U.S. patent application number 12/746420 was filed with the patent office on 2010-09-30 for air routing for simultaneous heating and cooling.
Invention is credited to Alexander Lifson, Michael F. Taras.
Application Number | 20100242509 12/746420 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 40718016 |
Filed Date | 2010-09-30 |
United States Patent
Application |
20100242509 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Lifson; Alexander ; et
al. |
September 30, 2010 |
AIR ROUTING FOR SIMULTANEOUS HEATING AND COOLING
Abstract
In an enclosed space which requires refrigeration or cooling at
the same time when the heating of air is required, provision is
made to divert at least a portion of the flow of heated air from
the air conditioning/refrigeration heat rejection heat exchanger to
the climate-controlled zone which requires heating. An airflow
control device, such as one or more dampers, is provided for
controlling the amount of heated air delivered to the
climate-controlled-zone.
Inventors: |
Lifson; Alexander; (Manlius,
NY) ; Taras; Michael F.; (Fayetteville, NY) |
Correspondence
Address: |
MARJAMA MULDOON BLASIAK & SULLIVAN LLP
250 SOUTH CLINTON STREET, SUITE 300
SYRACUSE
NY
13202
US
|
Family ID: |
40718016 |
Appl. No.: |
12/746420 |
Filed: |
December 7, 2007 |
PCT Filed: |
December 7, 2007 |
PCT NO: |
PCT/US07/86753 |
371 Date: |
June 4, 2010 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
62/115 ; 165/62;
62/408; 62/498 |
Current CPC
Class: |
F25B 29/003 20130101;
F24F 3/044 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
62/115 ; 62/498;
62/408; 165/62 |
International
Class: |
F25B 1/00 20060101
F25B001/00; F25D 17/04 20060101 F25D017/04; F25B 13/00 20060101
F25B013/00 |
Claims
1. An air conditioning system, a refrigeration system, or a
combination thereof, comprising: a compressor, a heat rejection
heat exchanger, an expansion device and an evaporator in a serial
flow relationship, with the evaporator for cooling air, and the
heat rejection heat exchanger for heating air; a discharge air duct
for conducting the flow of heated air from the heat rejection heat
exchanger; and an airflow control device for selectively directing
at least a portion of the heated air in the discharge air duct to
either a location within an enclosed space and/or to an ambient
environment.
2. A system as set forth in claim 1 wherein airflow control device
is at least one damper.
3. A system as set forth in claim 2 wherein said at least one
damper is a pair of dampers.
4. A system as set forth in claim 2 wherein said at least one
damper is a two-position damper.
5. A system as set forth in claim 2 wherein said at least one
damper is a multi-position damper such that some of the heated air
is passed into the enclosed space and some of the heated air is
passed to an ambient environment.
6. A system as set forth in claim 1 wherein the heated air is
utilized to satisfy fresh air circulation requirements.
7. A system as set forth in claim 1 wherein the heated air is
utilized for a zone temperature control.
8. A system as set forth in claim 1 wherein the enclosed space is a
space within a building.
9. A system as set forth in claim 1 wherein the refrigeration
system is a supermarket refrigeration system.
10. A system as set forth in claim 1 wherein said system at times
provides both refrigeration and heating.
11. A system as set forth in claim 1 wherein the system comprises a
multi-zone system associated with multiple climate-controlled zones
wherein one or more zones may require cooling while, at the same
time, one or more zones may require heating.
12. A method of operating an air conditioning system, a
refrigeration system or a combination thereof, comprising the steps
of: providing an evaporator for cooling air; providing a heat
rejection heat exchanger for heating air; providing a discharge air
duct for conducting the flow of the heated air from the heat
rejection heat exchanger; and selectively directing at least a
portion of the heated in the discharge air duct to either a
location within an enclosed space and/or to an ambient
environment.
13. A method as set forth in claim 12 wherein said flow directing
step is by way of at least one damper.
14. A method as set forth in claim 13 wherein said at least one
damper is a pair of dampers.
15. A method as set forth in claim 13 wherein said at least one
damper is a two-position damper.
16. A method as set forth in claim 13 wherein said at least one
damper is a multi-position damper such that some of the heated air
is passed into the enclosed space and some of the heated air is
passed to an ambient environment.
