Patents Examined by Larry Furdge
  • Patent number: 9540111
    Abstract: An air conditioning system for an aircraft for the individual air conditioning of regions of a cabin of an aircraft includes a central air conditioning device, which provides a pressurized and temperature-controlled central air flow. A part of the central air flow is supplied to a first cabin region. Another part of the central air flow is heated in a heating device or cooled in a cooling device and supplied to another cabin region. Water evaporates in the cooling device, in order to cool the air flow to be supplied to the cabin region.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 12, 2009
    Date of Patent: January 10, 2017
    Assignee: AIRBUS OPERATIONS GMBH
    Inventors: Jan Dittmar, Christian Schumacher
  • Patent number: 9541317
    Abstract: A container refrigeration system includes a refrigerant circuit configured to perform a refrigeration cycle and including a main circuit in which a compressor, a condenser, an expansion valve, and an evaporator are connected together in this order, and a hot gas bypass circuit in which compressed refrigerant of the compressor is supplied to the evaporator by bypassing the condenser and the expansion valve; and a compressor control section configured to, in a defrosting operation in which the compressed refrigerant of the compressor returns to the compressor through the hot gas bypass circuit and the evaporator and the evaporator is defrosted, control an operating speed of the compressor such that a pressure of the compressed refrigerant of the compressor reaches a target value.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 10, 2010
    Date of Patent: January 10, 2017
    Assignee: DAIKIN INDUSTRIES, LTD
    Inventors: Kazuma Yokohara, Yuusuke Fujimoto, Atsushi Okamoto
  • Patent number: 9535589
    Abstract: An electronic thermostat is described that includes a head unit, a rotatable ring, a backplate, an electronic display that is viewable by a user in front of the thermostat, a printed circuit board, and a daughter circuit. The daughter circuit is coupled to the printed circuit board, and senses motion of the rotatable ring and includes a first temperature sensor. A second temperature sensor separated from the first temperature sensor, are both used to calculate ambient temperature. The first temperature sensor is positioned at least partially within a cavity formed between a front surface of the head unit and the printed circuit board.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 29, 2014
    Date of Patent: January 3, 2017
    Assignee: Google Inc.
    Inventors: Anthony M. Fadell, Matthew L. Rogers, David Sloo, Michael Plitkins, John B. Filson, Eric Daniels, Michael J. Matas, Fred Bould, Brian Huppi
  • Patent number: 9513041
    Abstract: COP deteriorates when a dehumidification operation is executed. In an air conditioner of the present invention, an indoor heat exchanger includes an auxiliary heat exchanger 20 and a main heat exchanger 21 provided leeward from the auxiliary heat exchanger 20. When the air conditioner is driven in a predetermined dehumidification operation mode, a liquid refrigerant supplied to the auxiliary heat exchanger 20 fully evaporates midway in the auxiliary heat exchanger 20. For this reason, only an upstream part of the auxiliary heat exchanger functions as an evaporation region, and an area downstream of the evaporation region of the auxiliary heat exchanger 20 is a superheat region. When the load is high at the selection of a dehumidification operation to start driving, a cooling operation is started and then switching to the dehumidification operation is executed in accordance with the decrease in the load.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 4, 2013
    Date of Patent: December 6, 2016
    Assignee: DAIKIN INDUSTRIES, LTD.
    Inventor: Tomoyuki Haikawa
  • Patent number: 9513043
    Abstract: A refrigerator, a sealed refrigerant system, and method are provided where the refrigerator includes at least a refrigerated compartment and a sealed refrigerant system including an evaporator, a compressor, a condenser, a controller, an evaporator fan, and a condenser fan. The method includes monitoring a frequency of the compressor, and identifying a fault condition in the at least one component of the refrigerant sealed system in response to the compressor frequency. The method may further comprise calculating a compressor frequency rate based upon the rate of change of the compressor frequency, wherein a fault in the condenser fan is identified if the compressor frequency rate is positive and exceeds a condenser fan fault threshold rate, and wherein a fault in the evaporator fan is identified if the compressor frequency rate is negative and exceeds an evaporator fan fault threshold rate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 25, 2012
    Date of Patent: December 6, 2016
    Assignee: Whirlpool Corporation
    Inventors: Stephen L. Keres, Alberto Regio Gomes, Andrew D. Litch
  • Patent number: 9494352
    Abstract: A suction modulation valve is throttled when conditions in a refrigerant system indicate that an undesirable amount of liquid refrigerant might otherwise be delivered to the compressor. As an example, the throttling would occur at start-up, among other conditions. Throttling the suction modulation valve reduces the amount of refrigerant reaching the compressor and thus ensures that any liquid refrigerant would be likely “boiled off” before raising any problems in the compressor. Other control steps can also be performed to alleviate flooded compressor operation with liquid refrigerant. Such steps, for example, can include actuating heaters, discharge valve throttling, by-passing refrigerant from an intermediate compression point back to suction, controlling the speed of the condenser fan can be performed independently or in combination including the suction modulation valve throttling.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 31, 2006
    Date of Patent: November 15, 2016
    Assignee: Carrier Corporation
    Inventors: Alexander Lifson, Jason D. Scarcella
  • Patent number: 9470451
    Abstract: Provided is a method for controlling an operation of a refrigerator. Different operation modes are selected according to whether a refrigerator door is opened and closed, and according to an inner temperature and an ambient noise. Freezing capacity of a compressor, the number of rotations of an evaporator fan, and the number of rotations of a condenser fan are varied in conjunction with one another, to reduce a noise.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 22, 2011
    Date of Patent: October 18, 2016
    Assignee: LG ELECTRONICS INC.
