Air conditioning system

Abstract

A system is disclosed for air conditioning a space, including storing a volume of a cryogenic liquid coolant in a heat insulated tank, and feeding the cryogenic liquid coolant from the heat insulated tank into a first line as a volume of liquid-air coolant whilst regulating the flow of the volume of liquid-air coolant, feeding the volume of liquid-air coolant to the space to be cooled, and evaporating the cryogenic liquid-air from the heat insulated tank into a second line as a volume of gaseous air, and using the volume of gaseous air for regulating the volume of liquid-air coolant to be fed to the space to be cooled.

Description

TITLE: Air Conditioning System BACKGROUND

[0001] Technical Field: The technical field is directed to air-cooling systems which can be applied to home air conditioning or other buildings. SUMMARY

[0002] The current disclosure and invention(s) relate to new methods and related devices of an air-cooling system which can be applied to home air conditioning or other buildings. Exemplary embodiments of this new system use environmentally friendly agents as the coolant. Pneumatic controls are used in the operation of the system. No conventional mechanical devices such as motors, compressors, heat exchangers, condenser, evaporators, pumps and blowers etc. are used or are necessary. When it is applied to home air conditioning and if manual system control is chosen to operate the system, the only electronic device which may be used in the home cooling application is the battery (A-A type, for example) powered room temperature indicators and the related sensors, such as thermocouples.

[0003] A system is disclosed for air conditioning a space, including storing a volume of a cryogenic liquid coolant in a heat insulated tank, and feeding the cryogenic liquid coolant from the heat insulated tank into a first line as a volume of liquid-air coolant whilst regulating the flow of the volume of liquid-air coolant, feeding the volume of liquid-air coolant to the space to be cooled, and evaporating the cryogenic liquid-air from the heat insulated tank into a second line as a volume of gaseous air, and using the volume of gaseous air for regulating the volume of liquid-air coolant to be fed to the space to be cooled. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[0004] The embodiments may be better understood, and numerous objects, features, and advantages made apparent to those skilled in the art by referencing theaccompanying drawings. These drawings are used to illustrate only typical embodiments of this invention, and are not to be considered limiting of its scope, for the invention may admit to other equally effective embodiments. The figures are not necessarily to scale and certain features and certain views of the figures may be shown exaggerated in scale or in schematic in the interest of clarity and conciseness.

[0005] Fig.1 depicts a schematic diagram of an air-cooling system according to one embodiment of the invention(s). DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENT OF THE INVENTION(S)

[0006] The description that follows includes exemplary apparatus, methods, techniques, and instruction sequences that embody techniques of the inventive subject matter. However, it is understood that the described embodiments may be practiced without these specific details.

[0007] Embodiments of the current invention(s) applicable to home air conditioning will be used to describe the system configurations and the functioning of the related devices. In its general application, any air space can be cooled by the embodiments of this invention(s). Also, liquid-air will be used as the coolant in describing the application of the embodiments of the current invention(s) to home air conditioning. In another embodiment, other cryogenic liquids, such as the combination of liquid nitrogen, liquid oxygen and optional liquid argon in the approximate ratio of 78% nitrogen, 21% oxygen and 1% argon may also be used as the coolant.

[0008] With respect to the embodiment in Fig. 1, the liquid-air storage tank 1 contains liquid-air at the cryogenic temperature range, for example, between about - 321°F to about -345°F. Within this temperature range, liquid nitrogen and liquid oxygen as the major components of the liquid-air are both in liquid state. If argon, a minor component of air is in the liquid-air, it turns into solid at the cryogenic temperature range mentioned above. In the current discussion, argon and other minor elements containing in the air are not included, since they are optionally discarded during the process of making the liquid-air. Tank 1 and all other liquid-air pipelinesand containers mentioned in this disclosure are heat insulated such that the liquid-air remains in its liquid state without evaporating into gaseous air. Tank 1 is equipped with a standard pressure release valve 11 to release excess pressure when excessive liquid-air turns into gaseous air due to heat transfer through the tank wall. As a standard procedure, a relatively small amount of liquid-air is fed into evaporator 2 to turn into gaseous air creating substantial amount of air pressure to force the liquid-air in tank 1 to flow out of tank 1 into, for example, pipeline 10 without the power from an electric pump. The pressurized gaseous air is fed into pipeline 16 and 12 to be used as the power source of the standard pneumatic liquid-air regulator 17 and the pneumatic control valves in box 6 respectively. Regulator 17 controls the amount of liquid-air passing through the regulator to outlet pipeline 10 and subsequently being fed into pipeline 20 which branches out to for example, pipeline 21, 31 and 32 which eventually feed liquid-air to room 30, 31 and 32 respectively. Multiple pneumatic control valves 3, 4 and 5, for example are built inside the control box 6 to control the air pressure, for example in pipe line 7, 8 and 9 respectively. The air pressure in pipeline 7, 8 and 9 control the liquid-air regulators 22, 23 and 28 respectively. Liquid- air pipeline 21, for example, feeds liquid-air into room 30 through pneumatic liquid-air flow regulator 22. The liquid-air is fed into room 30 through the regulator output line 15. A diffuser 24 diffuses the liquid-air into small particles before it flows into room 30. The diffuser 24 is made of porous material, for example, a porous stainless steel-wool having numerous small open passageway such that when the liquid-air passes through 24, it turns into small particles and simultaneously, it reaches its boiling point and turns into gaseous state upon entering room 30 in different directions 25, 26 and 27 as depicted by the arrows. The liquid-air out let can be at multiple locations in room 30, for example. The amount of liquid-air to be injected into room 30 is determined by the pre-set amount of liquid-air being regulated by regulator 22 whose on-off and flow rate are controlled by for example, the manually controlled valve 3. Similarly, liquid-air is fed into room 31 and 32 through pipeline 31 and 32 and regulated by regulator 23 and 28 respectively. Regulator 23 and 28 are controlled pneumatically by the pressurized air through pipeline 8 and 9 respectively. The amount of liquid-air being fed into room 30, for example can be controlled manually from zero amount to its pre- set maximum amount at the control valve 3. The temperature of room 30, for example can be measured by thermocouple 35 and displayed at 36 located, for example, at thecontrol box 6. The pneumatic control valve 3, for example can also be operated automatically by battery operated simple device with feed-back signals of room temperature.

