摘要 |
A new method and apparatus are provided for sensing refrigerant temperatures in refrigerator systems, and for preventing underloading of the coil, or of any of the coils in a plurality of refrigerator evaporator circuit coils connected in parallel. The usual thermostatically controlled refrigerant flow control valve is controlled by a thermostatic sensor to ensure a predetermined minimum amount of superheat, usually about 5.5 DEG C. (10 DEG F.). To avoid underloading the refrigerant is rendered thoroughly turbulent and mixed, and in the multi-coil evaporator the flows from all of the coils are similarly thoroughly turbulated and mixed, by a turbulating and/or mixing device that intercepts the entire refrigerant flow just before the sensing of the superheat, thus ensuring that the temperature is accurately measured; in the multi-circuit coil system the device averages the temperatures of all the flows. Different turbulator/mixer devices are described and two or more such devices may be used in series. The superheat can now be reduced to about 2 DEG C. (4 DEG F.), the efficiency is increased, and close matching between valve size and coil loading is no longer required.
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