    Inventors: Jindong Kim, Myoungju Kang, Hosan Kim
  • Patent number: 9441744
    Abstract: A valve apparatus having a first housing coupled to a second housing. The first housing having a first chamber in fluid communication with a first inlet and a first outlet. The first chamber adapted for receiving a thermal actuator moveable from a first position to a second position in response to temperature of a first fluid in the first chamber. The second housing having a second chamber in fluid communication with a first and a second ports, the second chamber being fluidly sealed from the first chamber. The second chamber adapted for receiving a valve mechanism, which is operatively coupled to the thermal actuator and moveable from a first valve position preventing flow of a second fluid from the first port to the second port to a second valve position permitting flow of the second fluid from the first port to the second port upon actuation by the thermal actuator.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 19, 2011
    Date of Patent: September 13, 2016
    Assignee: Dana Canada Corporation
    Inventors: Jeff Sheppard, Dario Bettio, Sachin Bhatia
  • Patent number: 9416990
    Abstract: A hot water supply apparatus associated with a heat pump is provided. The hot water supply apparatus performs a hot water supply operation using a high temperature refrigerant that has been discharged from a compressor, and simultaneously performs an indoor heating operation using a two-stage refrigerant cycle. This allows the apparatus to supply hot water while simultaneously providing heating/cooling to an indoor space.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 31, 2011
    Date of Patent: August 16, 2016
    Assignee: LG Electronics Inc.
    Inventor: Jieseop Sim
  • Patent number: 9388997
    Abstract: An air-conditioning control apparatus for controlling an air conditioner configured to supply conditioned air into a space to be air-conditioned so that a temperature of a predetermined section in a plurality of sections in the space to be air-conditioned becomes a set temperature, the air-conditioning control apparatus comprising: a detecting device configured to determines the number of people in the predetermined section; and a controller configured to correct the set temperature so as to be decreased if the number of people is increased and so as to be increased if the number of people is decreased.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 31, 2011
    Date of Patent: July 12, 2016
    Assignee: PANASONIC INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY MANAGEMENT CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Katsuji Yoshii, Shigeru Okada, Kazuhiro Sekiguchi, Shigeo Tera, Junya Nakasone, Koichi Yamana, Yoshiaki Gouda, Masaaki Meguro
  • Patent number: 9359949
    Abstract: A distributed bleed system temperature management scheme utilizes a distributed, closed loop temperature protection function. By allowing consumer systems to limit the consumer flow to meet a specified bleed system outlet temperature (which may be different for each consumer or group of consumers), each system can be penalized according to their level of importance. The closed loop approach allows optimization of the performance reduction instead of relying on conservative assumptions as is done with conventional systems. In some embodiments, each consumer system may have a different temperature limit at which the consumed flow is limited to maintain a given bleed system exit temperature. The temperature setpoints may be separated by a minimum temperature, based on sensor and controls tolerances, to ensure that the flow limiting functions do not interact with each other.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 17, 2011
    Date of Patent: June 7, 2016
    Assignee: HONEYWELL INTERNATIONAL INC.
    Inventors: Jason Olivarez, Giorgio Isella
  • Patent number: 9347683
    Abstract: A hot water supply apparatus associated with a heat pump is provided. The hot water supply apparatus performs a hot water supply operation using a high temperature refrigerant that has been discharged from a compressor, and simultaneously performs an indoor heating operation using a two-stage refrigerant cycle. This allows the apparatus to supply hot water while simultaneously providing heating/cooling to an indoor space.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 11, 2014
    Date of Patent: May 24, 2016
    Assignee: LG Electronics Inc.
    Inventor: Jieseop Sim
  • Patent number: 9328947
    Abstract: Plate evaporator (14), in particular for a refrigerant circuit, having a pre-evaporator (18), a low temperature evaporator (28), and a post-evaporator (24) for refrigerant, all of which are integrated into a singular component, and furthermore having an inlet and an outlet for a heat transfer medium.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 16, 2009
    Date of Patent: May 3, 2016
    Assignee: VALEO KLIMASYSTEME GMBH
    Inventor: Roland Haussmann
  • Patent number: 9316423
    Abstract: A container refrigeration apparatus includes: a refrigerant circuit which performs a refrigeration cycle, and includes a main circuit sequentially connecting a compressor, a condenser, a main expansion valve and an evaporator, and a hot gas bypass circuit through which a refrigerant compressed in the compressor bypasses the condenser and the main expansion valve to flow into the evaporator; and a compressor control section which controls operating speed of rotation of the compressor during heating operation for heating inside of a container by the evaporator while returning the compressed refrigerant from the compressor to the compressor through the hot gas bypass circuit and the evaporator so that a temperature inside the container reaches a target temperature.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 22, 2010
    Date of Patent: April 19, 2016
    Assignee: DAIKIN INDUSTRIES, LTD.
