Abstract:
A heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning (HVAC) system includes a blower, a fresh-air valve, a bypass duct, and a bypass valve. The blower is configured to urge air to flow from an inlet to an outlet of the blower. The fresh-air valve is operable to provide a mixture of air drawn from an outside-air duct and a recirculated-air duct to the inlet. The fresh-air valve is operable to a recirculate position where the outside-air duct is substantially blocked from communicating with the inlet. The bypass duct is configured to couple the outlet to the outside-air duct. The bypass valve is located in the bypass duct and is operable to a closed position and an open position. The cabin is ventilated when the fresh-air valve is in the recirculate position, the bypass valve is in the open position, and the blower is operated to blow air out of the outside-air duct.
Abstract:
A condensate drainage enhancing device is provided for an evaporator. An integrally molded plastic part snap fits around the conventional lower manifold, with rails maintained in tight engagement with the front and rear edges of the refrigerant flow tubes. These interrupt the meniscus films of columns of retained water that would otherwise form and, which instead drains down ribs that depend from the rails.
Abstract:
A two-pass evaporator suitable for use in an automobile includes various pressure drop devices to aliquot refrigerant into tubes that make up the two-pass evaporator. The two-pass evaporator includes a first pressure-drop device configured to receive and expand a liquid phase refrigerant into a first mixture of two-phase refrigerant; and a second pressure-drop device configured to receive and expand the first mixture of two-phase refrigerant into a second mixture of two-phase refrigerant and aliquot the second mixture of two-phase refrigerant to the first end of the first plurality of tubes. The two-pass evaporator includes a transition manifold that may house a flow-modulation plate disposed therein and configured to segregate the transition manifold into an upstream portion and a downstream portion. The flow-modulation device works in conjunction with the upstream pressure drop devices to aliquot refrigerant from the first plurality of tubes to the second plurality of tubes.
Abstract:
An automotive evaporator heat exchanger is provided having a hybrid expansion device configured to aliquot refrigerant across the refrigerant tubes. The hybrid expansion device includes a first stage refrigerant pressure drop device and a second stage refrigerant pressure drop device. The first stage refrigerant pressure drop device is a TXV configured to receive and expand a liquid phase refrigerant into a first mixture of two phase refrigerant and the second stage refrigerant pressure drop device is a tube extending within the inlet manifold configured to expand the first mixture of two phase refrigerant into a second mixture of two phase refrigerant. The tube includes a plurality of orifices and a tube diameter large enough to prevent resistance to refrigerant flow, but, small enough to prevent the first mixture of two phase refrigerant flow from separating into liquid and vapor strata.