WO2002025203A1

WO2002025203A1 - Inertial energy storage device

Info

Publication number: WO2002025203A1
Application number: PCT/CH2001/000572
Authority: WO
Inventors: Michel Schmidt
Original assignee: Deltablock Sa
Priority date: 2000-09-22
Filing date: 2001-09-20
Publication date: 2002-03-28
Also published as: EP1319161A1; AU2001285645A1; CA2422931A1; US20040035141A1; JP2004508531A; CN1464967A

Abstract

The invention concerns a device wherein the coil tube (12) forming the condenser of a first heat pump assembly and the coil (13) which forms a second assembly are each fixed on vertical grids (28, 29). Said grids are arranged parallel to each other and are embedded in the concrete block (3) which forms one of the energy storage units incorporated in the system. The grids consist of concrete iron bars welded together into a network with square and rectangular meshes. The means fixing the tubes at certain intersections of the grid are clamps of a particular type. The grids, the tubes and the clamps are embedded in the concrete block (3).

Description

Inertia energy storage device

The present invention relates generally to space heating and air conditioning systems using renewable forms of energy, in particular by means of heat pumps.

It has already been proposed in this field the use of heat accumulators comprising solid blocks in which are embedded one or more circuits formed of metal tubes traversed, when the system is in service, by a heat transfer fluid which can be liquid or gaseous . Patent application WO 96/28703, for example, describes an accumulator of this kind, one of the particularities of which is that it is made of concrete, a material which has several advantages.

Recent experience has shown that storing thermal energy in rigid blocks can have very remarkable practical advantages in terms of rationalization of installation work, cost, reliability of service, efficiency and duration. of life, subject to certain provisions to be observed precisely.

The object of the present invention is therefore to ensure the advantages which can be obtained, by making an inexpensive inertial energy accumulation device comprising certain features which form the subject of the invention and are defined in claims 1 to 12 appended.

An embodiment and some variants of the device according to the invention will be described below, by way of example, with reference to the appended drawing, of which: fig. 1 is a general schematic perspective view showing a dwelling house equipped with a heating and air conditioning system with an inertial energy storage device according to an embodiment of the invention,

fig. 2 is a diagram showing a preferred embodiment of the inertial energy storage device according to the invention,

figs. 3 and 4 are views respectively in cross section and in front elevation in the direction of arrow A in FIG. 3, showing a block with two assemblies formed by a grid and a heat transfer fluid circuit, according to the preferred embodiment,

figs. 5 and 6 are sectional views similar to FIG. 3 showing two alternative layouts for the grids,

fig. 7 is a front elevation view of a circuit mounted on a grid, showing the securing of the coil to the crossover points of the bars, and

fig. 8 is a diagrammatic perspective view on a larger scale showing a lashing flange in place on a duct and on a crossing of the bars of the carrier grid.

In fig. 1, we see a villa 1 equipped with a heating system comprising an inertial energy accumulation device 2 comprising four accumulation blocks 3 embedded in the ground in the vicinity of the construction and means for driving as required the latent heat contained in the blocks. These are connected by a set of fluid circuit elements designated globally by 4, to a group heat generator 5 from which various secondary circuits supply usual auxiliaries such as domestic hot water conditioning 6, room radiators 7, underfloor heating circuit 8. The generator group 5 is symbolized in FIG. 1 by two superimposed cabinets. Its structure is specified in the diagram in fig. 2. It is also connected by secondary circuits to a solar collector with water circuit 9 and to a recuperator 10 of excess heat capable of being produced by a living room chimney.

It is understood that this list of auxiliaries is given only by way of examples and is by no means exhaustive. As will be seen even further on, it also includes, for example, the case of a swimming pool as well as that of a high temperature solar oven. It simply shows the wide variety of applications that can be considered in any space heating and air conditioning problem. The inertial energy accumulation device which will now be described makes it possible to satisfy, by standard and rational means, each particular case likely to be foreseen.

