Patent ID: 6959557

Claim:
A vessel for containing a refrigerant fluid in a vapor compression system, said vessel comprising: a vessel housing defining a fixed interior volume; an internal structure disposed within said housing and subdividing said interior volume wherein said interior volume defines a storage chamber defining a volume for containing refrigerant fluid and a displacement chamber, said displacement chamber positioned within said internal structure, said storage chamber being in fluid communication with the vapor compression system and containing both liquid phase refrigerant fluid and gas phase refrigerant fluid during normal operation of the vapor compression system, said displacement chamber having a variable volume wherein varying the volume of said displacement chamber inversely varies the volume of said storage chamber; and wherein said vessel housing defines an inlet port through which refrigerant fluid is communicated into said storage chamber and an outlet port through which refrigerant fluid is communicated out of said storage chamber, and said internal structure is positionable at least partially below said outlet port and varying the volume of said displacement chamber at least partially varies the volume of said storage chamber below said outlet port.