigerating room and transferring heated coolant to the second radiator. The second radiator is configured to receive the heated coolant and return the heated coolant to a desired temperature using an outside temperature and return the coolant to the first radiator. The outside temperature is lower and the temperature inside the refrigerating room.
The above general aspect may include one or more of the following features. The refrigerating room may include a household refrigerator. The first radiator may be placed inside the household refrigerator. The second radiator may be placed outside a building in which the household refrigerator is located. The refrigerating room may include a plurality of refrigerating rooms inside a cooling warehouse. The first radiator may be placed inside each of the plurality of the refrigerating rooms inside the cooling warehouse, and the second radiator may be placed outside the cooling warehouse. The coolant may include an ethylene glycol.
The fluid pump may be configured to circulate the coolant within the first and second radiators in response to instructions from the controller. The plurality of tubing may be configured to connect the first radiator to the second radiator. The first of the plurality of the tubing may be configured to transfer heated coolant from the first radiator to the second radiator for cooling. The second of the plurality of the tubing may be configured to return cooled coolant from the second radiator to the first radiator.
The thermal exchange refrigerating system may further include a thermal capacitor configured to removably couple to the first radiator and the second radiator. The thermal capacitor may be configured to couple to the second radiator during a cold weather and stored a cold coolant. The thermal capacitor may be configured to couple to the first radiator during a warm weather or above a pre-defined temperature and use the stored cold coolant to cool the coolant of the first radiator.
The thermal capacitor may contain 10 L ethylene glycol. The thermal exchange refrigerating system may further include an outside frame configured to house and protect the second radiator. The thermal exchange refrigerating system may further include a second temperature sensor placed outside of the refrigerating room and configured to measure a temperature outside of a building in which the refrigerating room is placed. The controller may be configured to determine whether the temperature outside of the building in which the refrigerating room is placed is below a second user-defined threshold. Upon determining the temperature outside of the building is below the second threshold, the controller may instruct the first radiator and the second radiator to cool the refrigerating room.
In another general aspect, the instant application describes a method including: measuring via a first temperature sensor a first temperature outside a refrigerating room; measuring via a second temperature sensor a second temperature inside the refrigerating room; sending the first and second temperatures to a controller; receiving, at the controller, the first and second temperatures; comparing via the controller the first temperature with a first threshold; comparing via the controller the second temperature with a second threshold; and upon determining via the controller that the first temperature is below the first threshold and the second temperature is above the second threshold, activating a first thermal exchange refrigeration system being supplementary to a second thermal exchange refrigeration system. Activating the first thermal exchange refrigeration system includes instructing a fluid pump to circulate coolant between a first radiator placed inside the refrigerating room and a second radiator placed outside the refrigerating room. The second radiator is placed outside a building in which the refrigerating room is located and is configured to use the first temperature to cool the coolant circulating in the first radiator inside the refrigerating room.
The above general method aspect may include one or more of the following features. The method may further include absorbing heat inside the refrigerating room via the coolant flowing inside the first radiator using the fluid pump; desorbing the inside heat absorbed by the coolant by flowing the coolant inside the second radiator outside the refrigerating room using the fluid pump; and transferring to, and storing in, cooled coolant to a thermal capacitor from the second radiator for use during a warm weather. The method may further include upon determining the second temperature is above the second threshold and the first temperature is above the first threshold, coupling the thermal capacitor to the first radiator and suing the cooled coolant stored in the thermal capacitor to cool the coolant of the first radiator. The first threshold may be 50° C.
The method may further include commanding via the controller the fluid pump to stop operating when the difference between the first and second temperatures is less than 2° C. The method may further include commanding, by the controller, the fluid pump to stop operating when the first temperature is below −25° C. The coolant may be ethylene glycol. The refrigerating room may include a household freezer-refrigerator. The refrigerating room may include a cooling warehouse.
Features of the subject technology are set forth in the appended claims. However, for purpose of explanation, several implementations of the subject technology are set forth in the following figure.
In the following detailed description, various examples are presented to provide a thorough understanding of inventive concepts, and various aspects thereof that are set forth by this disclosure. However, upon reading the present disclosure, it may become apparent to persons of skill that various inventive concepts and aspects thereof may be practiced without one or more details shown in the examples. In other instances, well known procedures, operations and materials have been described at a relatively high-level, without detail, to avoid unnecessarily obscuring description of inventive concepts and aspects thereof.
Heat naturally flows from hot to cold. Work is applied to cool a living space or storage volume by pumping heat from a lower temperature heat source into a higher temperature heat sink. Insulation is used to reduce the work and energy needed to achieve and maintain a lower temperature in the cooled space. The operating principle of the refrigeration cycle was described mathematically by Sadi Carnot in 1824 as a heat engine. The most common types of refrigeration systems use the Reverse-Rankine vapor-compression refrigeration cycle, although absorption heat pumps are used in a minority of applications.
