Devices, systems, and methods are disclosed for cooling using both air and/or liquid cooling sub circuits. A vapor compression cooling system having both an air and liquid cooling sub circuit designed to service high sensible process heat loads that cannot be solely cooled by either liquid or air is provided.

A heat exchanger for an air conditioner for which a zeotropic refrigerant mixture is used is obtained, and the heat exchanger, when used as an evaporator, enables reduction of the amount of required refrigerant without deteriorating the heat transfer performance. The heat exchanger includes: a plurality of fins stacked together at predetermined intervals therebetween; first heat transfer pipes which extend through the plurality of fins, in which a heat medium flows, and which have a plurality of grooves in the inner surface of the pipes; and second heat transfer pipes extending through the plurality of fins, having one end connected to one end of the first heat transfer pipes to form one heat medium flow path, being smaller in pipe diameter than the first heat transfer pipes, and having an inner surface shape providing a pressure loss per unit length smaller than that of the first heat transfer pipes.

High temperature thermal energy storage, distinctive in that the storage comprises: a thermally insulated foundation, at least one self-supported cassette arranged on said foundation, which cassette is a self-supporting frame or structure containing a number of concrete thermal energy storage elements, some or all of said elements comprising embedded heat exchangers, a pipe system, the pipe system comprising an inlet and an outlet for thermal input to and output from the storage, respectively, and connections to said heat exchangers for circulating fluid through said heat exchangers for thermal energy input to or output from said thermal energy storage elements, and thermal insulation around and on top of the at least one self-supported cassette with concrete thermal storage elements. The invention also provides a method of building and methods of operating the storage.

A refrigeration system has: (a) a fluid tight circulation loop including a compressor, a condenser and an evaporator, the evaporator having at least three evaporator zones, each evaporator zone having an inlet port, the circulation loop being further configured to measure the condition of the refrigerant with a refrigerant condition sensor disposed within the evaporator upstream of the evaporator outlet port; and control the flow of refrigerant to the evaporator based upon the measured condition of the refrigerant within the evaporator, and (b) a controller for controlling the flow rate of refrigerant to the evaporator based upon the measured condition of the refrigerant within the evaporator upstream of the evaporator outlet port.

A fluid coil includes a tube bundle having a series of straight tubing runs and a series of return bends extending between and fluidically connecting ones of the straight tubing runs, an expansion header fluidically connected to at least some of the return bends and a polymeric material disposed in the expansion header. The polymeric material has an initial shape and is compressible to repeatedly expand and contract between a first volume in which water is present in the tube bundle and a second volume in which the water undergoes a phase change. Contraction of the polymeric material absorbs an increase in volume as the water undergoes the phase change to prevent stressing and rupture of the tube bundle and upon an opposite phase change, the polymeric material returns to its initial shape. The polymeric material can be a pressurizable bladder. A system and method to prevent the rupture of a tube bundle in a fluid coil are also disclosed.

A heat exchanger includes a fin group and a tube group for a heat exchange medium. The fin group includes plate fins each of which is shaped as a flat polygonal plate having a first acute-angled corner. The plate fins are spaced by gaps through which air for air conditioning passes and arranged such that the air for air conditioning flows in a first direction along one of sides forming the first corner. The tube group includes heat transfer tubes which meander in the first direction. The heat transfer tubes includes fin-mounted portions mounted to and penetrating through the fin group. On the plate fin, between first fin-mounted portions adjacent to one another in the first direction, there are second fin-mounted portions adjacent to the first fin-mounted portions in a direction orthogonal to the first direction.

A heat pump system and a control method thereof. The heat pump system includes: a compressor; an indoor heat exchanger; an outdoor heat exchanger configured as an interlaced heat exchanger having at least two refrigerant flow paths; a plurality of throttling elements; and a first type four-way valve and a second type four-way valve; in a local defrosting mode, refrigerant flows sequentially from the exhaust port of the compressor through at least one of the at least two refrigerant flow paths of the outdoor heat exchanger, the throttling element, at least another of the at least two refrigerant flow paths of the outdoor heat exchanger and the suction port of the compressor.

A heat pump system includes a compressor; an indoor heat exchanger; an outdoor heat exchanger configured as an interlaced heat exchanger having at least two refrigerant flow paths; a plurality of throttling elements; and a first type four-way valve and a second type four-way valve, with ports thereof respectively connected to the inlet and the outlet of the compressor, the indoor heat exchanger, and one of the at least two refrigerant flow paths of the outdoor heat exchanger; in a local defrosting mode, refrigerant from the outlet of the compressor flows respectively through the indoor heat exchanger and at least one of the at least two refrigerant flow paths of the outdoor heat exchanger, and then sequentially through the throttling elements, at least the other of the at least two refrigerant flow paths of the outdoor heat exchanger, and the inlet of the compressor.

A heat exchanger includes: a case which has a first side wall that stands upright in a vertical height direction and to which a heating medium is supplied inside; and heat transfer tubes for heating hot water housed in the case. Two end portions of the heat transfer tubes in a longitudinal direction are joined to the first side wall via brazing portions, and the heat transfer tubes are supported by the first side wall. The heat exchanger further includes heat transfer tube support portions provided on the first side wall for supporting portions of the heat transfer tubes near the first side wall to prevent the portions of the heat transfer tubes near the first side wall from descending below a first predetermined height.

A baffle for a furnace of a heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) system includes a mounting flange configured to be secured to a housing of the furnace. The baffle also includes a first panel extending from the mounting flange into an air flow path extending through the furnace and a second panel extending from the first panel toward the housing.