Heating and cooling system with heat pump and storage

A heating and cooling system including:

• a heat exchanger fluid;
• a first storage means for said heat exchange fluid;
• pump means for pumping fluid to and from said first storage means;
• air passage means through which air to heat and cool the served space is passed
• a fluid-to-air heat exchanger in said air passageway;
• a heat pump having a refrigerant compressor, a first refrigerant coil in said air passage means, a second refrigerant coil in heat exchange relation with outdoor air, a third refrigerant coil for exchanging heat with said fluid, and refrigerant line means connecting said compressor to said three coils;
• a fluid-to-refrigerant heat exchanger incorporating said third refrigerant coil;
• fluid line means connecting said first storage means, said pump means, and said two heat exchangers, said fluid line means including valve-controlled bypass lines around both of said heat exchangers;
• means to control the flow fluid between said first storage means and said heat exchangers in accordance with temperature conditions and the operating mode of said heat pump;
• valve means in said refrigerant line means for connecting any one of said three coils to operate as either an evaporator or a condenser and for connecting either one of the other two coils to operate as a condenser or evaporator, respectively;
• said refrigerant line valve means having operating positions during a cooling season under one load condition in which said first coil functions as an evaporator and said second coil as a condenser, under a second load condition in which said third coil functions as an evaporator to cool said storage fluid and said second coil as a condenser, under a third load condition in which said first coil functions as an evaporator and said third coil as a condenser to transfer heat from the served space to the storage fluid, and under a fourth load condition in which said third coil functions as an evaporator and said second coil as a condenser to transfer heat from said storage fluid to the outdoor air.

In a reversible heat pump system having three refrigerant coils, any two of which are selectively operable at one time to operate as either evaporators or condensers, a diverting valve arrangement for connecting the coils to a reversing valve for the selective operation of the coils, comprising:

• a cylindrical shell having four ports in communication with interior locations spaced axially along the length of the shell, the first of said four ports being connected to one end of the first refrigerating coil, the second and third of said four ports being connected to one end of the second refrigerating coil, and the fourth of said ports being connected to one end of the third refrigerating coil, and a fifth and sixth port in communication with interior locations at points along the length of said shell between the interior locations of said first and second ports, and said third and fourth ports, respectively, said fifth and sixth ports being connected to said reversing valve;
• a pair of double piston assemblies in said shell, one of said assemblies being movable to open said fifth port to either said first or second port, and the other of said assemblies being movable to open sixth port to either said third or fourth port, said piston assemblies being dimensioned in length relative to length of said shell to physically preclude said second and third ports from both being open to said fifth and sixth ports, respectively, at any time, so that short circuiting of the compressor through the diverting valve is prevented.