In fig. 2 we recognize the walls of the dwelling house 1 and one of the blocks 3 of inertial energy accumulation. This block is placed in an excavation 11 dug in the vicinity of construction 1 and filled with earth. It has the shape of a prism with a large rectangular base placed horizontally and an upper face narrower than the base and parallel to the latter. The blocks 3 are made of concrete. Their dimensions will be standardized: for example 2.5 x 1.7 x 0.5 / 0.3 m. The dimensions of excavation 11 and the position of each block in its excavation will be determined from case to case depending on the quantities of energy to be stored and the duration of the reversal periods of flows as will be seen below.

The connection between the blocks 3 and the generator group 5, designated by 4 in FIG. 1, is made in fact for each block by pipes forming two circuits 12 and 13 each with an inlet 12a, 13a and an outlet 12b, 13b. The active parts of the pipes 12, 13 are embedded in the concrete of the block 3 and from the inlet segments 12a, 13a are bent into coils in a sheet so that the contact surfaces are as large as possible and facilitate the exchange of heat between the heat transfer fluid circulating in the circuits and the concrete.

The heat generator group 5 is constituted in the embodiment described by two sets of heat pumps 14 and 15 entirely separate. Each set includes a complete loop of phase change heat transfer fluid, with: an upstream circuit element and a downstream circuit element, between the two elements a compressor and an expansion valve, on one of the elements a heat exchanger, and a secondary circuit with one or more radiators.

For assembly 14, the compressor and the expansion valve are designated by 16 and 17, the upstream circuit is circuit 12, embedded in block 3 and operating as a condenser by supplying heat to the block. The downstream circuit is then one evaporator designated by 18a, 18b. The fluid passes through the heat exchanger 19 by absorbing the heat supplied by the secondary circuit 20 and captured in the refrigerator circuit 21. It is understood that this assembly can maintain a cold room or constitute an air conditioner intended to operate in summer. It could also fulfill other functions as will be seen below. The assembly 15 consists of similar elements but operating in the opposite direction. We see in fig. 2 the expansion valve 22, the compressor 23, the upstream circuit 24a, 24b operating as a condenser and supplying through the exchanger 25 the heat captured in the downstream circuit 13 to the secondary circuit 26 supplying the radiator 27. This corresponds to element 7 or element 8 of FIG. 1. The water heater 6 will also be connected to circuit 26.

Thus, in each block 3 are embedded two circuit elements 12, 13 each incorporated into one of the units 14 or 15 of group 5 and constituting one of the condenser 12 of the cold production unit 14 and the other 1 evaporator 13 of the heat production unit 15. This arrangement gives great flexibility in the management of the system described. Figs. 3 and 4 again show the block 3 with the heat transfer fluid circuits 12 and 13 embedded in the concrete. Each of these circuits is formed by a segment of tube of sufficient length, bent into a serpentine. The tubes can be made of stainless steel or copper, for example with a diameter of 10 mm and a wall thickness of 0.5 mm. They can also be made of synthetic material, for example polyethylene, or even of composite materials. Each circuit 12, 13 is mounted on a grid 28, 29. This grid can be formed of metal bars, in particular of concrete bars, for example 6 mm in diameter and welded perpendicularly to each other so as to form a network with square or rectangular meshes, for example about 15 cm wide. The grid can also be made of synthetic material, for example polyethylene, with welded or glued bars, or molded in one go. The grids 28, 29 constitute support structures for the circuit elements, which are particularly useful for transporting and installing the circuit before pouring the concrete. In the case where the accumulator blocks are prefabricated, preferably use grids made of concrete bars, the grids then also having the function of ensuring the cohesion of the concrete. The operation of bending the tubes and exact positioning of the coils relative to the nodes of the grid can be carried out rationally by means of a laying in the form of a plate having grooves in which the bars of the grid come to place. The plate will be fitted with clamps fixing the tube with respect to the laying and with respect to the grid at the location where a bend in the coil must be made. We will return later to the technique of mounting the coils on the grids.