17. A method as set forth in claim 12 wherein the heated air is
utilized to satisfy fresh air circulation requirements.
18. A method as set forth in claim 12 wherein the heated air is
utilized for a zone temperature control
19. A method as set forth in claim 12 wherein the enclosed space is
a space within a building.
20. A method as set forth in claim 12 wherein the refrigeration
system is a supermarket refrigeration system.
21. A method as set forth in claim 12 wherein said system at times
provides both refrigeration and heating. 2,2. A method as set forth
in claim 12 wherein the system comprises a multi-zone system
associated with multiple climate-controlled zones wherein one or
more zones may require cooling while, at the same time, one or more
zones may require heating.
Description
TECHNICAL FIELD
[0001] This invention relates generally to refrigerant systems and,
more particularly, to systems which are capable of simultaneously,
providing cooling and heating.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0002] In a significant number of installations of heating,
ventilation, air conditioning and refrigeration (HVAC&R)
equipment, different climate-controlled zones have different
requirements for cooling and heating. For instance, in
supermarkets, there is generally a need for both refrigeration and
for comfort cooling/heating. That is, there is a continuous need to
maintain the refrigeration of both frozen and refrigerated goods.
At the same, however, the climate-controlled environment for
occupants (e.g. customers, service personnel, etc.) will require
either air conditioning or heating, depending on the ambient
temperature conditions and thermal load in the Conditioned space.
Generally, for the cooling function, an air Conditioning system is
provided, whereas for the heating function, a furnace, heat pump,
electric heat or their combination is provided.
[0003] For both the refrigeration system and the air conditioning
system, one or more heat rejection heat exchangers must be provided
to cool the refrigerant vapor coming, from the compressor. As
known, the heat rejection heat exchanger is a condenser for
subcritical applications and a gas cooler for transcritical
applications. Generally, the heat rejection heat exchangers for air
conditioning and large refrigeration equipment have been located
outside of the enclosed space with the heat being discharged to
ambient environment. At times, however, it has been found to be
more convenient to install the heat rejection heat exchanger inside
the supermarket spade such as a machine room. In such case, the
heat has generally been allowed to be dissipated within the space.
In any case, there has been no effort to strategically use the heat
dissipated by the heat rejection heat exchanger for heating
purposes within the enclosed space. The, enclosed space may be any
space where the air needs to be conditioned. The enclosed space,
for example, may be a space within a building such as a
supermarket, commercial building, school, hospital or
residence.
[0004] It is common in air conditioning systems to provide
conditioned air which is caused to flow to various zones within the
building. The temperature in each zone is monitored and maintained
by controlling the flow of conditioned air to each zone. Because of
differences in space usage, occupancy, ideation, equipment, etc.,
there may be one or more spaces which require air conditioning at a
particular time when, at the same time, one or more other spaces
require heat in order to maintain the desired temperatures. In such
cases, the heat has generally been applied by way of resistance
coils that are electrically heated. Again, no effort has been made
to use the heat from the condensers for that purpose.
DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION
[0005] In accordance with one aspect of the invention, a
refrigerant system includes a heat accepting heat exchanger to
selectively provide cooling to some climate-controlled zones and a
heat rejection heat exchanger to selectively provide heating to
other climate-controlled zones when required. In one embodiment,
one or more air dampers are used to direct flow either from the
heat accepting heat exchanger to selectively cool a particular
climate-controlled zone or to direct flow from the heat rejection
heat exchanger to selectively heat the climate-controlled zone. An
option to bring an untreated "fresh" ambient may also be
provided.
[0006] In another embodiment, an HVAC&R system includes an air
conditioning subsystem and a refrigeration subsystem, each of which
has the associated heat rejection heat exchanger to remove heat
from the refrigerant compressed in the compressor, while heating
air in the process. Each air stream passing through the associated
heat rejection heat exchanger may flow through a damper selectively
positioned so as to discharge the heated air either into the
building or outside the building being conditioned/refrigerated, or
both. In one example, both air conditioning and refrigeration
subsystems have the same heat rejection heat exchanger that is
utilized for heating purposes of a particular climate-controlled
zone.
