Monitoring refrigerant in a refrigeration system

• US 20070089434A1
• Filed: 10/21/2005
• Published: 04/26/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 10/21/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Copeland Cold Chain LP
• Original Assignee: Emerson Retail Services, Inc. (Emerson Electric Company)
• Inventors: Singh, Abtar, Mitchell, James, Woodworth, Stephen, Mathews, Thomas, Churiwal, Pawan, Gurkan, Ozgur
• Granted Patent: US 7,752,853 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 62/129
• CPC Class Codes: F25B 2500/19 Calculation of parameters
• CPC Class Codes: F25B 2700/19 Pressures
• CPC Class Codes: F25B 2700/1931 Discharge pressures
• CPC Class Codes: F25B 2700/1933 Suction pressures
• CPC Class Codes: F25B 49/02 for compression type machines, plants or systems
• CPC Class Codes: G01M 3/3227 for radiators

Abstract

A method for monitoring refrigerant in a refrigeration system includes sensing, a refrigerant pressure of a refrigeration system, averaging the refrigerant pressure over a time period, determining an expected pressure based on said time period, comparing the average to the expected pressure, and determining a system condition based on said comparison. The method may be executed by a controller or stored in a computer-readable medium.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

sensing refrigerant pressure in a refrigeration system;

averaging said refrigerant pressure over a time period;

determining an expected pressure based on said time period;

comparing said average to said expected pressure; and

determining a system condition based on said comparison.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said refrigerant pressure is at least one of a suction pressure and a discharge pressure.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein said system condition includes at least one of a refrigeration system malfunction and a set-point change.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein said expected value is based on historical data.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein said historical data comprises at least one of previous average suction pressure data and previous average discharge pressure data.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein said expected value is based on at least one of an ideal discharge pressure and an ideal suction pressure.

7. The method of claim 3, wherein said refrigeration system malfunction comprises a sensor malfunction.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising generating a notification based on said determining.

9. A controller executing the method of claim 1.

10. A controller executing the method of claim 2.

11. A controller executing the method of claim 3.

12. A controller executing the method of claim 4.

13. A controller executing the method of claim 5.

14. A controller executing the method of claim 6.

15. A controller executing the method of claim 7.

16. A controller executing the method of claim 8.

17. A computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions for performing the method of claim 1.

18. A computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions for performing the method of claim 2.

19. A computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions for performing the method of claim 3.

20. A computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions for performing the method of claim 4.

21. A computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions for performing the method of claim 5.

22. A computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions for performing the method of claim 6.

23. A computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions for performing the method of claim 7.

24. A computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions for performing the method of claim 8