Patent application number | Description | Published |
20110058795 | HEAT PUMP WATER HEATER AND ASSOCIATED CONTROL SYSTEM - A heat pump water heater has a tank portion, an electric heating structure for adding electrical heat to water stored in the tank, and a heat pump for adding refrigerant heat to the tank water. A control system associated with the water heater has three user-selectable heating modes for heating the tank water during a given heating demand cycle—a first mode that initially heats the tank water with refrigerant heat while the electric heat is locked out for a first predetermined period before supplementing the refrigerant heat if necessary, a second mode similar to the first mode but with a longer electric heat lockout period, and a third mode in which only the electric heat is utilized to satisfy a tank water heating demand. Illustratively, the heat pump is disposed in a compact component arrangement on the top end of the water heater tank. | 03-10-2011 |
20130340452 | APPARATUS AND METHODS FOR CONTROLLING AN ELECTRONIC EXPANSION VALVE IN A REFRIGERANT CIRCUIT - A specially designed electronic expansion valve control system is provided for use with a refrigerant-based air conditioning circuit having a compressor, a condenser coil, an electronic expansion valve and an evaporator coil fluid coupled in series. The control system includes a unit control and an expansion valve control. The unit control is operative to receive compressor operation-related signal information and responsively generate at least one output signal representative of the received compressor operation-related signal information. The expansion valve control is operative to receive from the unit control only the at least one output signal, and to receive from one of the coils coil operation-related signal information, and to responsively output a control useable to control the expansion valve, the control signal being related in a predetermined manner to the signals received by the expansion valve control. | 12-26-2013 |
20140252100 | Gas Fired Modular Blower Control and Associated Methodology - An air heating and cooling system includes (1) a heat pump, illustratively devoid of auxiliary electric resistance type air heating structure, operative to provide refrigerant-based heating or cooling of air being delivered to a conditioned space, (2) a fuel-fired modular blower selectively operable to generate combustion heat, and (3) a control system associated with the heat pump and the modular blower. The control system has a heat pump thermostat electrically connected to a modular blower control and operative to transmit to the modular blower a first signal indicative of heating operation of the heat pump, and a second signal indicative of a need for alternative heat during a heating demand cycle. The modular blower is operative, in response to receiving both signals, to provide combustion-based air heating in place of refrigerant-based heat pump air heating. | 09-11-2014 |
Patent application number | Description | Published |
20120299767 | FMCW-TYPE RADAR LEVEL GAUGE - A level gauge using microwaves to determine a distance to a surface of a product in a tank, wherein a measurement signal comprises a first frequency sweep, and a second frequency sweep, and a mixer is arranged to mix the measurement signal with an echo signal to form a first IF signal based on the first frequency sweep, and a second IF signal based on the second frequency sweep. Processing circuitry is adapted to sample the first IF signal and the second IF signal, to form a combined sample vector including samples from each tank signal, and to determine the distance based on the combined sample vector. | 11-29-2012 |
20140253147 | FMCW RADAR LEVEL GAUGE WITH LOCK STATE CONTROL - The present invention relates to a radar level gauge system comprising PLL circuitry for generating an output signal. The PLL circuitry is configured to indicate a lock state of the PLL circuitry; and signal modifying circuitry is connected to the PLL circuitry for receiving the output signal and for modifying at least one property of the output signal for forming the transmit signal. The signal modifying circuitry is arranged and configured to receive a PLL status signal indicative of the lock state of the PLL circuitry, and to modify the at least one property of the output signal in response to the PLL status signal indicating that the PLL circuitry is in a locked state. | 09-11-2014 |
20140253366 | FILLING LEVEL DETERMINATION USING TRANSMIT SIGNALS WITH DIFFERENT FREQUENCY STEPS - A method of determining a filling level comprising transmitting a first transmit signal exhibiting a first ratio between bandwidth number of frequencies; receiving a first reflection signal; mixing the first transmit signal and the first reflection signal to form a first intermediate frequency signal; and determining a first data set indicative of a first set of surface echo candidates based on the first intermediate frequency signal. The method further comprises transmitting a second transmit signal exhibiting a second ratio between bandwidth and number of frequencies being different from the first ratio; receiving a second reflection signal; mixing the second transmit signal and the second reflection signal to form a second intermediate frequency signal; and determining a second data set indicative of a second set of surface echo candidates based on the second intermediate frequency signal. The filling level determined based on subsets of the first and second sets. | 09-11-2014 |
20140266863 | RADAR LEVEL GAUGE WITH SIGNAL DIVISION - A method for providing narrow-band interference unaffected measurement of a distance to a surface of a product kept in a tank, comprising mixing a return signal with a transmit signal to provide an intermediate frequency signal, and determining the distance, based on the intermediate frequency signal. The step of determining the distance further comprises dividing the intermediate frequency signal into a plurality of frequency portions, wherein each frequency portion corresponds to a frequency interval of the transmit signal, identifying disturbed frequency portions as frequency portions affected by narrow-band interference, and determining the distance based on frequency portions being unaffected by narrow-band interference. By dividing the IF-signal into frequency portions corresponding to frequency intervals of the transmit signal, frequency intervals where narrow-band interferences are present may be detected. | 09-18-2014 |