PATENT CLAIM ANALYSIS

Application Number: 15880651
Application Type: Utility
Filing Date: 2018-01
Publication Date: 2018-05
Patent Classification: ["062", "196100"]

Abstract:
Provided are a method and apparatus for reducing a refrigerant pressure difference within are HVAC system having a controller, one or more compressors, and at least two paths of refrigerant piping comprising alternative paths for refrigerant flow through the HVAC system. A valve is coupled to each refrigerant piping path for permitting, or preventing, refrigerant flow through each of the alternate paths of refrigerant piping. The controller may open at least one valve for a defined period of time in response to a triggering input to allow a refrigerant pressure difference within the HVAC system to dissipate across the opened valve.

Claim (Index 1):
An apparatus for reducing a refrigerant pressure difference within an HVAC system during non-operating time of the HVAC system, the apparatus comprising:\n a compressor section comprising one or more compressors, each compressor receiving low pressure refrigerant from a first heat exchanger through a common suction pipe and discharging high pressure refrigerant to a second heat exchanger through a common discharge pipe during operating time of the HVAC system;\n a metering section receiving high pressure refrigerant from the second heat exchanger from a common high pressure pipe and discharging low pressure refrigerant to the first heat exchanger through a common low pressure pipe, the metering section comprising: \n a first pipe coupled to the common high pressure pipe at a first inlet and coupled to the common low pressure pipe at a first outlet; a first valve coupled to the first pipe, the first valve permitting refrigerant flow through the first pipe when open, and the first valve preventing refrigerant flow through the first pipe when closed; a first metering device coupled to the first pipe, the first metering device throttling flow of refrigerant through the first pipe; a second pipe coupled the common high pressure pipe at a second inlet and coupled to the common low pressure pipe at a second outlet; a second valve coupled to the second pipe, the second valve permitting refrigerant flow through the second pipe when open, and the second valve preventing refrigerant flow through the second pipe when closed; and a second metering device coupled to the second pipe, the second metering device throttling flow of refrigerant through the second pipe; and a controller operably coupled to switch each of the first and second valves between open and closed positions, the controller having a control configuration comprising: selecting at least the first pipe as a refrigerant flow path for reducing a refrigerant pressure difference within the HVAC system; generating a first control signal opening at least the first valve permitting refrigerant to flow through the valve, dissipating any refrigerant pressure difference across the valve; maintaining at least the first valve open for a defined period of time; and generating a second control signal for switching the position of at least the first valve.

Metadata:
- Claim Count in Document: 23.0
- Percentile: 86.0
- Lexical Diversity: 1.89474
- Patent Class: 62.0
- Transitional Phrase Type: open
- Component Type: 1
- Foreign Priority: False
- Related Applications: ['14642728', '13645749', '11105557', '13030915', '10447960']

Analysis Scores:
- 35 USC 101 Eligibility (BERT): 0.8240752414951683
- 35 USC 102 Novelty (BERT): 0.4910975770681279
- Combined Prediction Score: 0.7907774750524643
- Mean Citation Score: 223.91851799999995
- Max Citation Score: 253.7062
- Similarity Product: 204.1970032647372

Labels:
- Claim Label 101: 1
- Claim Label 102: 0
- Claim Label 103: 1
- Claim Label 112: 0
- Combined Label: 0
- Label 101 Adjusted: 1

Dataset: test