Patent ID: 11859873
Assignee: SAMSUNG HEAVY IND. CO., LTD.
Field: Chemical engineering (Chemistry)
Classification: CPC F | IPC F

Claim 0:
1. A fluid cooling apparatus comprising:
a heat exchanger to cool a fluid in multistages;
an expansion unit comprising a plurality of expanders configured to receive refrigerants through a plurality of paths through the heat exchanger to expand the refrigerants and supply the expanded refrigerants having different temperatures and pressures to the heat exchanger such that the heat exchanger cools the fluid in multistages using the expanded refrigerants having different temperatures and pressures;
a precompression unit comprising a plurality of precompressors configured to receive the refrigerants which have passed through the heat exchanger to compress the refrigerants and discharge the compressed refrigerants at the same pressure;
a mixing tube with a first end and a second end, the first end of the mixing tube connected to one end of the precompression unit, the mixing tube configured to receive and mix the refrigerants discharged from the plurality of precompressors to supply mixed refrigerant;
a main compression unit connected to the second end of the mixing tube and to the heat exchanger, the main compression unit configured to compress the mixed refrigerant and supply the compressed refrigerant to the heat exchanger;
a cooling supply tube having one end connected to the other end of the precompression unit; and
a cooler installed between the precompression unit and the main compression unit to cool the mixed refrigerant from the mixing tube, wherein the other end of the cooling supply tube is connected to the cooler,
wherein the expanders of the expansion unit and the plurality of precompressors of the precompression unit are operatively connected to each other, and
wherein the precompression unit, the mixing tube, and the main compression unit are sequentially connected.