EcoRenovator - View Single Post - Refrigerant Control in 1930's Refrigerators

marx290 · 04-07-13, 11:50 AM

That's very cool that someone is playing with low side floats. As far as I can tell, their use today seams limited to large industrial chillers. What exactly was her application?

Very cool to see a girl interested in refrigeration! Kind of a rarity for some reason, and going rogue with a float valve no less!

There are many advantageous features of a regulated, gravity flooded evaporator such as the low pressure drop as you noted. Also, most sources mention that they are more effective at absorbing heat because the heat transferring surface is very well wetted throughout. Of course, they ar fully flooded as well in the sense that implemented properly, they produce very little superheat and have the advantage of separating liquid refrigerant from being drawn into the suction line.

Drawbacks are the large refrigerant charge (which has positive effects depending on how you look at it), potential for oil logging in the evaporator and the lack of knowledge and equipment for implementing them. There are some reliability issues to overcome with a low side float too, but a mechanical float valve is not the only way to regulate liquid level in the evaporator.

Here's some more machines from the 1920s

04-07-13, 11:50 AM	#3
marx290 Vapor Compression Goon Join Date: Mar 2013 Location: Portland, OR Posts: 63 Thanks: 11 Thanked 22 Times in 11 Posts	That's very cool that someone is playing with low side floats. As far as I can tell, their use today seams limited to large industrial chillers. What exactly was her application? Very cool to see a girl interested in refrigeration! Kind of a rarity for some reason, and going rogue with a float valve no less! There are many advantageous features of a regulated, gravity flooded evaporator such as the low pressure drop as you noted. Also, most sources mention that they are more effective at absorbing heat because the heat transferring surface is very well wetted throughout. Of course, they ar fully flooded as well in the sense that implemented properly, they produce very little superheat and have the advantage of separating liquid refrigerant from being drawn into the suction line. Drawbacks are the large refrigerant charge (which has positive effects depending on how you look at it), potential for oil logging in the evaporator and the lack of knowledge and equipment for implementing them. There are some reliability issues to overcome with a low side float too, but a mechanical float valve is not the only way to regulate liquid level in the evaporator. Here's some more machines from the 1920s __________________ To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.