[0007] By other aspect of the invention, a method of operating an
air HVAC&R system includes the steps of providing a discharge
duct for conducting the flow of heated air from a heat rejection
heat exchanger and an airflow control device, such as a damper, for
selectively directing the flow of heated air into the building,
outside of the building or both.
[0008] In the drawings as hereinafter described, a preferred
embodiment is depicted; however, various other modifications and
alternate constructions can be made thereto without departing from
the Spirit and scope of the invention.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0009] FIG. 1 is a schematic illustration of a supermarket building
with the present invention incorporated therein.
[0010] FIGS. 2-4 are schematic illustrations of the damper portion
of the present invention as shown in three different operating
positions.
[0011] FIG. 5 is a schematic illustration of a zoned building for
which the present invention maybe applied.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
[0012] Shown generally at 11 in FIG. 1 is a supermarket building
layout having a climate-controlled customer shopping area 12 and a
refrigerated section 13, which may include climate-controlled
environments for both low temperature deep frozen goods and medium
temperature refrigerated produce.
[0013] The customer shopping area 12 is preferably maintained
within a comfort zone, with respect to temperature and humidity,
that may depend on the time of the year and geographic location. In
order to accomplish this task of maintaining the comfort
conditions, it is typically necessary to have both an air
conditioning cooling system and some type of a heating system, a
combination of which is identified by the numeral 14. Generally,
the air conditioning subsystem will be in operation during the
cooling season (typically, summer months), the heating subsystem
will be in operation during the heating season (typically, winter
months), and one or the other will be in operation during the
transitional periods (typically, spring and fall) therebetween. One
or more thermostats 16 are typically provided to sense the
temperature in the customer shopping area 12 for the purpose of
controlling the HVAC system 14 by way of a control 17. The control
17 may be the HVAC system 14 control or the overall supermarket
building control.
[0014] The refrigerated area 13 includes one or more associated
refrigeration systems 18, potentially operating at different
temperatures, each of which includes, in serial flow relationship,
at least one compressor, heat rejection heat exchanger, expansion
device and evaporator. The expansion device and the evaporator are
typically located within or near the refrigerated enclosure,
display or the like, while the compressor and heat rejection heat
exchanger are generally located outside the refrigerated
climate-controlled zone, such as in a machine room or outside the
building.
[0015] The heat rejection heat exchanger of the "outdoor" section
which is shown at 19, removes heat from the refrigerant vapor
discharged from the compressor, and may be either of an air cooled
type or a water cooled type, but is most commonly cooled by air in
supermarket installations. During heat transfer interaction between
refrigerant and air in the heat rejection heat exchanger, the air
is thus heated, and the heated air is normally discharged to the
ambient environment. The present invention is intended to use this
heated air during periods in which the customer shopping area 12 is
or may otherwise be heated by way of the heating subsystem of the
HVAC system 14.
[0016] The heat rejection heat exchanger section 19 may include an
airflow directing device such as a pair of dampers 21 and 22 which
are operative to selectively open or close the respective openings
23 and 24. The opening 23 leads from the heat rejection heat
exchanger section 19 to the customer shopping area 12, and the
opening 24 leads from the heat rejection heat exchanger section 19
to ambient environment. The two dampers 21 and 22 are selectively
operated by the control 17.
[0017] As is seen in FIG. 1, the ambient air enters the heat
rejection heat exchanger section 19 as indicated by the arrows 26.
After having passed through the heat rejection heat exchanger
section 19 and having been heated in the process by the
refrigerant, the air can then be selectively passed through the
opening 23 or the opening 24 or both, depending on the positions of
the dampers 21 and 22.
[0018] In operation, during periods in which the air conditioning
subsystem of the HVAC system 14 is operating to cool the customer
shopping area 12, the damper 21 will be closed and the damper 22
will be open such that the ambient air passes through the heat
rejection heat exchanger section 19 and the heated air then passes
back to ambient environment. During periods in which the heating
subsystem of the HVAC system 14 is or would otherwise be in
operation to heat the customer shopping area 12, the damper 21 may
be opened to allow the heated air from the heat rejection heat
exchanger section 19 to pass through the opening 23 and into the
customer shopping area 12. During these periods of operation, the
damper 22 may be closed such that all of the heated air will enter
the customer shopping area 12, or it may be left partially opened
such that some of the heated air enters the customer shopping Area
12 and some of it is passed through the opening 24 to be discharged
to ambient environment. The control 17 is therefore operated to
selectively control the two dampers 21 and 22 in response to the
sensed temperature from the thermostat 16 and the HVAC system 14 as
controlled by the control 17.
