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US 7,841,201 B2Granted
Heat pump that evaporates water as a working liquid to generate a working vapor
AssigneeEfficient Energy GmbH
InventorsHolger Sedlak, Oliver Kniffler
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A heat pump including an evaporator for evaporating water as a working liquid so as to produce a working vapor, the evaporation taking place at an evaporation pressure of less than 20 hPa. The working vapor is compressed to a working pressure of at least 25 hPa by a dynamic-type compressor so as to then be liquefied within a liquefier by direct contact with liquefier water. The heat pump is preferably an open system, where water present in the environment in the form of ground water, sea water, river water, lake water or brine is evaporated, and where water which has been liquefied again is fed to the evaporator, to the soil or to a water treatment plant.
Claims47
A heat pump comprising:
- an evaporator for evaporating water as a working liquid to generate a working vapor, the evaporator comprising an evaporation chamber and being adapted to generate an evaporation pressure of less than 20 hPa within the evaporation chamber, so that the water will evaporate at temperatures below 18° C., the evaporator comprising
- a feed line configured for feeding the working liquid to the evaporation chamber
- an expander expanding to at least three times a diameter of the feed line;
- a reception apparatus adapted to receive any working liquid fed by the feed line to the expander and overflowing over an edge of the expander;
- and
- a drain adapted to carry off the overflowing working liquid;
- a dynamic-type compressor coupled to the evaporator for compressing the working vapor, the dynamic type compressor being adapted to compress the working vapor to a working pressure of more than 5 hPa above the evaporation pressure;
- and
- a liquefier for liquefying the compressed working vapor, the liquefier being adapted to output a heat which has been acquired during the liquefaction to a heating system.
6 more elements
The heat pump as claimed in claim
- wherein a portion of the heating backflow comprises a turbine arranged therein, via which a high pressure within the heating system is reduced to a low pressure within a water volume of the liquefier, and the energy gained in the process is removed from the heating water, the turbine further being operatively coupled to the pump to bring the heating water from the low pressure within the liquefier to the high pressure within the heating system, the operative coupling being adapted such that the pump uses at least part of the energy the turbine has extracted.
An evaporator apparatus for a heat pump, comprising:
- a water evaporator for evaporating water as a working liquid to generate a working vapor, the evaporator comprising an evaporation chamber and being adapted to generate an evaporation pressure of less than 20 hPa within the evaporation chamber, so that the water will evaporate at temperatures below 18° C., the evaporator further comprising
- a feed line configured for feeding the working liquid to the evaporation chamber;
- an expander expanding to at least three times a diameter of the feed line;
- a reception apparatus adapted to receive any working liquid fed by the feed line to the expander and overflowing over an edge of the expander;
- and
- a drain adapted to carry off the overflowing working liquid.
3 more elements
A method of pumping heat, comprising:
- evaporating water as a working liquid by an evaporator to generate a working vapor, the working vapor being generated at an evaporation pressure of less than 20 hPa, so that the water will evaporate at temperatures below 18° C., the evaporator comprising
- a feed line configured for feeding the working liquid to the evaporation chamber;
- an expander expanding to at least three times a diameter of the feed line;
- a reception apparatus adapted to receive any working liquid fed by the feed line to the expander and overflowing over an edge of the expander;
- and
- a drain adapted to carry off the overflowing working liquid;
- compressing the working vapor in terms of flow so as to compress the working vapor to a working pressure of more than 5 hPa above the evaporation pressure;
- and
- liquefying the compressed working vapor to output a heat which has been acquired during the liquefaction to a heating system.
6 more elements
A method of evaporating water within a heat pump, comprising:
- evaporating water as a working liquid by an evaporator to generate a working vapor, the working vapor being generated at an evaporation pressure of less than 20 hPa, so that the water will evaporate at temperatures below 18° C., the evaporator comprising
- a feed line configured for feeding the working liquid to the evaporation chamber;
- an expander expanding to at least three times a diameter of the feed line;
- a reception apparatus adapted to receive any working liquid fed by the feed line to the expander and overflowing over an edge of the expander;
- and
- a drain adapted to carry off the overflowing working liquid.
3 more elements
Tangible digital storage medium having stored thereon a computer program comprising a program code for performing a method of pumping heat, the method comprising:
- evaporating water as a working liquid by an evaporator to generate a working vapor, the working vapor being generated at an evaporation pressure of less than 20 hPa, so that the water will evaporate at temperatures below 18° C., the evaporator comprising
- a feed line configured for feeding the working liquid to the evaporation chamber;
- an expander expanding to at least three times a diameter of the feed line;
- a reception apparatus adapted to receive any working liquid fed by the feed line to the expander and overflowing over an edge of the expander;
- and
- a drain adapted to carry off the overflowing working liquid;
- compressing the working vapor in terms of flow so as to compress the working vapor to a working pressure of more than 5 hPa above the evaporation pressure;
- and
- liquefying the compressed working vapor to output a heat which has been acquired during the liquefaction to a heating system,
- when the computer program runs on an arithmetic-logic unit.
7 more elements
Tangible digital storage medium having stored thereon a computer program comprising a program code for performing a method of evaporating water within a heat pump, the method comprising:
- evaporating water as a working liquid by an evaporator to generate a working vapor, the working vapor being generated at an evaporation pressure of less than 20 hPa, so that the water will evaporate at temperatures below 18° C., the evaporator comprising
- a feed line configured for feeding the working liquid to the evaporation chamber;
- an expander expanding to at least three times a diameter of the feed line for feeding the working liquid to the evaporation chamber;
- a reception apparatus adapted to receive any working liquid fed by the feed line to the expander and overflowing over an edge of the expander;
- and
- a drain adapted to carry off the overflowing working liquid
- when the computer program runs on an arithmetic-logic unit.
4 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.