A method for cooling air in an HVAC system includes moving refrigerant through a closed refrigeration circuit having, inter alia, an expansion device subsystem, which includes a full-load pathway and at least one partial-load pathway and a flow selector for directing refrigerant flow from the condenser to either the partial-load pathway or the full-load pathway. The method also involves directing refrigerant flow from the condenser to the full-load pathway when the refrigerant pressure is greater than or equal to a first preselected activation pressure and stepping down a refrigerant pressure with a set orifice and directing refrigerant flow from the condenser to the partial-load pathway when the refrigerant pressure is less than a second preselected activation pressure and stepping down a refrigerant pressure with a variable expansion device configured for partial loads. Refrigerant is delivered from the full-load pathway or partial-load pathway to the evaporator.

A method for a refrigeration system includes receiving a temperature difference (TD) setpoint indicating a desired temperature difference between outside air and refrigerant and modifying the TD setpoint based on conditions currently being experienced by the refrigeration system. The modified TD setpoint is selected to cause a decrease in total power consumption, wherein the total power consumption comprises power consumed by a compressor to yield a discharge pressure and power consumed by a condenser fan to operate a fan speed.

A refrigeration system includes a supplemental heat exchanger operably disposed between a condenser and an evaporator. This supplemental heat exchanger is located in selective fluid communication with the air in the conditioned space, and can be toggled between an “invisible” mode in which the heat exchanger acts as a simple fluid conduit between the condenser and evaporator, and a “humidity reduction” mode in which the heat exchanger operates to transfer heat from hot refrigerant to the colder conditioned space. This addition of heat into the conditioned space decreases the relative humidity of the conditioned space and subcools the refrigerant leading to the expansion valve and evaporator. This subcooling of the liquid enables the evaporator to operate at a lower temperature which enhances the moisture removal from the air moving through the evaporator. The supplemental heat exchanger may be located in a physically elevated position relative to the remainder of the conditioned space to utilize stratification of hot air to create a default “invisible mode” without inducing airflow.

A system for a portable cooling device is disclosed herein. The portable cooling device comprises a housing and a door with a handle coupled to the housing for providing access to the interior of the housing. The door and housing are insulated. At least one fan is provided in the interior of housing. In an embodiment, a plurality of fans are configured on each surface defining the interior of the housing. A cooling medium source is in fluid communication with the housing. The cooling medium source is configured to release a cooling medium in the interior of the housing for cooling an edible item or beverage placed in the interior of the housing. The portable cooling device can be powered through solar means or through traditional electrical means. The power is necessary to operate the fans and the cooling medium source.

An air conditioner unit includes a refrigeration loop, a variable speed compressor urging refrigerant through the refrigeration loop, a temperature sensor to detect a temperature within a room, and a controller operably coupled to the variable speed compressor. The controller is configured to initiate the compressor at a fixed speed, determine an estimated target temperature of the room, determine an actual temperature of the room, generate a target compressor speed, and initiate the compressor at the target speed.

The invention relates to a method of operating at least one distributed energy resource comprising a refrigeration system (1) with a number of cooling entities, wherein a power consumption information is communicated to a smart-grid setup (SG). According to the invention the method comprises the steps of: requesting (S0) a power consumption information from the refrigeration system; transmitting (S1) the power consumption information from the refrigeration system (1), wherein a total amount of power consumption (Pmin, Pmax) of the refrigeration system (1) is provided; wherein: a cooling capacity (dQ/dt_i) of at least one cooling entity is determined wherein an entity operation condition (CE) of the cooling entity (E1, E2) is taken into account (D1); a power consumption (W_i) of at least one cooling entity (E1, E2) is determined from the cooling capacity (dQ/dt_i) wherein a performance estimation (COP) of a refrigeration cycle for the cooling entity (E1, E2) is taken into account (D2); providing (D3) the total amount of power consumption (Pmin, Pmax) as a sum of power consumptions (W_i) of at least the one cooling entity of the number of cooling entities (E1, E2), in particular as a sum of relevant power consumptions of the number of cooling entities (E1, E2); receiving (S2) at the refrigeration system (1) a power reference (Wref) from the smart-grid setup (SG). The method presented enables power control of a centralized refrigeration system in a smart-grid setup where an aggregator provides the power reference. In addition, the method also enables the refrigeration system to improve determining flexibility margins beyond absolute max./min values of nominal and zero.

The present invention relates to a refrigerator, comprising: a dry article chamber, a cold chamber, a first cooling and circulating system and a second cooling and circulating system in which a coolant circulates respectively, wherein an evaporating temperature of the first cooling and circulating system is lower than that of the second cooling and circulating system, the first cooling and circulating system comprises an evaporator arranged inside the cold chamber, and a refrigerating output passage is arranged between the cold chamber and the dry article chamber. By communicating the dry article chamber with the cold chamber of the first cooling and circulating system whose evaporating temperature is relatively low, the absolute humidity of the air entering the dry article chamber is much lower, realizing a lower absolute humidity in the dry article chamber.

The present disclosure relates to a method for controlling a level of superheat during a pump mode of operation of a refrigeration system, wherein the refrigeration system can operate in either the pump mode or a compressor mode, and has an electronically controlled expansion valve (EEV). A controller obtains a stored, predetermined pump differential pressure range able to be produced by a pump of the system. The controller also obtains a stored, predetermined superheat range, and detects a superheat level. When the detected superheat level is outside of the superheat temperature range, the controller commands adjusting at least one of the EEV and a speed of the pump based on whether the detected superheat level is above or below the superheat range, and whether a current pump differential pressure is above or below the predetermined pump differential pressure range.

A system and method to control a thermoelectric device using a microcontroller is provided. The system and method include a temperature sensor operatively coupled to a microcontroller that has a central processing unit, at least one memory device, and a module for generating at least one pulse width modulation signal. The at least one pulse width modulation signal generated by the microcontroller has “ON” and “OFF” states to drive the thermoelectric device.

When the temperatures of outdoor heat exchangers 23a and 23b detected by outdoor heat exchanger temperature sensors 57a and 57b become equal to or higher than 5 degrees C. and the sucking superheating degrees of compressors 21a and 21b become equal to or lower than 0 degrees C. while an air conditioning apparatus 1 is performing the reverse defrosting operation, the reverse defrosting operation is stopped and the heating dominant operation is resumed. At this time, the total operating times of the compressors 21a and 21b are reset. The sucking superheating degrees of the compressors 21a and 21b are obtained by subtracting the low pressure saturation temperatures calculated from the sucking pressures of the compressors 21a and 21b, from the temperatures of the refrigerants sucked into the compressors 21a and 21b which temperatures are detected by the sucking temperature sensors 54a and 54b.