Improvements in or Relating to Heat Pumps for Hot water and Heating systems.

Field of the invention

The invention relates to heating systems for Hot- Water usage, and that of heating systems, by use of conventional radiators, or alternatively under floor heating.

The aforesaid systems would apply to both Domestic and Commercial Buildings/Structures, where 'Hot- water' and Heating was required or hot water only, or that of heating only, or any such part combination to satisfy the systems design layout.

The heating source for the said invention will be that of a commercial heat pump unit, readily available in a selection of different sizes. It could be noted that a particular size having an electrical supply requirement of 4Kw ( 2 x 2Kw )., is a popular size and would be adequate in the lower range size for adequate hot water and heating in small- medium sized domestic dwellings.

Conventional ground source heat pump systems, also known as 'Geothermal' systems, have been used for over thirty years or more for both heating and cooling buildings.

It can be considered/concluded by various reports and evaluations, by the Environmental agencies, that all heating and cooling systems technology, that the ground source heat pumps are the most energy efficient.

Conventional ground source heat pump systems, are what could be considered non- complex in their design and construction. Working on the basic principal that heat energy is collected from the ground, by pipes of various sizes and configurations' and transferring back to a heat pump.

The heat pumps are relatively simple in their construction, consisting of a compressor, a pressure relief valve, a circuit containing fluid and a pump and only requiring a electrical supply source, normally that of Alternating Current (A C.)., the smaller pumps only require Single Phase, whereas the larger Models, for example a Six Kw, (6Kw capacity) would require a three phase supply.

The ground heat source supply line from that of ground to heat pump, by present conventional methods will be described as follows :-

A Ground Trench is excavated within the available ground area/space on the outside of the building/structure, this is typically 0.5-1. metres wide x 1 metre deep. A single horizontal plastic pipe, and for this description only, (a pipe size of 32 millimetres outside diameter with a wall thickness of two millimetres).

The said plastic pipe which is flexible in use, by reason that the nature of shipment/supply is in Coil formation, having a natural tendency to 'Bow' and 'loop' easily.

There will be provided a 'Supply' and 'Return' line pipe, each pipe, ( for this description only will have a total length of 200 metres, 650 feet), having a 180 degrees loop at the centre point of the said pipe. The supply line pipe contains a water/anti-freeze solution, for example 'food' based Glycol. Once the supply and return lines are in position and ready for connection to the system and heat pump, the ground trenches are ready to be back- filled with Clay and Soil.

Summary of the invention.

The nucleus/core of the invention is to provide an improved method of storing heat using a series of enclosed insulated cabinets type structures. So that an extra ground loop is able to provide higher temperatures to the heat pump, by reason of heat stored in the said cabinets, from the heat storing material.

The present invention will now be described in fuller detail, with aid of the description and accompanying drawings.

Figl Diagram of system 1.

Fig2 Diagram of system2

Fig 3 Diagram of system3

Fig 4 Diagram of system 4

Fig 5 Diagram of system 5

Fig 5a Diagram of system 5a

Fig 6 Plan view of Thermal Store Cabinet

Fig 7 End elevation of cabinet

Fig 8 Side elevation

Fig 9 Sectional View on Ground Trench

Fig 1 is a Diagrammatic layout of system 1, where the heat pump item 11 fig 1 is running the central heating system only, this is a condition where the hot water system is at the requisite temperature determined by the thermostat setting within the control unit (not shown).

Item 12 fig 1 are the radiators or under floor heating system, dependant on which type has been selected for the heating mode, the arrows 13 depict the direction of fluid flow within the pipes 14

Item 10 Fig.l shows a Ground loop conveying the heat from the ground to the Heat Pump Item 11 Fig 1, the arrows 13 show direction of

Glycol fluid.

Fig 2 is a Diagrammatic layout of system 2 where both the hot water Item 11a and the thermal store Unit item 15 are heated directly from the Solar panel through the coils 1 Ib and 18 Fig. 2. The arrows 13 indicate direction of flow of the fluid within the pipes 14, the solenoid operated valves item's 16 allow flow as required determined by the main control unit (not shown)., and the thermostat setting for the hot water

Fig 3 is a Diagrammatic layout of system 3, where the wood-burning stove with fitted back- boiler Item 20 Fig 3 is both heating the Stirling engine Item 21 Fig.3, and the thermal storage unit Item 15 Fig.3, via the coil Item 18. The remaining heat is then pumped to the hot water if required, this is predicted by the thermostat.

