NL1029355C2 - Climate ceiling. - Google Patents

Description

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Climate ceiling

The present invention relates to a ceiling of a room comprising a phase-changing material as well as a cooling / heating line.

Such a ceiling is known from EP-1371915 A2. Climate ceilings are preferably used where a very comfortable indoor thermal climate is sought in a room. Moreover, it has been found that with well-insulated buildings, more cooling capacity and less heating capacity must be installed in order to provide a pleasant climate for the space concerned. The buffering that can be obtained with phase-changing materials, so-called PCM materials, is particularly suitable for this purpose.

European application 1371915 A2 described above describes a system in which a system of cooling pipes is arranged directly adjacent to the ceiling plate. The PCM material is provided on top of that, that is to say viewed in height.

If cooling is required in a room, relatively cold liquid can be passed through the pipes. At the same time or at a later time, the sheets of PCM material above it can be “charged”. That is, the phase transition in question, generally solidification, is effected by a colder liquid flowing through the pipes. During the time that no liquid flows through the pipes, heat from the space can be absorbed by the PCM material. The phase transition from solid to liquid takes place.

It has been found that in this situation the cooling and heating capacity per PCM per 25 square meters is relatively small, which means that a large surface area must be provided with such a construction. Moreover, it is not possible to respond quickly to sudden climate changes.

It is the object of the present invention to eliminate these disadvantages.

This object is achieved with a ceiling described above in that in the plane of the ceiling a phase-changing material and said cooling / heating pipe are arranged next to each other.

According to the present invention, the cooling pipes and the PCM material are arranged side by side. As a result, the functionality of charging or discharging the PCM plates described above by the fluid flowing through the cooling / heating pipes remains unchanged. However, it is possible to use the combined effect of cooling / heating pipes and PCM material in certain situations. This increases the cooling-5 and heating capacity per square meter of the PCM ceiling area.

After all, unlike the state of the art, it is no longer necessary for heat (cold) from the PCM material to migrate through the pipes and only then be able to be effectively to the environment. This makes it possible to respond more quickly to climate change.

This change also makes it possible to provide cooling not only with the aid of the heat exchanger arranged in the ceiling, but also to provide heating.

All this can be achieved according to the present invention by using a PCM material with a melting temperature of a minimum of 18 ° C and a maximum of 25 ° C. The relevant temperature is selected to provide optimum operating conditions. That is, if requirements are imposed on a ceiling in particular with regard to a cooling capacity, a relatively low melting temperature is chosen and a higher temperature is chosen for a ceiling that is more focused on heating purposes. A hysteresis between solidifying and liquid may be present. This can be achieved in that, according to the present invention, the lines are deliberately arranged adjacent the plates of PCM material.

According to a further advantageous embodiment of the invention, the release of heat through the plates of PCM material is promoted by using a caching of the PCM that acts as a gray radiator. More particularly, the caching consists of aluminum foil. According to the present invention, the PCM material can be incorporated as a unit packed in such aluminum material within a support of the ceiling plate. The pipes can be arranged between or around one or more of such units. An auxiliary plate may optionally be provided towards the space in order to provide an attractive construction.

Depending on the expected heat (cold) losses, the ratio of the effective surface area of the pipes and the PCM material will be chosen.

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The ratio of cooling capacity through the PCM to a cooling capacity than the water pipes is 2 to 1, so 1/3-part of the cooling capacity is provided by the water and 2/3-part by the PCM. This has just been reversed for heating.

The above-described construction will function during cooling in, for example, working time in an office building with sudden heating thereof, such that the heat accumulation installed in the PCM material in combination with the cooling capacity of the fluid flowing through the pipes is fully utilized. That is, with temperature rise, the full heat capacity of the climate ceiling according to the present invention can be used. Subsequently, the cooling capacity of the PCM material will increase during the day at relatively higher temperatures. During the night the PCM material can be recharged by the fluid flowing through the conduits, i.e. the temperature of the PCM material can be lowered again in such a way that freezing / coagulation occurs. This process is repeated the following day.

