Patent ID: 7299649

Claim:
A heat pump system comprising: a first heat exchanger; a second heat exchanger in fluid communication with said first heat exchanger; a scroll compressor in fluid communication with each of said first and second heat exchangers; and a flash tank in fluid communication with each of said first and second heat exchangers and said scroll compressor, said flash tank including: an inlet fluidly coupled to said first and second heat exchangers and operable to receive liquid refrigerant from said first and second heat exchangers; a first outlet fluidly coupled to said first and second heat exchangers, said first outlet operable to deliver sub-cooled-liquid refrigerant to said first and second heat exchangers; a second outlet fluidly coupled to said scroll compressor, said second outlet operable to deliver vaporized refrigerant to said scroll compressor; and an expansion valve operable to selectively open and close said inlet by a float device, said float device operable to control an amount of liquid refrigerant disposed within said flash tank by regulating an amount of liquid refrigerant entering said flash tank via said inlet.