Although these operations of mounting the coils on the grids can be carried out on the site, in order to allow optimal control of the quality of manufacture and to minimize working time on the site, these operations will preferably be carried out in the factory. , the grid-coil assemblies being transported to the site already assembled, so that it can be directly put in place with a formwork, or directly inside a excavation in the ground, the sides and bottom of the excavation making formwork office, after which the concrete can be poured. The input and output segments 12a, 12b, 13a, 13b of the circuit elements will be provided long enough to allow subsequent connections. With the dimensions indicated, each grid-coil assembly has a weight of 50 to 100 kg, making handling easy. The site therefore does not require access means arranged for particularly heavy vehicles. However, if the situation allows, the blocks 3 can also be manufactured entirely in the factory and transported to the site as products ready for assembly. As seen in fig. 3, the two grids 28, 29 are placed in a vertical position a short distance from each other in the center of the block. Each serpentine circuit 12, 13 is fixed against the grid which carries it on the outside. The grids and the branches of the coils are offset in height by one of the assemblies with respect to the other by 1/2 of the pitch of the grid. This arrangement ensures optimum thermal use of the properties of the concrete and of the bars. These play the role of thermal bridges and promote the diffusion of calories.

The blocks can be used as reservoirs of calories, either in accumulation or in "emptying", that is to say that only one of the two circuits, the condenser circuit 12 or the evaporator circuit 13, is in function. However, the operating sequences can be variable, for example daily or seasonal. We can therefore conceive of cases where the two circuits operate at the same time, the energy only passing through the block. Such a configuration is particularly useful for hotels and hospitals, where continuous air conditioning and simultaneous domestic hot water production are required. The close arrangement of the two assemblies 12-28, 13-29 then has the advantage that the temperature differences are very small. However, in this case, the grids 28 and 29 will be arranged at a substantially greater distance from one another than those shown in FIG. 3, generally at a distance of between 5 and 10 cm, so as to allow good diffusion of the energy around the tube. If the temperature difference between the source of calories and the latter is itself small, then the coefficient of performance (COP) of the aggregates is particularly high. This will be the case for example when, in the off-season one wishes to use the thermal energy of the water of a swimming pool to temper inhabited premises, or conversely, when an effect of air conditioning or the collection of solar heat by the sensor 9 are used to heat the pool water. Because the pumps are reversible, the two circuits can also be used simultaneously, either as an accumulator or as a drain. Figs. 5 and 6 are sections similar to that of FIG. 3 and show two variants of the arrangement of the assemblies 12/28, 13/29 which, in certain cases, lead to even better performances than those of the preferred embodiment described until now. In these two figures, the vertical bars of two grids 28, 29 are located in the same plane. The horizontal bars can be placed as close to each other as possible (fig. 5) or, preferably, offset, for example by half a step (fig. 6).

Fig. 7 shows the securing of the heat transfer fluid tubes on the grids. It represents a view of the assemblies 12/28, 13/29 in the direction opposite to the arrow A in FIG. 3. A portion of grid 29 is shown in elevation with a portion of a tube 13 of heat transfer fluid bent into a serpentine. Although only six horizontal branches and four 180-degree elbows have been shown, it is obvious that this number is not decisive and that, in practice, it will be higher. The horizontal branches of the coil 13 are fixed to nodes of the grid 29 by fasteners 30 formed of metallic or synthetic bands such as colson flanges. In the example of fig. 7, each flange is attached to a node of the grid and holds the horizontal branch of the tube 13 against a horizontal bar of the grid. Fig. 8 further illustrates the arrangement. According to a variant, the flanges are not hung on a node of the grid, but along a horizontal bar of the grid. The number of flanges and their alternate arrangement on each horizontal branch of the coil will be chosen from case to case. It is noted that this mode of securing ensures an elastic pressure of the tubes against the bars of their support grid, which allows the assembly to withstand different expansions or contractions of grids / tubes during temperature variations. On the other hand, the bent portions of the tube for the constitution of the coil can be provided with a device allowing a differentiated expansion / contraction of the tube relative to the concrete. Such a device can be produced for example in the form of sleeves 31 (shown diagrammatically in FIG. 7) in compressible polyurethane foam (preferably with closed cells) which are arranged around the bent parts of the tube forming the coil.