[0009] In the exemplary embodiment shown in Fig.1, cryogenic liquid-air is used as the coolant. The cryogenic liquid-air may comprise cryogenic liquid nitrogen and cryogenic liquid oxygen. The use of gaseous air, for example by evaporating cryogenic liquid-air coolant at its boiling point in box 2, Fig.1, as the power source to drive the at least one control valve and the at least one regulator is important in that it control a desirable amount of coolant such as liquid-air to be fed into the room to be cooled eliminating the need of a traditional heat exchanger, evaporator, condenser, motors and blowers etc.

[0010] By way of example only, lines of a cooling system may comprise one or more pipe(s), fitting(s), flange(s), and / or pipe spool(s). By way of example only, connection or elements which are connected may be by one or more pipeline(s). Connection or elements which are connected, by way of example only, may be by one or more pipe(s), fitting(s), flange(s), and / or pipe spool(s).

[0011] While the embodiments are described with reference to various implementations and exploitations, it will be understood that these embodiments are illustrative and that the scope of the inventive subject matter is not limited to them. Many variations, modifications, additions, and improvements are possible.

[0012] Plural instances may be provided for components, operations or structures described herein as a single instance. In general, structures and functionality presented as separate components in the exemplary configurations may be implemented as a combined structure or component. Similarly, structures and functionality presented as a single component may be implemented as separate components. These and other variations, modifications, additions, and improvements may fall within the scope of the inventive subject matter.

Claims

CLAIMS 1. A method for conditioning air comprising the steps of: supplying a volume of cryogenic liquid-air as coolant to a room.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of: diffusing the volume of cryogenic liquid-air as coolant as it is supplied to the room.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising the step of: evaporating the volume of cryogenic liquid-air to a volume of gaseous air as it is supplied to the room.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the volume of cryogenic liquid-air coolant comprises: cryogenic liquid nitrogen; and cryogenic liquid oxygen.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising the steps of: regulating the volume of cryogenic liquid-air coolant using at least one pneumatic control valve.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the volume of liquid coolant that is being supplied to the room comes from a liquid storage tank.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of operating at least one pneumatic liquid air regulator using another volume of gaseous air.

8. A system for cooling comprising: a liquid coolant storage tank; an evaporator connected to the liquid coolant storage tank; a first pneumatic liquid-air regulator connected to the liquid-air storage tank, wherein the first pneumatic liquid air regulator is connected to the evaporator; and a control box comprising: at least one pneumatic control valve connected to the evaporator, wherein the control box houses the at least one pneumatic control valve.

9. The system of claim 8, further comprising a volume of cryogenic liquid coolant comprising liquid nitrogen and liquid oxygen which may flow through the system.

10. The system of claim 9, further comprising a plurality of pneumatic liquid-air regulators connected to the first pneumatic liquid-air regulator.

11. The system of claim 10, further comprising a plurality of diffusers respectively connected to the plurality of pneumatic liquid air regulators.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the plurality of pneumatic liquid-air regulators are supplied a volume of gaseous air from the at least one pneumatic control valve.

13. A method for air conditioning a space, comprising the steps of: storing a volume of a cryogenic liquid coolant in a heat insulated tank; feeding the cryogenic liquid coolant from the heat insulated tank into a first line as a volume of liquid-air coolant whilst regulating the flow of the volume of liquid-air coolant; feeding the volume of liquid-air coolant to the space to be cooled; and evaporating the cryogenic liquid-air from the heat insulated tank into a second line as a volume of gaseous air, and using the volume of gaseous air for regulating the volume of liquid-air coolant to be fed to the space to be cooled.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising the step of: diffusing the volume of liquid-air coolant as it is fed into the space to be cooled.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising the step of branching the volume of liquid-air coolant from the first line into a plurality of conduits for dividing and introducing the volume liquid-air coolant into greater than one space to be cooled.

16. A system for cooling according to the method of claim 15 using the apparatus of Fig.

1.

17. A system for cooling according to the method of claim 1 using the apparatus of Fig.1.

18. An apparatus as shown, described and / or implied.

19. A system as shown, described and / or implied.

20. A method as shown, described and / or implied.

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