Hot water supply system
AssigneeHonda Motor Co., Ltd.
InventorYasushi KANAI
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
In a hot water supply system having a solar heater that heats a heating medium with absorbed solar heat, a cogeneration unit that heats the medium by heat exhausted from an engine, a hot water supply unit with a heat exchanger for heat-exchanging between the medium and water supplied from a water supply source to generate the hot water, a medium circulator that circulates the medium among the solar heater, cogeneration unit and heat exchanger, an electric heater that heats the hot water with the power generated by the generator, a heat absorption amount to be adsorbed by the solar heater is estimated and operations of the cogeneration unit and the electric heater are controlled based on the estimated heat absorption amount, thereby enabling to improve energy efficiency of the entire system.
Claims24
A hot water supply system adapted to generate hot water to be supplied to a hot water destination, comprising:
- a solar heater that absorbs solar heat and heats a heating medium with the absorbed solar heat;
- a cogeneration unit that has an internal combustion engine and a generator driven by the engine to generate power to be supplied to a power destination, and heats the heating medium by heat exhausted from the engine;
- a hot water supply unit that has a heat exchanger for heat-exchanging between the heating medium and water supplied from a water supply source to generate the hot water;
- a heating medium circulator that circulates the heating medium among the solar heater, the cogeneration unit and the heat exchanger of the hot water supply unit;
- an electric heater that heats the hot water with the power generated by the generator of the cogeneration unit;
- a heat absorption amount estimator that estimates a heat absorption amount to be adsorbed by the solar heater;
- and
- a controller that controls operations of the cogeneration unit and the electric heater based on the estimated heat absorption amount.
A hot water supply method adapted to generate hot water to be supplied to a hot water destination, having:
- a solar heater that absorbs solar heat and heats a heating medium with the absorbed solar heat;
- a cogeneration unit that has an internal combustion engine and a generator driven by the engine to generate power to be supplied to a power destination, and heats the heating medium by heat exhausted from the engine;
- a hot water supply unit that has a heat exchanger for heat-exchanging between the heating medium and water supplied from a water supply source to generate the hot water;
- a heating medium circulator that circulates the heating medium among the solar heater, the cogeneration unit and the heat exchanger of the hot water supply unit;
- and
- an electric heater that heats the hot water with the power generated by the generator of the cogeneration unit;
- characterized by the steps of:
- estimating a heat absorption amount to be adsorbed by the solar heater;
- and
- controlling operations of the cogeneration unit and the electric heater based on the estimated heat absorption amount.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.