The system described is particularly advantageous for several reasons: it makes it possible to make use of energy capture coming from accessory sources, such as a swimming pool or a solar collector with water circulation with a high coefficient of performance (COP), or even by example, a heat recovery from a chimney or that of a high temperature solar oven. The accumulation of heat in the blocks can extend, during seasonal periods, to the surrounding soil which functions as both an insulator and a receiver. Thus, the water tubes coming from solar collectors could be directly integrated into blocks 3 or some of these blocks, which avoids the intercalation of a heat exchanger. It is evident, finally, that the cases where the blocks 3 and the surrounding earth directly collect ambient heat during the summer and only the circuits 13 and the aggregate 15 are provided also represent an application of the present invention.

Thus, the inertial energy storage device according to the invention can serve both as a thermal energy accumulator, as a temperature equalizer, as a temperature exchanger or as a temperature regulator, the whole being reversible. . The accumulation blocks shown in figs. 1 and 3 have a triangular or trapezoidal prism-shaped section with an upper base of dimension smaller than that of the lower base. But of course, the blocks 3 can be made of any other shape, such as for example in the shape of a T, so as to prevent the block from sinking into the ground, or also of rectangular shape.

Although the device according to the invention has been described with concrete blocks 3, said blocks can also be made of other solid or semi-solid materials, such as for example with bentonite or other similar gels.

We have not described here the means which will be provided to allow effective management of the entire system, such as multi-way valves making it possible to control the flows, emptying bodies and, if necessary, cleaning of the tubes, measuring and control apparatus. These means will naturally be provided according to needs. Although a system has been described with two aggregates of separate heat pumps operating one as a heat producer and the other as a cold producer, it is also possible to provide only one aggregate.

In addition, the possible applications of the storage device described are obviously not limited to the heating and air conditioning of villas, but also affect any construction whose premises must be tempered or cooled.

Claims

claims

1. An inertial energy storage device, in particular for a space heating and / or air conditioning system, comprising at least one block (3) of solid or semi-solid material, and at least one heat transfer fluid circuit (12 , 13) embedded in each block, characterized in that at least one grid (28, 29) is embedded in each block (3) and in that each of said circuits consists of a continuous duct, bent in a serpentine, mounted on one of the grids so as to allow differential expansion / contraction of the conduits relative to the grid.

2. Device according to claim 1, characterized in that at least one circuit is integrated in a loop of heat transfer fluid with phase change of a heat pump

(14, 15).

3. Device according to claim 1 or claim 2, characterized in that each block (3) comprises two assemblies (12, 28; 13, 29) of a grid and a circuit, the grids being plane and placed in parallel in the block.

4. Device according to claim 1, characterized in that the block (3) has the shape of a polyhedron whose base is rectangular and placed horizontally and which has an upper face also flat and parallel to the base, the grid (s) (28, 29) being vertical.

5. Device according to claim 2, in which the two circuits (12, 13) of a block are integrated into different heat exchange loops, characterized in that the device is associated with two aggregates of heat pumps (14, 15), one of said circuits operating as an evaporator and the other as a condenser.

6. Device according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the block or blocks (3) have a prism shape with a triangular vertical section.

7. Device according to one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that the block or blocks (3) have the shape of a T.

8. Device according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the material of the block or blocks is concrete.

9. Device according to any one of claims 1 to 7, characterized in that the material of the block or blocks is a gel.

10. Device according to any one of claims 4 to 9, characterized in that the block or blocks are embedded in the ground, their faces being directly in contact with the ground.

11. Device according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that a circuit, in at least one block, is connected to an accessory heat source without connection to a heat pump, the accessory heat source being a solar collector (9), a heat recovery from a chimney (10), a high temperature solar oven, etc.

12. Device according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the grid is formed of metal bars linked together at crossing points.

13. Device according to one of claims 1 to 11, characterized in that the grid is made of synthetic material.

14. Device according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the conduits are metal tubes.

15. Device according to one of claims 1 to 13, characterized in that the conduits are tubes of synthetic material.

16. Device according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the bent portions of the pipe forming the coil are provided with a device allowing differential expansion / contraction of the pipe relative to the concrete.

17. Device according to claim 16, characterized in that the bent portions of the conduit are provided with sleeves (31) in compressible polyurethane foam.

18. Assembly formed of at least one grid and comprising at least one bent continuous duct. serpentine stowed on said grid, as part of the device according to one of the preceding claims.