Cyclic refrigeration can be classified as: 1-Vapor cycle, and 2-Gas cycle. Vapor cycle refrigeration can further be classified as: 1-Vapor-compression refrigeration and 2-Vapor-absorption refrigeration. The vapor-compression cycle is used in most household refrigerators as well as in many large commercial and industrial refrigeration systems. In a thermodynamic cycle, a circulating refrigerant such as Freon enters the compressor as a vapor. First, the vapor is compressed at constant entropy and exits the compressor as a vapor at a higher temperature, but still below the vapor pressure at that temperature. Then, the vapor travels through the condenser, which cools the vapor until it starts condensing, and then condenses the vapor into a liquid by removing additional heat at constant pressure and temperature. Subsequently, the liquid refrigerant goes through the expansion valve (also called a throttle valve) where its pressure abruptly decreases, causing flash evaporation and auto-refrigeration of, typically, less than half of the liquid. That results in a mixture of liquid and vapor at a lower temperature and pressure. The cold liquid-vapor mixture then travels through the evaporator coil or tubes and is completely vaporized by cooling the warm air (from the space being refrigerated) being blown by a fan across the evaporator coil or tubes. The resulting refrigerant vapor returns to the compressor inlet to complete the thermodynamic cycle.
As noted above, in a typical thermal exchange refrigeration system, the liquid coolant flows through the thermal refrigeration system, removing excess heat and in doing so, raising the temperature of the coolant liquid. This coolant then needs to be returned to set point temperature by flowing through a heat exchanger or exposing to an environment with the desired low temperature. In the present application, the coolant flows from the space to be cooled to outside the space to be cooled and becomes exposed to outside temperature of an exterior environment. For example, in the cold environment, the temperature of the exterior environment may be lower or significantly lower than the interior temperature of the space that is being cooled. Therefore, the exterior environment may be used to cool the coolant instead of a condenser or a cooling device. This may significantly reduce the energy needed to cool the coolant since no cooling or heat exchanger device may need to be used.
To this end, the thermal exchange refrigeration system includes a first radiator, a second radiator, and a thermal capacitor. The first radiator may be placed inside a refrigerating room. The first radiator is configured to absorb heat via a coolant. The first radiator then transfers the heated coolant to the second radiator to return the coolant to the desired temperature. This flow of the coolant between the first radiator and the second radiator may be a continuous flow. The second radiator may be placed outside the refrigerating room. In one example, the second radiator may be placed in an outside environment in a cold weather. To this end, the second radiator is in contact with the outside air which has a lower temperature than the raised temperature of the coolant and perhaps even a lower than the temperature inside the refrigerating room.
The second radiator returns the coolant to the desired temperature and then back to the first radiator to cool the temperature inside the refrigerating room. The thermal exchange refrigeration system may also include the thermal capacitor. The thermal capacitor may be used to store cold coolant. During the cold weather, the coolant may be cooled outside the space to be cooled within the second radiator and be stored inside the thermal capacitor. This energy may be utilized to cool the space to be cooled when needed by coupling the thermal capacitor to the first radiator.
The thermal exchange refrigeration system 110 may be used as a supplementary unit to the main refrigeration system (not shown). For example, the thermal exchange refrigeration system 110 may be activated via a controller during cold weather, when the outside temperature is below a certain threshold. The threshold may be set to 5° C., for example. If the outside temperature is above this threshold, the main refrigeration system may be activated via the controller to cool the refrigerating rooms 105. The main refrigeration system may include a condenser or a heat exchanger that is power supplied and used to cool the coolant of the first radiator.
If the outside temperature is below the certain threshold, the supplementary thermal exchange refrigeration system 110 is activated by the controller to cool the plurality of the refrigerating rooms 105. In such a situation, the thermal exchange refrigeration system 110 may replace the main refrigeration unit and therefore may be configured to significantly reduce the energy consumption by utilizing the lower temperature outside the space to be cooled instead of a heat pump or a condenser.
Referring again to
The first radiator 112 may be placed on the ceiling of each of the refrigerating rooms 105. Alternatively, the first radiator 112 may be placed in other locations inside the refrigerating rooms 105; e.g. on the side walls. The first radiator 112 may be configured to absorb the heat inside the refrigerating rooms 105 through a coolant. The coolant may be flowing through the first radiator 112, which is located on the walls of the refrigerating rooms 105. As the coolant absorbs the heat inside the refrigerating rooms 105, the coolant may be transferred to the outside of the space to be cooled. In one specific example, the first radiator 112 may transfer the coolant via the fluid pump 114 and the plurality of tubing 116 to the second radiator 118.
