A system and a method for a hybrid heat pump system including first compression means operable to form a refrigerant in vapor form and increases the pressure of the refrigerant vapor; condensing means arranged to receive the pressurized vapor and condenses the vapor under pressure to a liquid; pressure reduction means through which the liquid refrigerant leaving the condensing means passes to reduce the pressure of the liquid to form a mixture of liquid and vapor refrigerant; evaporator means arranged to receive the mixture of liquid and vapor refrigerant that passes through the pressure reduction means to evaporate the remaining liquid to form first and second portions of refrigerant vapor; second compression means including two, first and second inlet ports and an outlet port and operable to: receive at least a portion of the refrigerant vapor from the evaporator means, the pressurized vapor from the first compression means, and the vapor refrigerant from the condensing means through the first and second inlet ports respectively; increase the pressure thereof; and pass the pressurized vapor to the condensing means through the outlet port; and a conduit operable to pass a portion of the refrigerant vapor leaving the first compression means to the second compression means.

A temperature controller for a sorption system having an evaporator to produce a gas, a sorber containing a sorption material to sorb the gas during a sorption phase, a flow channel extending between the evaporator and sorber to provide a gas pathway connecting them, a valve to control the rate of gas flow in the flow channel, and a temperature sensor positioned to measure the temperature of an evaporator surface or the air adjacent thereto indicative of an evaporator surface temperature, and generate a temperature signal. The controller includes an inflatable member having first and second inflation states, and a control unit configured to evaluate the temperature signal and in response control the state of inflation of the inflatable member and thereby the operation of the valve to control the rate of gas flow between the evaporator and sorber through the gas pathway.

A temperature controller for a sorption system having an evaporator to produce a gas, a sorber containing a sorption material to sorb the gas during a sorption phase, a flow channel extending between the evaporator and sorber to provide a gas pathway connecting them, a valve to control the rate of gas flow in the flow channel, and a temperature sensor positioned to measure the temperature of an evaporator surface or the air adjacent thereto indicative of an evaporator surface temperature, and generate a temperature signal. The controller includes an inflatable member having first and second inflation states, and a control unit configured to evaluate the temperature signal and in response control the state of inflation of the inflatable member and thereby the operation of the valve to control the rate of gas flow between the evaporator and sorber through the gas pathway.

A refrigerator includes a main body that has a storage chamber and a drying chamber; a thermoelectric module that includes a heat absorber and a heat dissipater; a cooling fan that circulates air in the storage chamber to the heat absorber and the storage chamber; a heat-dissipating fan that blows air to the heat dissipater; an air guide that has a passage for guiding air heated by the heat dissipater to the drying chamber; a heater that is disposed in the passage; and a damper that controls a flow of air in the passage between the heat-dissipating fan and the heater. Heat of the heat dissipater transfers to the drying chamber through the passage of the air guide and the damper, thereby being able to dry an object to be dried.

A system and a method for a hybrid heat pump system including first compression means operable to form a refrigerant in vapor form and increases the pressure of the refrigerant vapor; condensing means arranged to receive the pressurized vapor and condenses the vapor under pressure to a liquid; pressure reduction means through which the liquid refrigerant leaving the condensing means passes to reduce the pressure of the liquid to form a mixture of liquid and vapor refrigerant; evaporator means arranged to receive the mixture of liquid and vapor refrigerant that passes through the pressure reduction means to evaporate the remaining liquid to form additional refrigerant vapor; second compression means including an inlet port and two, first and second outlet ports and operable to: receive the refrigerant vapor from the evaporator means through the inlet port; increase the pressure thereof; and pass at least a portion of the refrigerant vapor to at least one of the condensing means and the first compression means through the first and second outlet ports respectively; and a conduit operable to pass at least one of the refrigerant vapor leaving the evaporator means and the refrigerant vapor leaving the second compression means to the first compression means.

A low-temperature quick-freezing freeze-drying system provided by the invention includes: a compressor unit, a first heat exchanger, an air cooler, a second heat exchanger, a throttling element, a third heat exchanger, a circulating fan, a drying chamber, a third valve, a fourth valve and connecting pipelines, and the above elements form a refrigeration circulation loop, a quick freezing/freeze-drying circulation loop, and a desorption drying circulation loop, thereby realizing the low-temperature quick-freezing and freeze-drying of materials. The invention adopts the heat exchangers with a cold storage function, so that the refrigeration capacity of the compressor is stored and used intensively to achieve rapid cooling of the materials.

A system and a method for a hybrid heat pump system including first compression means operable to form a refrigerant in vapor form and increases the pressure of the refrigerant vapor; condensing means arranged to receive the pressurized vapor and condenses the vapor under pressure to a liquid; pressure reduction means through which the liquid refrigerant leaving the condensing means passes to reduce the pressure of the liquid to form a mixture of liquid and vapor refrigerant; evaporator means arranged to receive the mixture of liquid and vapor refrigerant that passes through the pressure reduction means to evaporate the remaining liquid to form first and second portions of refrigerant vapor; second compression means including two, first and second inlet ports and an outlet port and operable to: receive at least a portion of the refrigerant vapor from the evaporator means, the pressurized vapor from the first compression means, and the vapor refrigerant from the condensing means through the first and second inlet ports respectively; increase the pressure thereof; and pass the pressurized vapor to the condensing means through the outlet port; and a conduit operable to pass a portion of the refrigerant vapor leaving the first compression means to the second compression means.

A system and a method for a hybrid heat pump system including first compression means operable to form a refrigerant in vapor form and increases the pressure of the refrigerant vapor; condensing means arranged to receive the pressurized vapor and condenses the vapor under pressure to a liquid; pressure reduction means through which the liquid refrigerant leaving the condensing means passes to reduce the pressure of the liquid to form a mixture of liquid and vapor refrigerant; evaporator means arranged to receive the mixture of liquid and vapor refrigerant that passes through the pressure reduction means to evaporate the remaining liquid to form additional refrigerant vapor; second compression means including an inlet port and two, first and second outlet ports and operable to: receive the refrigerant vapor from the evaporator means through the inlet port; increase the pressure thereof; and pass at least a portion of the refrigerant vapor to at least one of the condensing means and the first compression means through the first and second outlet ports respectively; and a conduit operable to pass at least one of the refrigerant vapor leaving the evaporator means and the refrigerant vapor leaving the second compression means to the first compression means.

An adsorption refrigeration device includes a first chamber with an adsorber/desorber material and a second chamber with an evaporator/condenser device. The first and second chambers are in fluid connection via a pipeline. The fluid connection between the chambers is blocked in a first functional position and opened in a second functional position via a valve device that is arranged in the pipeline. The valve device has a valve element with a variable diameter. The valve element has two functional positions. In the first functional position, the valve element has a first diameter by which it fills an internal cross section of the pipeline with tight contact with an inner wall of the pipeline. In the second functional position, the valve element has a second diameter that is smaller than the first diameter such that a gap is opened between the inner wall of the pipeline and the valve element.

Envisaged is an exhaust gas heat recovery system comprising a heat pump, a mixer and a flow regulating means. The heat pump is configured to pump heat from a refrigerant. The heat pump has an inlet and an outlet wherein the exhaust gas stream leaving the outlet is split into two streams: a stream rejected to atmosphere and a recirculating exhaust stream re-circulated back to the heat pump. The mixer is provided at the inlet of the heat pump to mix an inlet exhaust stream with the recirculating exhaust gas stream to get a resultant exhaust stream at an intermediate temperature of the two streams. The flow regulating means is adapted to compress the recirculating exhaust stream.