Patent ID: 7421846

Claim:
A refrigerant-based thermal energy storage and cooling system comprising: a first refrigerant loop containing a first refrigerant comprising: a condensing unit, said condensing unit comprising a compressor and a first condenser; an expansion device connected downstream of said condensing unit; and, a first evaporator on a primary side of an isolating heat exchanger located downstream of said expansion device; a second refrigerant loop containing a second refrigerant comprising: a second condenser on a secondary side of said isolating heat exchanger; a tank containing a primary heat exchanger therein, and filled with a fluid capable of a phase change between liquid and solid, said primary heat exchanger in fluid communication with, and positioned below the fluid level of said isolating heat exchanger, said second condenser that uses said second refrigerant from said second condenser to cool said fluid and to freeze at least a portion of said fluid within said tank; a portion of said second refrigerant loop that allows circulation of said second refrigerant from said second condenser, through said primary heat exchanger, and back to said second condenser under the influence of a thermosiphon; a load heat exchanger connected to said primary heat exchanger and said isolating heat exchanger that transfers cooling capacity of said second refrigerant to a heat load; and, a liquid refrigerant pump that distributes said second refrigerant from said primary heat exchanger to said load heat exchanger in a first mode and from said isolating heat exchanger to said load heat exchanger in a second mode.