Air Conditioning Condenser Attachment for High Efficiency Liquid Chillers

Abstract

Provided herein are high-efficiency liquid chiller systems and related methods for efficient climate control of a room environment. A split-system air conditioning (AC) unit is connected to a liquid chiller positioned within an enclosure and adjacent to the AC unit. Refrigerant from the AC unit is used to cool a liquid via a heat exchanger positioned in the enclosure. The cooled liquid is, in turn, supplied to a downstream cooling application. In a closed-loop manner, warmed refrigerant is returned to the AC unit for cooling and warmed liquid returned to the heat exchanger for cooling in the heat exchanger. A reservoir in thermal contact with the cooled liquid may be used as a source of chilled liquid for any number of various cooling applications, including via air handlers positioned in distinct locations.

I claim: 
     
         1 . A high efficiency liquid chiller system comprising:
 a split-system air conditioning unit comprising:
 a condenser unit; 
   a condenser outlet thermally connected to said condenser unit for providing a source of chilled refrigerant from the condenser unit;   a condenser inlet thermally connected to said condenser unit for providing a source of refrigerant to be cooled by the condenser unit;   an enclosure having a chiller enclosure volume;   a liquid chiller positioned in the chiller enclosure volume, the liquid chiller comprising:   a refrigeration conduit comprising a refrigeration inlet and a refrigeration outlet;   a liquid conduit comprising a liquid inlet and a liquid outlet;   a heat exchanger that thermally connects the refrigeration conduit and the liquid conduit;   an inlet refrigeration line that fluidically connects the condenser outlet to said liquid chiller refrigeration inlet;   an outlet refrigeration line that fluidically connects the liquid chiller refrigeration outlet to the condenser inlet; and   wherein said inlet and outlet refrigeration lines are configured to position said enclosure adjacent to said split-system air conditioning unit with a separation distance that is less than or equal to 1 m.   
     
     
         2 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein said separation distance is greater than or equal to 1 cm and less than or equal to 50 cm. 
     
     
         3 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein an outer surface of said enclosure is in physical contact with an outer surface of said split-system air conditioning unit. 
     
     
         4 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein said separation distance corresponds to a length of said inlet refrigeration line or said outlet refrigeration line. 
     
     
         5 . The system of  claim 4 , wherein said inlet refrigeration line and said outlet refrigeration line have an independently defined lumen diameter that is greater than or equal to ¼″ and less than or equal to 1″. 
     
     
         6 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein said inlet refrigeration line has a length less than or equal to 2 meters and said outlet refrigeration line has a length that is less than or equal to 2 meters. 
     
     
         7 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein said enclosure is substantially rectangular-shaped having six faces defined by a length, a width and a depth, said six faces corresponding to:
 opposibly facing top and bottom faces;   opposibly facing left and right side faces; and   opposibly facing front and rear faces.   
     
     
         8 . The system of  claim 7 , wherein said enclosure is formed of a solid material with four access passages on one of the left or right side faces that provide fluidic access to said refrigeration conduit and said liquid conduit. 
     
     
         9 . The system of  claim 7 , wherein said enclosure volume is less than or equal to 30,000 cm 3 . 
     
     
         10 . The system of  claim 9 , wherein said liquid chiller provides a cooling capacity that is greater than or equal to 20,000 BTU/hr and less than or equal to 320,000 BTU/hr. 
     
     
         11 . The system of  claim 7 , wherein the rear face of said enclosure opposibly faces an outer surface of the split-system air conditioning unit and is separated from the outer surface by the separation distance. 
     
     
         12 . The system of  claim 11 , wherein said enclosure is formed of a solid material with four access passages on one of the left or right side faces that provide fluidic access to said refrigeration conduit and said liquid conduit so that said separation distance is less than a length of said inlet refrigeration line and less than a length of said outlet refrigeration line. 
     
