US2110002A - Cooling unit - Google Patents

Description

March 1, 1938. c. LICHTENBERG 2,110,002

COOLING UNIT Original Filed June 14, 1955 Fig. 2.

Inventor- Chester- Lichtenberg,

His Attorneylid lid

Wil

Fe mented iii fare ll,

tuner (Chester ltichtenhcrg, Fort Wayne, llnd, assigimor to General Electric Company, a corporation of New York Application time it, was, Serial at. 26,562 Renewed September 15, 193? 6 Claims.

My invention relates to cooling units for refrigerating machines.

It is an object of my invention to provide an improved and simplified cooling unit for refrigerating machines having a plurality of shelves for supporting freezing trays and the like, and having a simple and emcient arrangement for circulating liquid refrigerant through passages in the shelves.

Further objects and advantages of my invention will become apparent as the following .description proceeds and the features of novelty which characterize my invention will be pointed out with particularity in the claims annexed to and forming a part of this specification.

For a better understanding of my invention reference may be had to the accompanying drawing in which Fig. 1 shows a household refrigerator having a cooling unit embodying my invention; Fig. 2 is a detail perspective view of the back of the cooling unit shown in Fig. 1; and Fig. 3 is a developed view showing the refrigerant circulating passages in one of the evaporators'of the cooling unit.

Referring now'to the drawing in Fig. l, I have shown a household refrigerator comprising a cabinet it having a door it, and provided with a refrigerating machine'including a motor and 'cpmpressor casing if, a condenser it having refrigerant conduits i l and secured to the casing if, a float valve or receiver l5, and a cooling unit it embodying my invention. The cooling unit is arranged within the cabinet ill and is suspended from a removable top I'll of the cabinet, which also constitutes the base on which is mounted the motor and compressor casing it. During the operation of the refrigerating machine gaseous refrigerant is compressed by the compressor within the casing if and is discharged into the conduit M of the condenser where it is cooled by the circulation of air around the condenser, and is thereby liquefied. The liquid refrigerant flows from the condenser to the receiver or float valve chamber l5 and when a predetermined amount of liquid has cooled, at float within the chamber iii rises and refrigerant flows through a conduit it to the cooling unit it. The liquid refrigerant is circulated through the cooling unit and absorbs heat from the cabinet wand from freezing trays or other articles placed within the cooling unit. This absorption of heat vaporizes the liquid refrigerant which collects in an upper header iii of the cooling unit and is withdrawn from the header through a conduit 20 and returned to the compressor.

" passages is thus of B shaped cross section.

(Ulla (rig-112 5) The cooling unit iii is constructed of sheet metal and comprises an upper evaporator and a lower evaporator of substantially the same construction, each evaporator being formed of sheet metal and having a header and a plurality of depending refrigerant circulating passages formed between the metal sheets and providing circulation of refrigerant through the freezing tray supports or shelves. This construction is clearly shown in Fig. .2 where I have shown an upper evaporator 2i and a lowerhevaporator 22 each formed from two sheets of metal secured to gether face to face and provided with indentations forming a header and a plurality of refrigerant circulating'passages. The upper evaporator 2i and the lower evaporator 22 are of substantially the same construction and the same numerals have been applied to corresponding parts of the two evaporators. Fig. 3, which is"a developed view of the upper evaporator ff, shows the arrangement of the header it and the circulating conduits or passages. The outer sheet 26 is shown placed over the inner sheet ft with the edges ftl of the inner sheet folded over the edges of the sheet f t. The header it is formed by complementary indentations in the sheets ft and it near one end of the sheets. A plurality of U shaped passages or conduits ft communicating with a manifold fl through a plurality: of ducts 2t and a liquid inlet passage 29a are formed by indentations in the outer sheet td; and a sinuous passage or conduit 29 is formed. by indentations partly in the sheet 2t and partly in the sheet if, the portions of the passage in the sheet fit being shown by dotted lines. The passage 29 communicates at one end with the liquid passage the, and at the other end with the manifold fl. The sheets 2%? and M are hermetically sealed together around their edges and between the indentations by welding or in any other suitable manner, and the sheets are then bent into the form shown in Fig. 2, a flange 3% on the sheet 23 being bent at right angles to the sheet and being secured by welding to the side wall of theevaporator. The portion of the evaporator containing the refrigerant circulating freezing chamber is formed between upper and lower shelves iii and fit, and a wall 33 is welded 355 formed on the evaporator fl above the header it and on the'wall respectively are provided in order to secure the cooling unit to the top wall of a refrigerator cabinet. The lower evaporator 22 is of substantially the same construction as the evaporator 2 I, except that in place of a flange corresponding to the flange 34, the evaporator 22 is provided with a plurality of lugs 36 extending vertically from the wall of header l9 thereof. The lugs are welded or otherwise secured to the evaporator 2| between the passages 26, and the wall 33 of the evaporator 22 is provided with an offset vertical extension 31 whereby it is secured by welding or in any other suitable manner to the evaporator 2|.

The construction of the evaporators 2| and 22 and the arrangement of the circulating passages is not my invention, but is the invention of Leonard W. Atchison, and is shown and described in his co-pending application Serial No. 7,683, filed February 23, 1935, and assigned to the General Electric Company assignee of my present invention. I do not, therefore, herein claim anything claimed in the said Atchison application which is to be regarded as prior art with respect'to the present application, my invention relating to an improved method for constructing a cooling unit comprising a plurality of evaporators.