If the ceiling is used for heating, the PCM material will be brought into a liquid state at night by passing a warm fluid through the pipes. When heating the room in the morning, the heat capacity of the PCM material and of the fluid flowing through the pipes can be used together to quickly heat the room. In contrast to the PCM cooling capacity, as described above, the heat capacity of the PCM material will decrease during the day. Due to the lack of peaks in heat demand, this can be completely absorbed by the fluid that flows through the pipes. Charging of the PCM material will take place in the manner described above.

From the above it appears that with the present invention it is possible to catch the peak at the start of the use of the departure or by changing from day to night and vice versa with the PCM material. Further peaks in the cold / heat demand can easily be absorbed with the PCM material. However, the capacity of the ceiling is designed such that only in combination with the fluid flowing through the pipes can the maximum capacity be achieved. As a result, the application of the PCM can reduce the cooling conversion capacity, such as cooling machines, by 2/3, and the 1029355 4 heating conversion capacity, such as boilers, can be reduced by 1/3. This provides significant cost savings.

In other versions, climate ceilings are eligible where they have not been realized until now due to poor insulation of buildings or due to difficult external conditions.

According to a further variant of the invention, a circulation line is present for the air present in the relevant space. This circulating air is also referred to as secondary air. This air is preferably displaced in the ceiling and the phase-changing material is one of the boundary walls of the conduit necessary for this. As a result, a faster response to temperature differences can be provided and / or the heat / cold can be released faster from that PCM material or the pipes present in the ceiling.

In most applications, moreover, a supply of primary air will be present, that is, a supply of fresh air from outside. By strategically placing the outlet opening of that supply there, it is possible to generate a circulation there in the space concerned by means of the induction process.

The supply of primary air can also be used for influencing the climate. When cooling is used, the temperature can be additionally lowered by the supply of colder primary air. Moreover, when discharging the phase-changing material, use can be made of such cooler air. The same applies in this case of heating. On the one hand it is possible to heat the primary air supplied in the ceiling, but on the other hand it is also possible that heat is thereby released.

The invention will be explained in more detail below with reference to an exemplary embodiment shown in the drawing. It shows:

FIG. 1 is a schematic view of a room provided with a climate ceiling according to a first embodiment of the invention; FIG. 2 shows a part of the climate ceiling according to the invention in bottom view;

FIG. 3 is a section along the line ΠΙ-ΙΙΙ in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 shows a second variant of the invention in top view; and

FIG. 5 shows the cross-section along the line V-V in FIG. 4.

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In Fig. 1, 1 indicates a space to be heated / cooled. It is provided with a ceiling 2 consisting of a number of ceiling elements 3. These ceiling elements 3 are designed such that they can dissipate heat or cold to the space 1. These are attached to brackets 12 which can be attached to the upper floor 5 (Fig. 2).

Fig. 2 shows that each element 3 consists of a carrier 4 on which are arranged in this case two PCM panels 5 and a fluid line 6 extending along them.

It is also apparent from Fig. 3 that each PCM unit 5 consists of a central plate 10. This may, for example, consist of melamine material containing a material that can change in phase. Plate 10 is bounded towards the side of the space by a foil layer 8 which consists of aluminum material and more particularly of a gray-radiating aluminum material. The same film layer 9 or a film layer consisting of the same material is provided on the top side. The whole is completely closed so that the unit 5 can be attached to the carrier 4 in a simple manner.

With the construction described above, it is possible in a simple manner to realize the method described above. A liquid, for example water, flows through the pipes 6. Due to the relatively low temperatures at which the system operates, all this can be effectively combined with heat pumps in which the other side of the heat pump is connected to solar collectors or coupled to geothermal heat / cold.

It will be understood that cover plate 12 consists of a good heat-conducting material.

The units 3 from which the ceiling is constructed are designed in such a way that the pipes 6 of each of the units can be connected to each other in a fluid-tight manner.