The fluid pump 114 may be placed inside the space to be cooled; e.g. on the side wall. The plurality of tubing 116 may connect the first radiator 116 and the second radiator 118. The coolant may be transferred through the plurality of tubing 116 from the first radiator 116 to the second radiator 118.
The second radiator 118 may be placed outside of the space to be cooled 110. The second radiator 118 may be in contact with the outside air, which have a temperature lower than the coolant received from the first radiator 116. To this end, the outside air may decrease the temperature of the coolant to a desired temperature. The second radiator 118 subsequently transfers the coolant to the inside of the space to be cooled via the fluid pump 114. The second radiator 118 may be placed within an outside frame 120. The outside frame 120 may be located outside of the cooling warehouse 100. Specifically, the outside frame 120 may be attached to the exterior wall of the cooling warehouse 100. The outside frame 120 may be configured to cover the second radiator 118 and protect the second radiator 118 from damages by the cold temperatures or precipitation, etc.
In an example of the present application, a thermal capacitor 122 may be coupled to the first radiator 112 and the second radiator 118. The thermal capacitor may be an insulated apparatus that stores a hot/warm fluid to further release it to an environment to warm/cool the environment. The thermal capacitor 122 may be coupled to the second radiator 118 during the cold days to store cold coolant. The thermal capacitor 122 may be coupled to the first radiator 112 during the warm days to cool the refrigerating rooms 105 by flowing the cold stored coolant through the first radiator 112. The coupling and decoupling of the thermal capacitor 122 to the first radiator 112 and the second radiator 118 may be performed by a controller 124. The cooled coolant may be stored inside the tubes inside the thermal capacitor 122. On the other hand, during the hot weather, the thermal capacitor 122 may be coupled to the first radiator 112. The cold coolant which is stored in the thermal capacitor 122 may flow inside the first radiator 112 and release the stored energy of the cooled coolant to the space to be cooled 110.
In an example of the present application, the thermal capacitor may be a 10 L tank. In an example of the present application, ethylene glycol may be used as the coolant.
In operation, the temperature sensor (not shown) inside the refrigerating rooms 105 may measure and send the temperature to a controller 124. The controller 124 then may compare the temperature inside the refrigerating rooms 105 with a pre-defined threshold. If the temperature is higher than the pre-defined threshold, then the controller 124 determines that the refrigerating rooms 105 should be cooled. In response to such determination, the controller 124 may then determine whether to use the main thermal refrigeration system or the supplementary thermal refrigeration system 110.
To make this determination, the controller 124 may determine whether the outside temperature is below a certain threshold. In keeping with the previous example, the certain threshold may be 5° C. If so, the controller 124 may use the supplementary thermal refrigeration system 110 in place of the main thermal refrigeration system 110. Otherwise, the controller 124 may use the main thermal refrigeration system in place of the supplementary thermal system 110. Assuming that the outside temperature is below the certain threshold, the controller 124 may issue a command to the first radiator 112 to start circulating the coolant.
In response to the command, the first radiator 112 via the fluid pump 114 circulates the coolant within the pipes of the first radiator 112. In this manner, the coolant may cool down the temperature inside the refrigerating rooms 105. Simultaneously, the coolant may be transferred to the second radiator 118 via the fluid pump to be cooled. This process may continue until the controller 124 command the fluid pump 114 to stop operating once the desire temperature is reached inside the refrigerating room 105.
As noted above, the controller 124 may command the fluid pump 114 to start operating when the outside temperature is below 5° C. However, if the outside temperature is above 5° C., the controller 124 may not command to start operation of the supplementary thermal refrigeration system 110 because of the adverse effect of high outside temperature on efficiency of the coolant. In such situations, however, the controller 124 may command to couple the first radiator 112 with the thermal capacitor 122 to cool the refrigerating rooms 105. The cooling via thermal capacitor 122 may continue until the coolant temperature is 2° C. above the temperature inside the refrigerating rooms 105. Subsequently, the controller 124 may command the main refrigeration unit to continue cooling the space to be cooled 110.
In another aspect of the present application, the controller 124 may command the fluid pump 114 to stop operating once the temperature difference between the inside the refrigerating room 105 and the outside the refrigerating room 105 is 2° C. or less.
