Binary control compressor system

Abstract

The invention is a control system for controlling compressors that are used to cool a building or a manufacturing process. The control system utilizes compressors of different sizes, including a series of compressors in which each compressor is double the size of the previous one. A control system chooses a possible combination of compressors to closely match the building or process cooling needs. The compressors are chosen so that the cooling capacity closely matches the building cooling needs, so that all of the compressors tend to run in a steady state fashion, and the comfort level of the building or the temperature stability of the process is increased.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0001] 1. Field of the Invention [0002] The present invention generally relates to heating and cooling control systems, and more particularly to a control system for air conditioning compressors. [0003] 2. Background Information [0004] Modern buildings are kept cool in the summer by an air conditioning system. The air conditioning system is sized according to the cooling needs of a building. This is typically expressed in tons, and the compressors that are used to cool the building are made to have sufficient capacity in tons in order to cool the building. This is typically accomplished by having a number of compressors that can be shut on and off. As the air condition load of the building increases, additional compressors are turned on until eventually all of the compressors that are available are turned on. One configuration of such a system might have four equally sized compressors. These compressors can be staged to give four different steps of capaci...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0011] These shortcomings are addressed by the control system of the invention. The compressor system of the invention is a graduated system that may be also configured to be binary. The system is designed to have a number of compressors, starting with at least two for a simple system, to multiple compressors such as four, five or more. A graduated compressor system logic module is used for controlling these compressors in operating air conditioning and process cooling systems. The main feature of the compressors of the system is that they are selected to have graduated output capacity. Included in the compressor management system is a temperature sensing system for determining the cooling needs of the building or process. Another part of the system is a control logic system that contains information about the compressor capacity of each of the compressors of the system. The control logic compares the cooling needs of the building, which is input from the temperature sensing system, with the compressors of the system and all of the possible permutations of combining them in order to find a compressor configuration that meets the cooling needs of the building at that time. The control logic system is able to combine the potential capacities of the multiple compressors to arrive at a greater number of system capacities than there are compressors. For instance, in a two-compressor system, one compressor might be a ten-ton compressor and the second one might be a twenty-ton compressor. By combining the capacities of the compressors, a system with ten, twenty or thirty tons is available. When the system includes more compressors, such as four or five, a much larger number of combinations are possible. This allows the system to meet the needs of the building, but not to exceed it greatly. This saves energy by not over cooling the building, and then having the system shut down for a period of time or cycle compressors offline. Thus, the compressors are more likely to run in a steady state fashion, with compressors being switched on and off as the building load gradually increases. Compressor cycling is substantially decreased which extends compressor life.

Problems solved by technology

The disadvantage with this type of compressor is that it is very expensive in the initial costs to purchase and install the compressors.

The installation is very complex, and the operation of the compressors are typically much more noisy than usual.

When repairs are required they tend to be much more expensive than simpler installations.

Another disadvantage with this type of system is that if one compressor goes off service, the system may be seriously impacted and would not have a backup capacity.

The disadvantages with this type of system are similar to the disadvantages described above.

The initial installation is much more expensive than with a simpler compressor.

This system is complex, noisy and more expensive to repair.

If the system had multiple compressors and one of them went down, the system would be greatly impacted.

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