Accumulator Heat Exchanger Layout for Supercooled Refrigerant Storage
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Solution Overview
Problem
Cooling systems for aircraft face challenges in housing and positioning components due to restricted space, particularly in maintaining a pressure increase to prevent refrigerant evaporation when using a two-phase refrigerating medium.
Innovation Solution
An accumulator arrangement with a liquefier and heat exchanger that allows flexible positioning of components by ensuring the refrigerant is always in a supercooled liquid state, eliminating the need for a positive minimum inflow level and enabling efficient operation in confined aircraft spaces.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the accumulator vessel and conveying device are positioned to maintain a positive minimum inflow level for supercooling, then the refrigerating medium can be prevented from evaporating, but the system requires significant installation space and fixed positioning
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces the mechanical positioning system (gravitational head requirements) with a thermal field solution (heat exchanger-based supercooling). The heat exchanger actively cools the refrigerating medium to maintain supercooling without requiring specific gravitational head or fixed positioning, thus substituting mechanical constraints with thermal control.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the thermal parameter of the refrigerating medium by actively supercooling it through a heat exchanger. Instead of relying on gravitational pressure from a fixed positive inflow level, the system modifies the temperature parameter to achieve and maintain supercooling, enabling flexible positioning while preventing evaporation.
2Weight of stationary object
If a central cold-generating device is used instead of individual units, then weight and installation volume are reduced, but machine noises become a concern
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the cold-generating function from the passenger cabin environment and relocates it to a central position outside the cabin. The accumulator arrangement with heat exchanger enables this extraction by providing reliable supercooling without requiring the conveying device to be positioned at a specific height, thus allowing the cold-generating unit to be placed in a noise-isolated location.
3Productivity
If two-phase refrigerating medium is used, then cooling efficiency is improved and conduit cross-sections are reduced, but component positioning becomes difficult in restricted aircraft space
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces the mechanical positioning requirement (gravitational head for supercooling) with a thermal solution (heat exchanger-based active cooling). This substitution enables the use of two-phase refrigerating medium with high cooling efficiency while providing the positioning flexibility needed in restricted aircraft spaces.
Solution Approach 2:
The heat exchanger acts as an intermediary device that decouples the thermal requirement (supercooling) from the spatial requirement (fixed positioning). It mediates between the two-phase refrigerating medium and the accumulator vessel, enabling efficient heat transfer and supercooling without imposing mechanical positioning constraints on the system components.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The solution allows for efficient operation of cooling systems in aircraft by ensuring the refrigerant is always in a supercooled liquid state, preventing damage to conveying devices and enabling flexible component arrangement, thus improving system efficiency and reducing installation complexity.
Implementation Method 1
a heat exchanger (24), arranged in the receptacle (14), with a refrigerating medium inlet (22), connected to the refrigerating medium outlet (20) of the liquefier, for feeding refrigerating medium liquefied in the liquefier (16) into the heat exchanger (24), and a refrigerating medium outlet (26), opening into the receptacle (14) of the accumulator vessel (12), for discharging refrigerating medium from the heat exchanger (24) into the receptacle (14) of the accumulator vessel (12)
Implementation Method 2
a liquefier (16), formed separate from the accumulator vessel (12), with an interior, adapted to receive refrigerating medium to be fed into the receptacle (14) of the accumulator vessel (12), and a refrigerating medium outlet (20), arranged in the region of a sump of the liquefier (16), for discharging refrigerating medium liquefied in the liquefier (16) from the liquefier (16)
Implementation Method 3
the phase transitions of the refrigerating medium which flows through the cooling circuit of the cooling systems, said phase transitions occurring in operation of the system, make it possible to use the occurring latent heat consumption for cooling purposes
Data Source
AI summary
An accumulator arrangement suitable for use in a cooling system designed for operation with a two-phase refrigerating medium, includes an accumulator vessel with a receptacle for receiving a refrigerating medium. A liquefier of the accumulator arrangement is adapted to liquefy refrigerating medium to be received into the receptacle of the accumulator vessel before fed in the receptacle of the accumulator vessel and includes a refrigerating medium outlet for discharging refrigerating medium which liquefied in the liquefier from the liquefier. The accumulator arrangement includes a heat exchanger arranged in the receptacle of the accumulator vessel and a refrigerating medium inlet connected to the refrigerating medium outlet of the liquefier for feeding refrigerating medium liquefied in the liquefier into the heat exchanger, and a refrigerating medium outlet which opens into the receptacle of the accumulator vessel for discharging refrigerating medium from the heat exchanger into the receptacle of the accumulator vessel.