Patent attributes
A liquid refrigerant drainage mechanism is described for use in a flooded evaporator to mitigate liquid carryover. The drainage mechanism can trap liquid refrigerant droplets, create a liquid column to overcome a pressure difference across the mechanism and drain liquid back to the pool in the evaporator. The drainage mechanism is disposed in a suction baffle, and has a mesh pad and a tapered pipe secured to the bottom of the baffle. The pipe has a drainage aperture at one end to allow the accumulated liquid refrigerant to return to the refrigerant pool below. The mesh pad helps to separate liquid droplets that coalesce and fall into the tapered pipe. By using this liquid drainage mechanism in conjunction with a suction baffle, liquid carryover can be reduced and chiller performance improved.