Figs. 4 and 5 show a variant of the above-described ceiling construction. This is indicated in its entirety by 22 and consists of a construction fixed in any way to an upper floor or the like. A plate 24 functions as a support plate for the PCM material 25 and is provided with a perforation 21 in accordance with strips (see Fig. 4). Above the ceiling construction there is an insulation 30 and a channel 31 is bounded between them. Moreover, as appears from Fig. 4, a fresh air supply 32 is present. Such a supply is also referred to as 1029355 35 6 supply for primary air. A distribution box 33 is present and as shown in FIG.

5, this distribution box is provided with nozzles 34 near the free lower end.

Because of the velocity of primary air through these nozzles, vacuum is generated due to the speed thereof. This underpressure continues in the channel 31. Channel 31 is connected to the environment, so that natural circulation in the space concerned is promoted, the so-called secondary air circulation. At outflow plate 36 mixing of circulated secondary air and primary air takes place and a stream 38 is created which is indicated by tertiary air. The mechanism described above with reference to Figs. 1-3 also applies to what is shown in Figs. 4 and 5.

In addition, when cooling, additional temperature reduction can be obtained because the primary air is colder than the air present in the room. Reduction of the temperature is also obtained by convective cooling of the secondary air along the cooling pipes 26 not shown in detail. Finally, the latent heat storage in the PCM material will provide cooling during the day. This is now done both by convective heat transfer from the top of the PCM to the secondary air flow as well as by the latent heat storage in the PCM due to radiation and convection on the underside of the PCM material (at 24) to the space.

At night the PCM material is discharged again if necessary. This can happen through the combination of cooling water and (cooled) primary air. It is possible to only discharge the PCM material with cooling water.

For heating operation, reference is made to the embodiment described above. Added to this is the effect of the primary air, which either has to be heated or has already been heated in another way and can thus also contribute to the heating.

Only one exemplary embodiment of the present invention has been described above. Those skilled in the art will immediately come up with variants after reading the above. After all, ceilings can be implemented in a variety of ways. Such combinations with constructions which are known per se in the prior art are within the scope of the appended claims.

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Claims (12)

Ceiling (2) of a room (1) comprising phase-changing material j and a cooling / heating pipe, characterized in that in the plane of the ceiling 5 a phase-changing material (5) and said cooling / heating pipe (6) are arranged adjacent to each other. A ceiling according to claim 1, wherein a surface of said cooling / heating conduit is in direct heat-exchanging contact with said space. 3. Ceiling as claimed in any of the foregoing claims, wherein a surface of material that changes in phase is in direct heat-exchanging contact with that space. 4. Ceiling according to one of the preceding claims, wherein said phase-changing material is covered with a radiation-emitting layer of material. 5. Ceiling according to claim 4, wherein said radiation-emitting layer of material (8) comprises an aluminum layer designed as a gray radiator. A ceiling according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the solidification range of the phase-changing material is between 18 ° C and 25 ° C. i 7. Ceiling as claimed in any of the foregoing claims, comprising ceiling plates (3), wherein each plate comprises a layer in phase-changing material and a cooling / heating conduit adjacent thereto. j A ceiling comprising a circulation conduit (31) for air (secondary air) coming from said conduit, which conduit is limited by the top of said phase-changing material. 9. Ceiling according to claim 8, comprising a supply (33) for air (primary air) coming from outside that space, which supply is provided with outflow openings (34) arranged in said circulation conduit. 10. Method for influencing the temperature in a room (1) provided with a ceiling (2) wherein a phase-changing material is arranged in that ceiling, as well as a cooling / heating conduit, characterized in that during cooling / heating heat is extracted / supplied directly from that space through that cooling / heating pipe. The method of claim 10, wherein the cooling / heating capacity of said cooling / heating conduit is about 1/3 and the cooling / heating capacity of said phase-changing material is 2/3 of the total cooling / heating capacity of said ceiling. . 12. Method as claimed in any of the claims 10 or 11, comprising a circulation system for air (secondary air) present in that space and a supply of air (primary air) from outside that space, wherein the supply of primary air is used for moving that secondary air, the so-called induction process. 1029355