Patent ID: 9676484
Date: 2017-06-13
CPC Classifications: B64D,F25B,Y02T

Claim:
1. A cooling system comprising: a first heat exchanger positioned in an aircraft and configured to reject heat to air at ambient conditions of the aircraft; an expansion device; an expansion machine; an evaporator coupled to a thermal load of the aircraft; first and second cooling circuits both coupled to the first heat exchanger such that the first heat exchanger rejects heat to the air from both the first and second cooling circuits, the first and second cooling circuits selectable via a set of at least three cooling circuit valves that are arranged to direct a refrigerant through the first cooling circuit, the second cooling circuit, or both the first and second cooling circuits based on air passing through the first heat exchanger, wherein one of the at least three cooling circuit valves is operable to bypass refrigerant to a second compressor before reaching the evaporator; and a receiver coupled in parallel with both the first and second cooling circuits, the receiver configured to receive the refrigerant from the first and second cooling circuits and to accumulate reserve refrigerant to provide flexibility in system operation as the cooling system operates in sub-critical, trans-critical, and super-critical modes of operation; wherein: