Refrigerant leakage sensing system and method

• US 20050056031A1
• Filed: 09/13/2004
• Published: 03/17/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 09/17/2003
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: LG Electronics, Inc. (LG Corporation)
• Original Assignee: LG Electronics, Inc. (LG Corporation)
• Inventors: Jeong, Jin-Ho
• Application Number:
  US10/938,647
• Publication Number:
  US 20050056031A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 62/126
• CPC Class Codes: F25B 2500/222 Detecting refrigerant leaks
• CPC Class Codes: F25B 2700/21174 of the refrigerant at the inlet of the evaporator
• CPC Class Codes: F25B 2700/21175 of the refrigerant at the outlet of the evaporator
• CPC Class Codes: F25B 49/005 of safety devices F25B49/02 and F25B49/04 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: F25D 2400/04 Refrigerators with a horizontal mullion
• CPC Class Codes: G01M 3/002 by using thermal means

Abstract

The present invention relates to refrigerant leakage sensing system and method, and more particularly, to refrigerant leakage sensing system and method for sensing the occurrence or not of refrigerant leakage. In the present invention, temperature sensors are mounted at inlet and outlet sides of an evaporator, respectively. When a difference between the temperatures sensed by the temperature sensors becomes above a predetermined value, a control unit determines that the refrigerant leaks. Then, the refrigerant leakage is displayed to a user. Accordingly, the present invention makes it possible to cope with the problem caused from the occurrence of the refrigerant leakage and to exchange parts such as refrigerant pipes with new ones at an early stage by automatically sensing the refrigerant leakage with low cost.

Claims

1. A refrigerant leakage sensing system for use in a cooling cycle including a compressor, a condenser and an evaporator, comprising:

a first temperature sensor for sensing a temperature of the refrigerant flowing into the evaporator;

a second temperature sensor for sensing a temperature of the refrigerant discharging from the evaporator;

a control unit for calculating a difference between the temperatures sensed by the first and second temperature sensors and determining whether the refrigerant leakage has occurred or not; and

a display unit for displaying the refrigerant leakage when the refrigerant leakage occurs under control of the control unit.

2. A refrigerant leakage sensing method, comprising:

a first sensing step of sensing a temperature of refrigerant at an inlet side of an evaporator;

a second sensing step of sensing a temperature of the refrigerant at an outlet side of the evaporator;

a calculating step of calculating a difference between the temperatures sensed in the first and second sensing steps; and

a refrigerant leakage displaying step of displaying refrigerant leakage when the temperature difference calculated in the calculating step is greater than or equal to a predetermined value.

3. The method as claimed in claim 2, wherein in the refrigerant leakage displaying step, an alarm sound is outputted according to the refrigerant leakage.