Patent ID: 8245532

Claim:
A refrigeration system for cooling a semi-closed air-refrigerated chamber containing air that contains water vapor, comprising: an air-cycle refrigeration loop for drawing air from the semi-closed air-refrigerated chamber and returning the air to the semi-closed air-refrigerated chamber, said air-cycle loop including: machinery for compressing, removing heat from, and expanding the air drawn from the semi-closed air-refrigerated chamber so as to cool the air and form ice particles from the water vapor; and a positive-pressure cyclone separator, located downstream of said machinery, for removing the ice particles from the air cooled by said machinery, said positive-pressure cyclone separator including: a cyclone vessel that includes a sidewall having a frusto-conical portion defining a frusto-conical separation chamber having a longitudinal central axis and an open central separation region immediately surrounding and extending along said central axis; a scraper confronting said sidewall at said frusto-conical portion and configured to lie radially outward from said open central separation region, wherein said scraper is movable relative to said sidewall so as to scrape a buildup of ice particles from said frusto-conical portion during operation of the refrigeration loop; and a scraper support system supporting said scraper so that none of said scraper support system is located along said longitudinal central axis of said cyclone vessel and so that none of said support system is located within said open central separation region of said cyclone vessel.