    Inventors: Kazuma Yokohara, Yuusuke Fujimoto, Atsushi Okamoto
  • Patent number: 9316424
    Abstract: A cooling system has a plurality of separate cooling stages including an upstream cooling stage having an upstream cooling circuit and a downstream cooling stage including a downstream cooling circuit, which are each a direct expansion cooling circuit including a tandem compressor. Each tandem compressor includes a fixed capacity compressor and a variable capacity compressor. A controller controls the fixed capacity compressor and variable capacity compressor of each tandem compressor based on a Call for Cooling, which of a plurality of ranges the Call for Cooling falls within, and whether the Call for Cooling is ramping up or ramping down.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 13, 2012
    Date of Patent: April 19, 2016
    Assignee: Liebert Corporation
    Inventors: Zhiyong Lin, Roger Noll, John F. Judge, Gary A. Helmink, Benedict J. Dolcich, Daniel J. Schutte, Timothy J. Schrader
  • Patent number: 9310106
    Abstract: A heat pump system includes a refrigerant circuit and a controller. The refrigerant circuit has usage units connected to a heat source unit. The usage units have first usage-side heat exchangers and second usage-side heat exchangers. The heat source unit has heat-source-side heat exchanger and a compressor. The controller causes the heat-source-side heat exchanger to function as an evaporator or as a radiator in accordance with an overall heat load of the usage units when the heating operation or the cooling operation has been set for each of the usage units. The aqueous medium is heated by heat radiation of the refrigerant in the first usage-side heat exchangers in the heating operating, and is cooled by evaporation of the heat-source-side refrigerant in the second usage-side heat exchangers in the cooling operation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 28, 2009
    Date of Patent: April 12, 2016
    Assignees: Daikin Industries, Ltd., Daikin Europe N.V.
    Inventor: Masahiro Honda
  • Patent number: 9297566
    Abstract: A control system for a refrigeration appliance is provided. The control system uses a linear model that is designed to minimize or remove excess enthalpy from one or more compartments and/or features of the appliance. At least one variable speed compressor is operated at a speed that will remove excess enthalpy within a desired time period while also operating at an optimized speed for energy efficiency.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 21, 2013
    Date of Patent: March 29, 2016
    Assignee: General Electric Company
    Inventors: Bahman Abbasi, Keith Wesley Wait
  • Patent number: 9285153
    Abstract: A high performance refrigerator or freezer includes a cabinet with a refrigerated interior, a first evaporator cover separating a first evaporator compartment within the cabinet from the refrigerated interior, and a refrigeration fluid circuit having a first evaporator located within the first evaporator compartment, a second evaporator, and a three-way valve enabling selective communication of refrigerant to one or both of the evaporators. The second evaporator includes an air diffuser that receives chilled air from the first evaporator compartment and delivers the chilled air into the refrigerated interior. During normal operation, the three-way valve only directs refrigerant into the first evaporator such that the first evaporator cools the cabinet and the chilled air from the first evaporator passively defrosts the second evaporator by sublimation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 17, 2012
    Date of Patent: March 15, 2016
    Assignee: Thermo Fisher Scientific (Asheville) LLC
    Inventors: J. Antonio Contreras Lafaire, Ralph Hegedus
  • Patent number: 9234676
    Abstract: A hot water supply apparatus associated with a heat pump is provided. The hot water supply apparatus may employ a cascade heat pump including a two-stage cycle to perform a hot water supply operation. Refrigerants flowing through a heat side heat exchanger and a usage side heat exchanger may be heat-exchanged with water. Thus, the hot water supply operation may be continuously performed, without a defrosting operation, and hot water supply performance and heating performance may be improved.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 18, 2014
    Date of Patent: January 12, 2016
    Assignee: LG Electronics Inc.
    Inventors: Byungsoon Kim, Jahyung Koo, Kyongmin Kwon
  • Patent number: 9234675
    Abstract: A hot water supply apparatus associated with a heat pump is provided. The hot water supply apparatus may employ a cascade heat pump including a two-stage cycle to perform a hot water supply operation. Refrigerants flowing through a heat side heat exchanger and a usage side heat exchanger may be heat-exchanged with water. Thus, the hot water supply operation may be continuously performed, without a defrosting operation, and hot water supply performance and heating performance may be improved.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 18, 2014
    Date of Patent: January 12, 2016
    Assignee: LG Electronics Inc.
    Inventors: Byungsoon Kim, Jahyung Koo, Kyongmin Kwon