Heat pump and fan coil unit with thermal energy storage and thermal expansion valve in flow conduits extending therebetween
AssigneeCarrier Corporation
InventorsDerek Leman, Casey Troxler
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An air conditioning system, having: a heat pump having a heat pump coil, a fan coil unit (an FCU) having an FCU coil, a first conduit and a second conduit connecting the heat pump to the FCU coil, wherein the first conduit, the second conduit, the heat pump coil and the FCU coil define a loop; a working fluid in the loop; and a thermal energy storage unit (a TES unit) coupled to the first conduit; a thermal expansion valve (a TXV) including a TXV body coupled to the second conduit, and a bulb coupled to the first conduit, between the TES unit and the heat pump.
Claims20
An air conditioning system, comprising:
- a heat pump having a heat pump coil,
- a fan coil unit (an FCU) having an FCU coil,
- a first conduit and a second conduit connecting the heat pump to the FCU coil,
- wherein the first conduit, the second conduit, the heat pump coil and the FCU coil define a loop;
- a working fluid in the loop;
- and
- a thermal energy storage unit (a TES unit) coupled to the first conduit;
- a thermal expansion valve (a TXV) including a TXV body coupled to the second conduit, and a bulb coupled to the first conduit, between the TES unit and the heat pump.
A method of operating an air conditioning system, the method comprising:
- directing a flow in a loop in a first direction or a second direction that is opposite the first direction, wherein the first direction includes the flow flowing though:
- a heat pump coil in a heat pump;
- a first conduit extending between the heat pump coil and a fan coil unit coil (an FCU coil) in an FCU;
- the FCU coil;
- a second conduit connecting between the heat pump coil and the FCU coil, to the heat pump coil,
- wherein a thermal energy storage unit (a TES unit) coupled to the first conduit;
- a thermal expansion valve (a TXV) having a TXV body coupled to the second conduit, and a bulb coupled to the first conduit, between the TES unit and the heat pump.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.