Item 10 Fig.3 is the ground loop running low temperature Glycol to the Stirling engine Item 21 Fig.3 via the heat pump Item 11 Fig.3 and then used for the generation of electricity, ( the Stirling engine is a readily available commercial unit ).

Fig 4 is a diagrammatic layout of system 4, where the heat pump Item 11 is heating the thermal storage units Item 15 only.

Fig 5 is a diagrammatic layout of system 5, showing the heat pump Item 11, taking heat from the storage units Item 15 via the Glycol loop Item 9. This heat from the storage unit 15 is then transferred to the heat pump Item 11 , for transfer to the hot-water tank Item 1 Ia, at a higher temperature than what the ground loop only would have provided.

Fig.5a is a diagrammatic layout of system 5a, showing the radiators/ Under- floor heating system drawing heat from the thermal storage unit Item 15 using the central heating pump.

Each of the herein before described systems l-5a, are all controlled by solenoid valves fitted in pre-determined positions on the pipe work specified by the design criteria, also the room temperatures are selectively made by room thermostats, and will vary dependant upon weather conditions and individual requirements. AU the said valves and thermostats will be linked and programmed from a central control unit (not shown).

For ease of recognition between the pipe having the fluid solution of food based Glycol, and that of the central heating/ hot water pipe, two colours, namely that of Grey for the Glycol pipe and White for the heating pipe could be used. Both the Glycol pipe and the heating pipe are that of a plastic material.

Item 15 fig's 7, 8 and 9 is a Thermal store, Item 15 fig 7 is shown for ease of description, with the upper door /top removed. The said cabinet having a series of pipes, both on the outer case and Two coils items 18 and 19 within, (only one inner coil is shown for clarity) The entry and exit pipes, are depicted by the item numbers 17, 18 and 19. The outer glycol filled pipes 17 are fitted and secured to the out side structure of the cabinet by Clips, of a specified type and size.

Fig's 7 and 8 are end and side elevations respectively, item 15 fig 7 shows the outer pipes in position on the said cabinet. The cabinet is placed in a position at the base of a pre- excavated 'Trench', within the ground adjacent to the building/structure. The top or upper surface of the cabinet item 15 is positioned at a specified dimension from the Ground level proper represented by the dimension 'X' and for this description only is 1 metre. Item 20 is that of a sand in-fill which provides additional insulation between the cabinet 15 and the Clay and Soil 21 surrounding the said cabinet, once the 'Trench' has been back-filled when installation of the said cabinet/cabinets have been installed within the ground. Fig 10 is a part sectional view on the excavated trench, showing two of the said cabinets positioned in series one to each other, the distance between the end sections is represented by the dimension 'D' and for this description only is 200-250 millimetres (8- 10 inches). This enables ease of working when two of the pipes are connected together by means of a Socket coupling and is heat welded by means of a commercial heat Gun. Additional insulation around these pipes can be now fitted.

Finally, it can be notably said that there are five main improvements over existing systems and these are as follows:-

1. Redundant Refrigerators- Freezer cabinets can be usefully re-cycled, having the compressor, wiring and auxiliary items removed., and used for the Thermal cabinets item 15 described in the invention, which have excellent insulation properties. And already have a carbon footprint.

2. The heat stored in the thermal-stores can give the heat pump higher temperatures than the existing ground heat, so boiling water could be achieved.

3. By adding a Wood-burning stove to the system higher temperatures can be achieved to run a Stirling engine to provide electricity. If the use of the cool ground temperatures are used, to provide the heat differential required by only running the ground loop coil.

4. The Wood-burning stove with fitted back-boiler on a normal heating system, has no means to store the excess heat given -off. Therefore the thermal heat storage units, can store the heat over night and this heat can be reintroduced the following day, into the central heating system of the dwellings, by running the heating pump only.

5. The use of the heat at 4) above, can be used until the temperature of the dwelling is equal to the temperature of the thermal storage units. The heat pump can then take the remaining heat, which will be approximately 18 - 25 degrees centigrade to provide 75 - 100 degrees to the hot water system and the central heating at the same time. This is not possible with existing heat pump systems.