An air turbo-refrigeration unit includes a compressor on die same shaft as a turbo-expander, an electric motor, a two-cavity heat exchanger, a recuperator, a water trap, and a refrigeration chamber with a cooler and a fan. The unit has a two-cavity heat exchanger/cooler and second and third water traps. The compressor is connected by its outlet to the first cavity of the heat exchanger, which connects to the first cavity of the heat exchanger/cooler. The first cavity of the heat exchanger/cooler is connected via the second water trap to the first cavity of the recuperator, which communicates with the inlet of the turbo-expander via the first water trap. The turbo-expander is connected by its outlet via the third water trap to the second cavity of the heat exchanger/cooler, which communicates with the cooler and, via the cooler, with the second cavity of the recuperator, which communicates with the compressor inlet.

A method for efficiently reducing the energy required to convert natural gas from a natural gas pressure letdown facility at high pressure and pipeline/wellhead temperature to liquid natural gas in close proximity to/collocation with a natural gas pressure letdown/regulation facility using Non-Freezing Vortex Tubes (U.S. Pat. No. 5,749,231) in arrangement with indirect contact heat exchangers. The Non-Freezing Vortex Tubes separate the inlet natural gas into hot flow and cold flow outlet natural gas flows. One portion of the natural gas flow from the high-pressure transmission line/gas wellhead is directed through the Non-Freezing Vortex Tube and the cold outlet flow of the natural gas is directed to the indirect contact heat exchanger(s) to act as the cooling medium. The liquid natural gas plant's required natural gas flow is directed at the existing pipeline/wellhead gas pressure through the heat exchanger and cooled. The already cooled natural gas flow is directed to a turbo expander and refrigeration cold box system where it is further chilled and converted into liquid natural gas at −162° C.

A system and method for increasing the refrigeration capacity of a direct expansion refrigeration system having a vapor separator and a vapor ejector. After the throttling process at the expansion device, the mixture of liquid and vapor enters the inlet separator. The vapor separator generates vapor to power the ejector through flashing of warm refrigerant liquid from a higher temperature and pressure to a lower pressure. The cooler refrigerant liquid then goes to the evaporator coil inlet. Furthermore, the system stabilizes the superheat of the outlet vapor and reduces fluctuations in outlet superheat caused by excess unevaporated liquid flowing from the outlets of the tubes due to mal-distribution at the inlet.

An air conditioning device includes a plurality of ejectors which have a refrigerant circuit including a compressor, a condenser and an evaporator, are connected in parallel to the refrigerant circuit, and are formed so as to each have a different maximum refrigerant flow, and a control unit which, according to a driving condition of the air conditioning device, controls so that the refrigerant flows to one ejector among the plurality of ejectors, and the refrigerant does not flow to the rest of the ejectors.

A gas-liquid separator includes a first cylinder, a second cylinder, a heat exchange pipe, a flow guide pipe, a distribution portion, and a lower sealing cover. The gas-liquid separator has a first cavity and a second cavity. The second cavity includes at least the space located in the first cylinder. The distribution portion includes a first passage. One end of the first passage is communicated with that of the flow guide pipe. The other end of the flow guide pipe is communicated with the second cavity. The other end of the first passage is communicated with the first cavity. The lower sealing cover is located at the other side far away from the distribution portion. The gas-liquid separator further includes a flow passage located, at least in part, in the lower sealing cover, communicated with the first cavity and communicated with the second cavity.

Thermal management techniques include: transporting a refrigerant fluid from a receiver to an inlet of a flash tank that has a vapor-side outlet and liquid-side outlet such that a liquid phase of the refrigerant fluid moves to a bottom of the flash tank and outputs from the liquid-side outlet; forming a solid-vapor state from the liquid phase by expanding the liquid phase with an expansion valve to a first pressure that is less than a triple point pressure to form a solid-vapor mixture of the refrigerant fluid; extracting heat from a heat load with an evaporator that receives the solid-vapor mixture of the refrigerant fluid and sublimates the solid state of the solid-vapor mixture of the refrigerant fluid directly into a vapor phase of the refrigerant fluid; and discharging, from an exhaust line, the vapor phase to an ambient environment without returning the vapor phase to the receiver.

A method for an improved integration of refrigeration into conventional natural gas processing plants which use propane or similar hydrocarbon refrigerants either to supplement cooling by turbo-expanders or as the sole source of refrigeration.

The invention relates to separator for separating gas bubbles and/or particles from a liquid. The separator comprises a collection chamber, a fluid inlet, a fluid outlet, and a first fluid flow path extending from the fluid inlet through the collection chamber to the fluid outlet. The separator includes at least one separating element arranged for separating gas bubbles from the liquid arranged in the first fluid flow path. The separator further includes at least one plate arranged in the collection chamber such that the plate defines a passage forming a second fluid flow path at least partially bypassing the separating element.

An evaporatively cooled refrigeration system includes a refrigerant, a gas/liquid separator, an expansion valve in fluid connection to the gas/liquid separator, an evaporator to receive the refrigerant from the expansion valve, a compressor configured to compress the refrigerant in fluid connection to the evaporator, and a gas cooler in fluid connection to the compressor. The gas cooler includes an indirect heat exchanger to convey the refrigerant and facilitate heat from the refrigerant and a spray system to spray an evaporative coolant on the indirect heat exchanger. Evaporative cooling provided by the evaporative coolant on the coil is configured to cool the refrigerant below a dry bulb ambient air temperature.

An HVAC system includes a refrigerant liquid-gas separator. The liquid-gas separator is thermally coupled to electronics to transfer heat away from the electronics, and assist in vaporizing liquid refrigerant. The liquid-gas separator device includes a refrigeration section configured to couple to a refrigeration loop, and electronics thermally coupled to the refrigeration section. The refrigeration section includes: (a) a refrigerant inlet configured to receive refrigerant from the refrigeration loop; (b) a refrigerant outlet configured to release vapor refrigerant to the refrigeration loop; and (c) a cavity coupled to the refrigerant inlet and the refrigerant outlet, the cavity configured to separate liquid refrigerant from vapor refrigerant. During use of the HVAC system, heat from the electronics board is transferred to the refrigerant. The liquid-gas separator includes a check valve configured to inhibit flow of refrigerant into the liquid-gas separator device via the refrigerant outlet.