Refrigerant charge management in a heat pump water heater

Chen, Jie; Hampton, Justin W.

Title: Refrigerant charge management in a heat pump water heater

Patent · Tue Jun 24 00:00:00 EDT 2014

OSTI ID:1136400

Chen, Jie; Hampton, Justin W.

Heat pumps that heat or cool a space and that also heat water, refrigerant management systems for such heat pumps, methods of managing refrigerant charge, and methods for heating and cooling a space and heating water. Various embodiments deliver refrigerant gas to a heat exchanger that is not needed for transferring heat, drive liquid refrigerant out of that heat exchanger, isolate that heat exchanger against additional refrigerant flowing into it, and operate the heat pump while the heat exchanger is isolated. The heat exchanger can be isolated by closing an electronic expansion valve, actuating a refrigerant management valve, or both. Refrigerant charge can be controlled or adjusted by controlling how much liquid refrigerant is driven from the heat exchanger, by letting refrigerant back into the heat exchanger, or both. Heat pumps can be operated in different modes of operation, and segments of refrigerant conduit can be interconnected with various components.

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Research Organization:: Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE

Assignee:: Nordyne LLC (O'Fallon, MO)

Patent Number(s):: 8,756,943

Application Number:: 13/548,091

OSTI ID:: 1136400

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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Refrigeration cycle apparatus Tamaki, Shogo; Saito, Makoto; Oya, Ryo https://doi.org/https://image-ppubs.uspto.gov/dirsearch-public/print/downloadPdf/9644876 US Patent Document 9,644,876	patent	May 2017
Heating and cooling system including a heat pump and a heat storage tank Yang, Yixin https://doi.org/https://image-ppubs.uspto.gov/dirsearch-public/print/downloadPdf/9127851 US Patent Document 9,127,851	patent	September 2015

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