Patent ID: 8739562

Claim:
A refrigeration system comprising: a condenser configured to condense a refrigerant; an evaporator configured to evaporate the refrigerant to extract heat from a process fluid, the evaporator being separated into first and second evaporator chambers by an evaporator baffle, the first evaporator chamber operating at a first pressure during operation and the second evaporator chamber operating at a second pressure during operation; a first compressor coupled to the first evaporator chamber for compressing vapor phase refrigerant for delivery to the condenser; a second compressor coupled to the second evaporator chamber for compressing vapor phase refrigerant for delivery to the condenser; and means for limiting a difference between the first and second pressures, wherein the means for limiting the difference between the first and second pressures comprises a pressure equalizing conduit in fluid communication between refrigerant conduits upstream of the evaporator.