Each of the evaporators 2| and 22 is provided with guards 38 which' prevent freezing trays or other articles placed on the shelves from being pushed too far to the rear of the cooling unit. After the evaporators 2| and 22 have been secured together in the manner described, the headers |9 are connected by an equalizer tube or conduit 39 of relatively large diameter. This equalizer tube provides a passage whereby liquid and gaseous refrigerant may flow from the lower header to the upper header; it is maintained filled with liquid refrigerant during normal operation of the cooling unit.

During the operation of the refrigerating machine shown in Fig. 1, liquid refrigerant is admitted to the cooling unit from the float valve chamber l5, conduit i8, and connections 40 and 4|, the latter being connected to evaporators 2| and 22 respectively. The admission of liquid refrigerant to the cooling unit in this manner produces a circulation of refrigerant through freezing shelves 3| and 32 of evaporators 2| and 22. The refrigerant is vaporize'd upon the absorption of heat from the air surrounding the cooling unit and articles placed within the unit and the refrigerant vapor collects in the headers l9. Some gaseous refrigerant may be trapped in the lower header l9 above the lower opening of the tube 39 and as more vapor is formed it will rise to the top of the lower header l9 and depress the liquid level until the vapor bubbles up through the liquid refrigerant in the tube 39 to the upper header IS.. The gaseous refrigerant is withdrawn from the cooling unit through a suction connection 20. The normal liquid level within the header I! of the evaporator 2| is maintained so that the upper end 43 of the connection tube 39 will be partially below the normal liquid level which is indicated at 44. The tube 39 is thereby maintained filled with liquid refrigerantduring normal operation of the cooling unit.

It will be apparent from the foregoing that I have provided a cooling unit having a large number of freezing shelves providing eflicient circulation of refrigerant and hich is simple to construct and economical to manufacture.

While I have shown my invention in connection with a cooling unit for a household refrigerator variations in the structure thereof will readily be apparent to those skilled in the art. I do not, therefore, desire my invention to be limited to the particular construction shown and described, and I intend in the appended claims to cover all modifications within the spirit and scope of my invention.

What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, is: v

1. A cooling unit for refrigerating machines comprising an upper header and a lower header, a plurality of liquid refrigerant circulating conduits communicating with said upper header and depending therefrom, a plurality of liquid refrigerant circulating conduits independent of said first-mentioned conduits and communicating with said lower header and depending therefrom, means supplying liquid refrigerant to said cooling unit for producinga circulation of refrigerant therein, means providing communication between said headers for removing liquid and gaseous refrigerant from said lower header, and means for removing gaseous refrigerant from said upper header.

2. A cooling unit for refrigerating machines comprising an upper header and a lower header, a plurality of liquid refrigerant circulating conduits communicating with said upper header and depending therefrom, a plurality of liquid refrigerant circulating conduits independent of said first-mentioned conduits and communicating with said lower header and depending therefrom, means supplying liquid refrigerant to said conduits for producing a circulation of refrigerant therein, means providing communication between said headers for removing liquid and gaseous refrigerant from said lower header, and means for withdrawing gaseous refrigerant from said upper header.

3. A cooling'fiunit for refrigerating machines comprising an upper header and a lower header, a plurality of liquid refrigerant circulating conduits communicating with said upper header and depending therefrom, a plurality of liquid refrigerant circulating conduits communicating with said lower header and depending therefrom, means supplying refrigerant to said conduits depending from said upper header for producing a circulation of refrigerant therein, means supplying refrigerant to said conduits depending from said lower header for producing a circulation of refrigerant therein, means providing communication between said headers for removing liquid and gaseous refrigerant from said lower means including a plurality of conduits communicating with said upper header for providing a plurality of surfaces for supporting freezing trays and the like, means including a plurality of conduits independent of said first-mentioned conduits and communicating with said lower header for providing a plurality of surfaces for supporting freezing trays and the like, means supplying liquid refrigerant to said conduits for producing a.circulation of refrigerant therein, means providing communication between said upper header and said lower header for withdrawing liquid and gaseous refrigerant from said lower header, and means for withdrawing gaseous refrigerant from said upper header.

5. A cooling unit for refrigerating machines airopoa comprising an upper evaporator and a lower evaporator, each of said evaporators comprising sheets of metal secured together face to face and having a header and a plurality of depending liquid refrigerant circulating conduits formed therein and communicating with the header, each of said evaporators providing a plurality of surfaces for supporting freezing trays and the like, means supplying liquid refrigerant to said con duits for producing a circulation of refrigerant therein, means providing communication leetween the header of said upper evaporator and the header of said lower evaporator for withdrawing liquid and gaseous refrigerant from said low- 15 er evaporator, and means for withdrawing gasa lower sheet metal evaporator, each of said evaporators having formed therein a header and a plurality of depending refrigerant circulating conduits, and means for supporting said lower evaporator from said upper evaporator, said means including a plurality of lugs formed in the sheet metal at the upper end of said lower evaporator and engaging the wall of said upper evaporator in a plurality of the spaces between the refrigerant conduits thereof.

CHESTER LICHTENBERG.

Images