Refrigerant recovery system
First Claim
1. A method of reclaiming fluid from a separate refrigeration system comprising the steps of:
- providing an insulating device, a portable fluid storage tank, a compressor, and a condenser;
inserting the storage tank within the insulating device;
connecting the storage tank to the separate refrigeration system;
reducing the temperature within the storage tank;
transferring both a liquid component and a gaseous component of the reclaimed fluid into the storage tank until substantially all of the liquid component has been recovered; and
switching to another mode of operation where the reclaimed fluid is primarily a gaseous component, said switching step comprisinga) routing the reclaimed fluid to the compressor for a time period to create compressed reclaimed fluid;
b) condensing the compressed reclaimed fluid to create condensed reclaimed fluid; and
c) directing the condensed reclaimed fluid to the storage tank.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Two preferred embodiments of an improved refrigerant recovery system and method for recovering refrigerant from a separate system are disclosed whereby the first embodiment utilizes a closed-loop refrigeration system employing a portable storage tank to recover refrigerant from a separate system that needs to be serviced. The first embodiment recovers refrigerant from the separate system by placing a storage tank within an evaporator that is cooled by evaporator coils and evacuated by a vacuum pump. The vacuum pump is valved off and recovered refrigerant is directed to the storage tank from the separate system. None of the recovered refrigerant contacts the compressor of the recovery system and vacuum pump. An alternative to the first embodiment provides a booster pump in-line with the storage tank and the separate system for transferring any residual refrigerants into the storage tank. The second preferred embodiment includes a portable storage tank located within an insulation device and a number of other conventional components including a compressor, condenser, valves and an expansion device. This system employs two phases whereby during phase 1 primarily liquid refrigerant is directed to the storage tank which enhances the life of the compressor because contaminated liquid refrigerants are not subjected to the compressor. Once all of the liquid has been recovered from the separate system and a predetermined pressure is reached in the storage tank, phase 2 is activated whereby primarily recovered gas is directed through the compressor and eventually dumped into the cooled storage tank. Because of this unique arrangement, refrigerants can be recovered from separate systems at much faster rates then conventional refrigerant recovery systems. An alternative to this second embodiment provides a unique fluid sensor which improves the efficiency of the recovery system by automatically activating phase 2 when all of the liquid refrigerant has been recovered from the separate system and when the storage tank is at a predetermined pressure.
111 Citations
16 Claims
-
1. A method of reclaiming fluid from a separate refrigeration system comprising the steps of:
-
providing an insulating device, a portable fluid storage tank, a compressor, and a condenser; inserting the storage tank within the insulating device; connecting the storage tank to the separate refrigeration system; reducing the temperature within the storage tank;
transferring both a liquid component and a gaseous component of the reclaimed fluid into the storage tank until substantially all of the liquid component has been recovered; andswitching to another mode of operation where the reclaimed fluid is primarily a gaseous component, said switching step comprising a) routing the reclaimed fluid to the compressor for a time period to create compressed reclaimed fluid; b) condensing the compressed reclaimed fluid to create condensed reclaimed fluid; and c) directing the condensed reclaimed fluid to the storage tank. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3)
-
-
4. A process of a system reclaiming fluid from a separate system comprising:
-
providing an insulating device, a portable fluid storage tank, a compressor, a condenser;
a pressure switch, and an expansion device;inserting the storage tank within the insulating device; connecting the storage tank to the separate system; reducing the temperature within the storage tank; sensing the pressure within the storage tank with the pressure switch; rerouting the reclaimed fluid to the compressor to produce compressed reclaimed fluid; condensing the compressed reclaimed fluid to produce condensed reclaimed fluid; routing the condensed reclaimed fluid through the expansion device to produce expanded reclaimed fluid; and delivering the expanded reclaimed fluid to the storage tank. - View Dependent Claims (5, 6, 7)
-
-
8. A process of a refrigeration system reclaiming gaseous and liquid refrigerant from an independent refrigeration system, the process comprising:
-
providing an insulating device, a refrigerant storage tank, and a compressor; a first phase of operation including; connecting the independent refrigeration system to the storage tank; inserting the storage tank within the insulation device; cooling the storage tank and reducing the pressure therein; transferring reclaimed refrigerant to the storage tank; sensing the pressure within the storage tank; a second phase of operation including; rerouting the refrigerant being reclaimed from the independent refrigeration system to the compressor to produce compressed reclaimed refrigerant; and transferring the compressed reclaimed refrigerant to the storage tank. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
-
Specification