Thermal energy reservoirs and heat pump systems
AssigneeDaikin Comfort Technologies Manufacturing, L.P.
InventorMichael F. Taras
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) system and controller therefor to operate with thermal energy reservoirs is provided to set a four-way valve to route a refrigerant through a refrigerant circuit in a first direction when the HVAC system is set to a cooling mode or in a second direction, opposite to the first direction, when the HVAC system is set to a heating mode; and set bypass valves in the refrigerant circuit based on a temperature of a temperature holding material in a thermal energy reservoir and which of the heating mode and the cooling mode the four-way valve is set to, wherein the bypass valves route the refrigerant through the thermal energy reservoir to transfer thermal energy between the refrigerant and the temperature holding material.
Claims20
A heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) system for operation with a refrigerant, comprising:
- a thermal storage tank storing thermal media;
- a hot water tank storing water;
- and
- a refrigerant circuit comprising:
- a first heat exchanger located in or in communication with a conditioned environment;
- a second heat exchanger located in or in communication with a non-conditioned environment, the second heat exchanger in fluid communication with the first heat exchanger via the refrigerant circuit;
- a plurality of thermal storage tank bypass valves configurable to:
- selectively route the refrigerant in the refrigerant circuit through a thermal storage tank heat exchanger to exchange thermal energy with the thermal media in a coolant charging mode and a coolant discharging mode, or
- selectively bypass the thermal storage tank heat exchanger in a coolant holding mode;
- a plurality of water tank bypass valves configurable to:
- selectively route the refrigerant through a water tank heat exchanger to exchange thermal energy with the water in a heater charging mode or and a heater discharging mode, or
- selectively bypass the water tank heat exchanger in a heater holding mode;
- and
- a four-way valve configurable to route the refrigerant through the refrigerant circuit in a first direction when in a cooling mode and in a second direction, opposite the first direction, when in a heating mode,
- wherein the thermal storage tank and the hot water tank are connected in series in the refrigerant circuit with the first heat exchanger and the second heat exchanger, and
- wherein the plurality of water tank bypass valves is configurable to selectively route the refrigerant through or bypass the water tank heat exchanger in both the first and second directions.
A heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) system for use with a refrigerant, comprising:
- a compressor, an outdoor heat exchanger, an indoor heat exchanger, an expansion device, and a four-way valve connected together as a refrigerant circuit, wherein the four-way valve is configurable to route the refrigerant through the expansion device in a first direction in a cooling mode and in a second direction, opposite the first direction, in a heating mode;
- and
- a thermal energy reservoir connected to the refrigerant circuit in series with the outdoor heat exchanger, the indoor heat exchanger, and the expansion device by a first bypass valve and a second bypass valve, wherein the first bypass valve and the second bypass valve are configurable to:
- selectively route the refrigerant through a reservoir heat exchanger in the thermal energy reservoir when the thermal energy reservoir is in a charging mode and a discharging mode to exchange thermal energy with thermal storage media;
- and
- selectively disconnect fluid communication between the refrigerant circuit and the reservoir heat exchanger when the thermal energy reservoir is in a holding mode.
A controller for a heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) system, comprising:
- a processor;
- and
- a memory storing instructions, that when executed by the processor perform operations comprising:
- setting a four-way valve to route a refrigerant through a refrigerant circuit comprising a hot heat exchanger and a cold heat exchanger in a first direction when the HVAC system is operating in a cooling mode or in a second direction, opposite to the first direction, when the HVAC system is operating in a heating mode;
- setting bypass valves in the refrigerant circuit based on a temperature of a temperature holding material in a thermal energy reservoir selectively connected with the hot heat exchanger and the cold heat exchanger in series and an operating mode of the thermal energy reservoir, wherein the bypass valves selectively route the refrigerant through the thermal energy reservoir to transfer thermal energy between the refrigerant and the temperature holding material in a charging mode and a discharging mode and selectively bypass the thermal energy reservoir in a holding mode in both the cooling mode and heating mode.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.