Heat pump system

Abstract

The present invention is a heat pump system having a direct earth coupled underground heat exchanging apparatus. The system uses a heat exchanging fluid existing in both gaseous and liquid form during operation and includes ancillary equipment and associated controls for carrying out various functions such as cooling, heating, refrigeration and water heating. By effectively utilizing the excellent heat conservation characteristics and huge heat capacity of subsurface earth or water, a greatly improved level of efficiency is achieved. The apparatus comprises a compressor 1, an expansion valve 8, a receiver 7, an indoor evaporator/condenser coil 5, a four way reversing valve 3, an accumulator 16 and a plurality of evaporator/condenser coils 11 disposed in the earth. The apparatus uses the native earth as a heat source in the heating mode and as heat sink in the cooling mode.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.