Compressor capacity modulation

Abstract

A pulsed modulated capacity modulation system for refrigeration, air conditioning or other types of compressors is disclosed in which suitable valving is provided which operates to cyclically block flow of suction gas to a compressor. A control system is provided which is adapted to control both the frequency of cycling as well as the relative duration of the on and off time periods of each cycle in accordance with sensed system operating conditions so as to maximize the efficiency of the system. Preferably the cycle time will be substantially less than the time constant of the load and will enable substantially continuously variable capacity modulation from substantially zero capacity to the full capacity of the compressor. Additional controls may be incorporated to modify one or more of the motor operating parameters to improve the efficiency of the motor during periods of reduced load.

Description

[0001]More than one reissue application has been filed for the reissue of U.S. Pat. No. 6,206,652. The reissue applications are application Ser. No. 11 / 152,834 (now U.S. Pat. No. RE40,830) and Ser. No. 11 / 152,836 (the present application), all of which are reissue applications of U.S. Pat. No. 6,206,652.[0002]The present application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. application Ser. No. 08 / 939,779 filed Sep. 29, 1997, which is now U.S. Pat. No. 6,047,557 issued Apr. 11, 2000.BACKGROUND AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION[0003]The present invention is directed to a system for modulating the capacity of a positive displacement compressor such as a refrigeration and / or air conditioning compressor and more specifically to a system incorporating a valving arrangement for cyclically blocking suction gas flow to the compressor while the compressor is continuously driven.[0004]Capacity modulation is often a desirable feature to incorporate in refrigeration and air conditioning compressors as well ...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0008]The present invention, however, provides a capacity control arrangement which utilizes a pulse width modulation of suction gas flow to the compressor which enables substantially continuous modulation of the capacity from 0% up to 100% or full capacity. Thus the capacity output of the compressor can be exactly matched to system loading at any point in time. Further, in reciprocating piston type compressors, the suction gas flow to each of the cylinders may be controlled simultaneously by this pulse width modulation system so as to eliminate unbalanced operation of the compressor.

[0009]The pulse width modulated compressor is driven by a control system that supplies a variable duty cycle control signal based on measured system load. The controller may also regulate the frequency (or cycle time) of the control signal to minimize pressure fluctuations in the refrigerant system. The on time is thus equal to the duty cycle multiplied by the cycle time, where the cycle time is the inverse of the frequency.

[0010]The pulse width modulated compressor of the present invention has a number of advantages. Because the instantaneous capacity of the system is easily regulated by variable duty cycle control, an oversized compressor can be used to achieve faster temperature pull down at startup and after defrost without causing short cycling as conventional compressor systems would. Another benefit of the present invention is that the system can respond quickly to sudden changes in condenser temperature or case temperature set points. The controller adjusts capacity in response to disturbances without producing unstable oscillations and without significant overshoot. This capability is of particular advantage in applications involving cooling of display cases in that it allows a much tighter control of temperature within the case thereby enabling the temperature setting to be placed at a higher level without concern that cyclical temperature swings will exceed the temperatures which are considered safe for the particular goods contained therein.

[0011]Operating at higher evaporator temperatures reduces the defrost energy required because the system develops frost more slowly at higher temperatures. This also enables the time between defrost cycles to be lengthened.

[0012]The pulse width modulated compressor also yields improved oil return. The volume of oil returned to the compressor from the system is dependent in part on the velocity of gas flow to the compressor. In many capacity modulation systems, the return gas flow to the compressor is maintained at a relatively low level thus reducing the return oil flow. However, in the present invention the refrigerant flow pulsates between high capacity and low capacity (e.g. 100% and 0%), thus facilitating increased oil return due to the periods of high velocity gas flow.

[0013]Additionally, the pulse width modulated blocked suction system of the present invention is relatively inexpensive to incorporate into a compressor in that only a single valve assembly is required. Further, because of the system's simplicity, it can be easily added to a wide variety of compressor designs including both rotary and scroll as well as reciprocating piston type compressors. Also, because the present invention keeps the driving motor operating while the suction gas flow is modulated, the stress and strain on the motor resulting from periodic start-ups is minimized. Additional improvements in efficiency can be achieved by incorporating a motor control module which may operate to control various operating parameters thereof to enhance its operating efficiency during periods when the motor load is reduced due to unloading of the compressor.

Problems solved by technology

While such arrangements do provide varying degrees of capacity modulation, the degree of modulation that can be achieved is available only in relatively large discrete steps.

This discrete step form of modulation does not allow the system capacity to be matched to the load requirement conditions at all but rather only to very roughly approach the desired capacity resulting in either an excess capacity or deficient capacity.

As system conditions will rarely if ever match these gross steps of modulation, the overall operating system efficiency will not be able to be maximized.

However, when discharge gas is recirculated back to suction, the work of compression is lost for that fraction of the gas recirculated thus resulting in reduced system efficiency.

Combinations of the aforementioned methods enables substantially quasi-infinite capacity modulation at slightly better efficiency but still fails to provide the ability to closely match the compressor capacity to the load being served.

Other approaches, which can result in selectively disabling the compression process of one or more of the cylinders of a multi-cylinder compressor, such as cylinder porting, stroke altering or clearance volume varying methods result in similar step modulation with a resulting mismatch between load and capacity and additionally suffer from dynamic load unbalance and hence vibration.

Operating at higher evaporator temperatures reduces the defrost energy required because the system develops frost more slowly at higher temperatures.

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