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US 12,235,019 B2Granted
Retrofit hot water heat pump
AssigneeLunar Energy, Inc.
InventorsMark Holveck, Forest Samuel Nelson
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A water heater auxiliary heating system includes a heat pump. It further includes a first tap to circulate water from a water tank to a heat exchanger within the heat pump. It further includes a second tap to circulate water back to the water tank. The heat pump is controlled by an energy management system to preferentially operate based at least in part on a status of a site energy system that the energy management system is configured to manage. The water tank stores excess energy that is generated locally at the site energy system.
Claims11
A water heater auxiliary heating system, comprising:
- a heat pump;
- a first tap to circulate water from a water tank to a heat exchanger within the heat pump;
- and
- a second tap to circulate water back to the water tank;
- wherein the heat pump is controlled by an energy management system to preferentially operate based at least in part on a status of a site energy system that the energy management system is configured to manage;
- wherein the water tank stores excess energy that is generated locally at the site energy system;
- wherein in the event that the water heater auxiliary heating system augments an existing gas heater, an existing thermostat setting associated with the existing gas heater is set to a lower temperature than a temperature associated with a heat pump activation threshold, and wherein in the event that temperature of the water is lower than the existing thermostat setting and the heat pump has been continually activated, the existing gas heater is activated.
4 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.