Expendable driven heat pump cycles

Abstract

A cooling system with a compression cooling cycle for a working fluid that passes an expendable fluid through a warm side heat exchanger for the cooling system to cause the expendable fluid to vaporize and thus absorb heat from the working fluid by way of latent heat or enthalpy of vaporization and then running the vaporized expendable through a turbine that drives a compressor for the cooling system.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A cooling system comprising a compression cycle for cooling a working fluid, comprising:
 a cool side heat exchanger for transferring thermal energy from a heat load to the working fluid that heats the working fluid to form a heated working fluid;   a compressor driven by a motor that receives the heated working fluid and compresses the heated working fluid to a high-pressure to form a heated high-pressure working fluid;   a warm side heat exchanger that receives the heated high-pressure working fluid from the compressor and cools the heated high-pressure working fluid with an expendable fluid that receives heat from the heated high-pressure working fluid and vaporizes the heated high-pressure working fluid to produce a pressurized expendable fluid and cooled high-pressure working fluid;   a turbine powered by the pressurized expendable fluid that assists the motor to drive the compressor;   a backpressure control valve configured to be coupled in series between the turbine and the warm side heat exchanger;   an expendable storage tank for storing the expendable fluid; and   an expendable feed pump for transferring the expendable fluid from the expendable storage tank to the warm side heat exchanger.   
     
     
         2 . The cooling system of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 an air compressor for compressing air from an air supply to high-pressure to form high-pressure air;   a second combustor for receiving the high-pressure air from the turbine and the pressurized expendable fluid from the warm side heat exchanger and combusting them to produce a combustion gas; and   wherein the turbine receives the combustion gas to assist the motor to drive the compressor.   
     
     
         3 . The cooling system of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 a small flow capacity standby compressor for receiving the heated working fluid from the cool side heat exchanger during standby operation and compressing a volume of heated working fluid for standby operation to high-pressure; and   a small flow capacity standby expansion valve for receiving the cooled high-pressure working fluid from the warm side heat exchanger during standby operation and reducing the pressure of the cooled high-pressure working fluid to supply a low-pressure working fluid to the cool side heat exchanger during standby operation.   
     
     
         4 . The cooling system of  claim 3 , further comprising:
 a standby compressor flow control valve to prevent flow of high-pressure heated working fluid from the compressor back into a standby compressor during normal operation: and   a compressor flow control valve to prevent flow of high-pressure heated working fluid from the standby compressor back into the compressor during standby operation.   
     
     
         5 . A cooling system that uses a compression cycle for cooling a working fluid that comprises air, comprising:
 a cool side heat exchanger for transferring therreal energy from a heat load to low-pressure air that heats the low-pressure air to form a heated low-pressure air;   a compressor driven by a motor that receives the heated low-pressure air and compresses the heated low-pressure air o create a heated high-pressure air;   a warm side heat exchanger that receives the heated high-pressure air from the compressor and cook the heated high-pressure air with an expendable fluid that receives heat from the heated high-pressure air and vaporizes the heated high-pressure air to produce a pressurized expendable fluid and cooled high-pressure air;   an air turbine that receives the cooled high-pressure air from the warm side heat exchanger, expands the cooled high-pressure air to lower its pressure and temperature still further and assists the motor to drive the compressor;   a turbine powered by the pressurized expendable fluid that assists the motor to drive the compressor; and   a backpressure control valve configured to be coupled in series between the turbine and the warm side heat exchanger.   
     
     
         6 . The cooling system of  claim 5 , further comprising a supplemental heat exchanger configured to balance the thermal energy of the cooling system, wherein the supplemental heat exchanger is at least one of water cooled or air cooled, wherein the supplemental heat exchanger is coupled to the compressor via a compressor output path or the supplemental condenser is coupled to the cool side heat exchanger via a condenser output path.