[0019] It should be understood that the damper combination 21 and
22 as shown may be of various types and form. That is, although it
is shown as two dampers 21 and 22, it may comprise only a single
damper which provides the pathway between the heat rejection heat
exchanger section 19 and the customer shopping area 12.
[0020] It has to be pointed out that the heated air from the heat
rejection heat exchanger section 19 may be a sole source of heating
or may be an additional heat source. Further, the HVAC system may
have the capability to bring a "fresh" untreated portion of air
from the ambient environment when desired.
[0021] Referring now to FIGS. 2-4, there is generally shown a
condenser section 27 that is fluidly connected to a duct 28 by way
of a damper 29 The damper 31 includes two louvered sides 32 and 33,
with side 32 leading to a portion 34 of the duct 29 which
discharges to ambient and the side 33 leading to a portion 36 of
the duct 29 leading to the customer area 12.
[0022] In FIG. 2, the damper 32 is closed and the damper 33 is open
to allow the heated air from the heat rejection heat exchanger
section 27 to pass to the indoor environment, i.e. the customer
area, to thereby provide supplemental or primary heat during
periods in which heating, of the customer area is required. In FIG.
3, the damper 32 is open and the damper 33 is closed, such that the
heated air from the heat rejection heat exchanger section 27 passes
to the outdoor environment The system would operate in this mode
during all periods in which heating of a space is not required. As
shown in FIG. 4, both dampers 32 and 33 are open such that some of
the heated air from the condenser section passes through a duct 34
to then flow to the outdoor environment, while some of the heated
air passes to the-duct portion 36 to provide heat to the indoor
environment. The louvers in the dampers 32 and 33 are, of course,
controllable to any position, between the fully opened and the
fully closed position, to thereby permit any of various positions
as determined by the control or the operator, thus providing
variable controllable amounts of heat from the heat rejection heat
exchanger section 27 to the indoor environment. As was mentioned
above, in some applications, in order to satisfy fresh air
circulation requirements for the building, a portion of ambient air
need to be continuously brought up into the indoor environment.
During periods of time when heating in the indoor environment is
required and according to the invention, this ambient air is first
flown through the heat rejection heat exchanger section 27. It
should be understood that to prevent building over-pressurization,
pressure relief means, such as barometric relief, are usually
installed to allow discharging some amount of air, in case the
pressure in the building becomes higher than desired.
[0023] In addition to the supermarket application as described
hereinabove, the present invention can also be used in a zoned
building wherein, as shown in FIG. 5, plurality of
climate-controlled zones, indicated at 37, 38, 39 and 41 are each
fluidly connected to a HVAC system 42 by respective conditioned air
discharge duct openings 43, 44, 46 and 47. Each of the
climate-controlled zones has one or more thermostats for
controlling the temperature within that zone, independent or the
other zones. Thus, depending on various factors as discussed
hereinabove, one zone may be in need of colder air to be delivered
thereto while another zone may need heated air being delivered
thereto. During such periods of operation, the air conditioner
would be in operation, and the associated heat rejection heat would
be actuated to heat ambient air. Thus, that heated air could be
passed to the zone which was in need of heated air at that time.
The damper and control system as described hereinabove would
therefore be applicable to such an installation.
[0024] It should be understood that similar methodology may be
applied for temperature control purposes. For instance, if one
compartment of a multi-level refrigeration system requires a
temperature different from that of another compartment, or if one
climate-controlled zone needs a temperature different from that
another climate-controlled zone, a portion of air discharged from
the heat rejection heat exchanger may be used for this temperature
control purpose.
[0025] While the present invention has been particularly shown and
described with reference to a preferred and modified embodiment as
illustrated in the drawings, it will be understood by one skilled
in the art that various changes in detail may be effected therein
without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as
defined by the claims.
* * * * *