     
         13 . The system of  claim 1 , further comprising one or more of:
 a liquid thermostat control connected to the liquid conduit to control temperature of liquid in the liquid conduit;   a temperature sensor connected to the liquid conduit or the refrigeration conduit for measuring temperature;   an expansion bypass valve connected between the refrigeration inlet conduit and the heat exchanger that fluidically connects to the refrigeration outlet conduit to bypass the heat exchanger;   a fan cycle switch operably connected to the refrigeration inlet conduit to cycle a condenser fan of an air conditioning compressor based on refrigerant pressure in the refrigeration inlet conduit;   a liquid flow switch operably connected to the liquid conduit to shut off an air conditioning compressor during a low liquid flow condition;   a refrigerant bypass line that fluidically connects the refrigeration inlet conduit and the refrigeration outlet conduit to fluidically bypass the heat exchanger;   a low pressure switch operably connected to the refrigeration conduit to stop flow during a low refrigerant pressure condition; or   a thermobulb and thermobulb capillary connected to an expansion bypass valve, wherein the thermobulb is fluidically connected to an exiting high pressure and high temperature refrigerant location and increases and decreases in temperature in response to increases and decreases in temperature of exiting refrigerant, to provide thermobulb expansion and contraction and an open or close condition of the expansion bypass valve, to compensate for an adverse temperature condition.   
     
     
         14 . The system of  claim 1 , further comprising a refrigerant in said refrigeration conduit and a liquid in said liquid conduit, wherein said refrigerant comprises a blended hydrofluorocarbon mixture and said liquid comprises water or a mixture of water and anti-freeze. 
     
     
         15 . The system of  claim 1 , further comprising an electrical system control, wherein said electrical system is electrically connected to said condenser unit. 
     
     
         16 . The system of  claim 1 , further comprising a chilled-liquid reservoir fluidically or thermally connected to a chiller liquid conduit outlet. 
     
     
         17 . The system of  claim 16 , said chilled-liquid reservoir having a volume that is less than or equal to 5 gallons per ton of cooling capacity. 
     
     
         18 . The system of  claim 16 , further comprising a pump fluidically connected to the liquid conduit to provide a controlled fluid flow rate through the chiller heat exchanger. 
     
     
         19 . The system of  claim 18 , having a liquid flow rate to the chiller that is greater than or equal to 2.3 GPM/ton of cooling capacity and less than or equal to 2.6 GPM/ton of cooling capacity. 
     
     
         20 . The system of  claim 19 , further comprising a flow-meter fluidically connected to the liquid conduit to measure flow-rate of a liquid through the chiller. 
     
     
         21 . A method of providing chilled liquid for a cooling application, the method comprising the steps of:
 providing an enclosed liquid chiller that is fluidically connected to a split-system air conditioning unit, wherein the enclosed liquid chiller is separated from the split-system air conditioning unit by a separation distance that is less than or equal to 1 m;   cooling a refrigerant with a condenser unit of the split-system air conditioning unit to provide chilled refrigerant;   introducing the chilled refrigerant to a heat exchanger of the liquid chiller;   cooling a liquid in thermal contact with the heat exchanger with the introduced chilled refrigerant thereby generating cooled liquid and heated refrigerant;   removing heated refrigerant from the heat exchanger; and   introducing the heated refrigerant to the condenser unit;   thereby providing chilled liquid for a cooling application.   
     
     
         22 . The method of  claim 21 , wherein the cooling application comprises an indoor agricultural facility further comprising the steps of:
 thermally contacting the chilled liquid with a reservoir to provide a reservoir of cooled liquid for on-demand cooling of the indoor agricultural facility; and   returning warmed liquid from the thermally contacting step to the heat exchanger of the liquid chiller.   
     
     
         23 . A method of making a high-efficiency liquid chiller comprising the steps of:
 enclosing a liquid chiller within an enclosure;   providing a pair of inlet ports and a pair of outlet ports through said enclosure;   providing a refrigerant inlet and refrigerant outlet port through a surface of said enclosure;   fluidically connecting said refrigerant inlet and outlet ports to a condenser unit of a split-system air conditioning unit; and   wherein said enclosure has a volume that is less than or equal to 30,000 cm 3  and a separation distance from an outer surface of said split-system air conditioning unit that is less than or equal to 0.1 m.   
     
     
         24 . The method of  claim 23 , wherein said fluidically connecting step comprises:
 fluidically connecting an inlet refrigerant conduit to a condenser unit of the split-system air conditioning unit and to an inlet of a heat exchanger in the liquid chiller, wherein cooled refrigerant from the condenser unit is introduced via the inlet refrigerant conduit to the heat exchanger for cooling of the liquid in the heat exchanger; and
 fluidically connecting an outlet refrigerant conduit to an outlet of the heat exchanger and to an inlet of the condenser unit for returning heated refrigerant from the heat exchanger to the condenser unit for cooling and subsequent introduction to the inlet refrigerant conduit.