The freezer 310 may be placed above the refrigerator 312 in an example. The first radiator 314 may be located inside the refrigerator 312. In one specific example as shown, the first radiator 314 may be placed at the upper part of the refrigerator 312 and below the freezer 310. The thermal capacitor 322 may be placed above the first radiator 314 and inside the freezer 312 to preserve the cooled coolant for longer duration of times. A plurality of tubing (not shown) may connect the first radiator 314 to the second refrigerator 318. Depending on the controller 124 command, the coolant may flow between the first radiator 314, the second radiator 316 and the thermal capacitor 322 by a fluid pump 316. The fluid pump 316 may be located at the bottom and behind the freezer-refrigerator. The second radiator 318 may be located outside the freezer-refrigerator. The second radiator 318 may be covered and protected by an outside frame 320. The operation of the household thermal exchange refrigeration system 300 may be controlled by the controller 324. The operation of the household thermal exchange refrigeration system 300 is similar to the operation of the thermal exchange refrigeration system described in
It should be noted that, the first radiator 314 may be placed inside the refrigerator 312 or inside the freezer 310. Moreover, the thermal capacitor 322 may be placed below the first radiator 314. In an aspect of the present application, a compressor may be used as the fluid pump.
In one specific example, the interior radiating unit 412 may correspond to the unit that is placed inside the refrigerating room such as for example the refrigerating room 105 shown in
The exterior radiating unit 410 may correspond to the unit that is placed outside the refrigerating room such as for example the refrigerating room 105 shown in
The capacitor 414 may correspond to the capacitor 122 and 322 shown in
The first temperature sensor is configured to measure temperature T1 outside of the refrigerating room in an open environment. The open environment may correspond to a cold environment in one specific example, where the temperature T1 is between −25° C. to 4° C. The second temperature sensor is configured to measure temperature T2 of the capacitor 414. The third temperature sensor is configured to measure T3 inside the refrigerating room. Each of the temperature sensors is configured to communicated the measured temperature to the controller 416. Upon receiving the measured temperature, the controller 416 may take one of the several actions.
For example, upon receiving the temperatures, if the controller 416 determines temperature T1 is between −25° C. to 4° C. and temperature T2 is less than T1, the controller 416 turns on pump 410b. Upon turning on, the pump 410b circulates the coolant between the radiator 410a and the radiator Rad 2 inside the capacitor 414 resulting in storing cool coolant in the capacitor 414.
Subsequently, if the controller 416 determines that temperature T2 of the capacitor is less than the temperature T3 of the refrigerating room and the temperature T2 of the capacitor is also less than or equal to 4° C. and the temperature T3 is above 0° C., the controller 416 may turn on pump 412b. By turning on pump 412b, the pump 412b starts circulating the coolant between the radiator 412a and the radiator Rad 3 of the capacitor 414 to cool the interior space of the refrigerating room. If the controller 416 determines that the temperature T3 of the outside is greater than 4° C., then the controller turns off the supplementary thermal refrigerating unit and turns on the compressor for the main thermal refrigerating unit. In one implementation, the controller 416 steps through the above conditions in order shown in
In all the above cases, it should be noted that the outside temperature should not fall below −25° C., to avoid freezing the coolant. In those instances, the controller may command the fluid pump to stop operating and the main refrigeration unit may be used.
The above discussion is based on the ideal vapor-compression refrigeration cycle, and does not consider real-world effects like frictional pressure drop in the system, slight thermodynamic irreversibility during the compression of the refrigerant vapor, or non-ideal gas behavior, if any.
Except as stated immediately above, nothing that has been stated or illustrated is intended or should be interpreted to cause a dedication of any component, step, feature, object, benefit, advantage, or equivalent to the public, regardless of whether it is or is not recited in the claims.
It will be understood that the terms and expressions used herein have the ordinary meaning as is accorded to such terms and expressions with respect to their corresponding respective areas of inquiry and study except where specific meanings have otherwise been set forth herein. Relational terms such as first and second and the like may be used solely to distinguish one entity or action from another without necessarily requiring or implying any actual such relationship or order between such entities or actions. The terms “comprises,” “comprising,” or any other variation thereof, are intended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion, such that a process, method, article, or apparatus that comprises a list of elements does not include only those elements but may include other elements not expressly listed or inherent to such process, method, article, or apparatus. An element proceeded by “a” or “an” does not, without further constraints, preclude the existence of additional identical elements in the process, method, article, or apparatus that comprises the element.
The Abstract of the Disclosure is provided to allow the reader to quickly ascertain the nature of the technical disclosure. It is submitted with the understanding that it will not be used to interpret or limit the scope or meaning of the claims. In addition, in the foregoing Detailed Description, it can be seen that various features are grouped together in various implementations. This is for purposes of streamlining the disclosure, and is not to be interpreted as reflecting an intention that the claimed implementations require more features than are expressly recited in each claim. Rather, as the following claims reflect, inventive subject matter lies in less than all features of a single disclosed implementation. Thus, the following claims are hereby incorporated into the Detailed Description, with each claim standing on its own as a separately claimed subject matter.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 13945014000301318 | Feb 2016 | IR | national |
