WO2011018088A2

WO2011018088A2 - Thermally active building component or set of building components with the ability to exchange thermal energy

Info

Publication number: WO2011018088A2
Application number: PCT/DK2010/000115
Authority: WO
Inventors: Per Stobbe
Original assignee: Heliopower A/S
Priority date: 2009-08-10
Filing date: 2010-08-10
Publication date: 2011-02-17
Also published as: WO2011018088A3

Abstract

Active building parts are presented with thermal mass and conductivity integrating fluid passing channels, tubes or ducts for energy exchange. Each set of channels, tubes or ducts carry energy (warm or cold) for exchange from a technical installation created by another building part or a technical installation. The presented building part hereby becomes a giant heat exchanger and energy storage device. All with the purpose of increased building comfort at the lowest possible energy consumption and carbon foot print. The purpose being the elimination of expensive electricity driven heat pump based air conditioning systems for cooling or heating purposes in a building. The thermal mass of the energy transmitting building part supporting the multi layout heat exchanger performance of the energy transmitting building part and ensure constant and comfortable temperature in the building day and year round.

Description

Thermally active building component or set of building components with the ability to exchange thermal energy

Field of the invention

The present invention relates to the area of multi functional thermally active building components or sets of building components designed for the exchange of thermal energy in a building. The thermally active building components or sets of building components according to the invention provide improved human comfort in said building at vastly reduced electricity consumption and improved use of renewable energy.

Background of the invention

In most parts of the world room heating is needed in the night time and room cooling is needed in the day time - completely opposite as to when the low or high temperatures are available from either the sun or from nature. By storing energy and releasing energy for use when needed improved comfort at lower energy consumption should be possible, however very few systems available today actually do this.

Room cooling or heating are furthermore vastly dependent on the building's insulation value, the building's tightness, the solar energy passing through windows, the quality of craftsmanship, etc. Currently much research and development effort is being placed into how to improve the building's insulation parameters for example via new insulation forms and via modern windows. However, the concept of storing and releasing energy is often overlooked

The cooling of buildings for personal comfort is typically done via traditional (heat pump based) air conditioning systems and is a major source of electrical energy consumption worldwide. This is the case even in climates having large temperature differences between day and night. Furthermore, such systems often comprise a single central air conditioning unit coupled to air ducts which distribute the cooled air to the different rooms or compartments of the building. Since using air to transmit energy is is extremely inefficient when compared to the use of liquids such as water these systems are also very energy inefficient and occupy a large amount of space since large air volumes are required to transport energy via air. The heating of buildings is often done via a central heating system which transfers hot liquid to radiant floor heating or radiators mounted on walls. Radiant floor heating cannot be used for cooling purposes since due to comfort reasons the floor should be around 25 degrees C even during the summer. A radiator cannot typically be used for cooling since the surface area of a radiator is typically not large enough to be an effective cooler. Should the radiator be used for cooling, quite low temperatures would be needed which would lead to significant condensation problems. In certain cases, heating is performed via a central hot air furnace which transfers hot air via ducts to the individual rooms. However, as described above, using air as a heat transfer medium is not particularly effective or energy efficient.

In general residential homes should have high mass or high thermal inertia building parts inside the building and low mass highly insulating building parts in the climate shield for improved comfort. The high mass internal building parts ensure slow and minor temperature variation by absorbing heat during the daytime and releasing heat during the evening. This can be observed for example in the construction of houses in the south of Europe where heavy and thick walls absorb energy during the day and release energy during the evening. However, since the heat transfer between the walls of a room and the air in the room occurs only by convection and radiation from the surface of the walls, the air in the room is typically much warmer than the walls during the day and much colder than the walls during the evening. Low mass and highly insulating external building parts ensure reduced influence from the weather and the sun and provide potentially lower building cost. Prior art

The following patents and articles are considered to be relevant prior art to which the present invention is not limited.

DE 1055213 by Mr. Arnaldo Frazzi describes as early as 1959 a brick block deck including cast in the concrete tubing for the purpose of heating or cooling - only. The tubing material which is used is not mentioned and is certainly not plastic as this was not available at that time. No use of internal cores or channels in the bricks for energy exchange is mentioned. No further upper floor heating separated by insulation is mentioned. US patent 5,755,216 dated 1995 by the University of Dayton describes a thermal energy storing building part having a hollow core including phase changing materials. The block uses only air flowing over the external surface of the building part for energy exchange with the building compartment. There is no description of channels for controlled fluid flow and/or energy removal. Radiation and convection via air is the limiting factor for energy exchange.

EP 0992637 dated 1998 by Polygo Holding GmbH in Germany describes a filigree concrete deck including a tube circuit for temperature control of the ceiling via fluids. No other channel, duct or tube for air conveying is described. No combination with insulation and a temperature controlled floor is described.

The Danish engineering and consulting company COWI presented a paper in the year 2000 together with the Danish Technological Institute which describes a project of heat storage in concrete elements. A solar wall was cooled by air conveyed through the cores in the deck element for heating purposes of the deck. No tubes were cast into the deck plate. The transfer of energy from the deck plate to the compartment air was through radiant heating and air convection from the surface only. EP1302604 by Mr. Armin Bϋhler in Germany dated 2001 describes an invention with cast in tubing for heating or cooling purposes through the outer surface of a pre-cast ceiling or a wall element only by radiant cooling or heating. The patent does not describe nor connect the compartment air volumes with the cores, channels in neither the pre-stressed concrete deck plates or potentially in the fired clay blocks through holes or grates. The cores or channels are for weight saving purposes only and the internal core surface is not participating in the energy exchange with the compartment air. The invention depends on cast in tubes for establishing channels for fluids conveying or weight savings and does not describe raw concrete channels, cores or tubes being used for conveying fluids. It's also noteworthy to bear in mind that the patent describes a "cooling or heating conduction system" and not a "cooling and heating system". In other words not both cooling and heating at the same time. The patent does not describe the effects of the heat capacity or the fundamentals around energy storage capacity. The patent describes in claim 3 and in figures 2, 3, 4, 13, 14, 15 a brick based deck already invented by Arnaldo Frazzi. Claim 5 describes two sets, circuits of tubes being installed in order to increase the tube surface area used for the same purpose for both tubes being either cooling or heating. Claim 10 describes that the tubes (the cooling and heating conduction systems being item 3 - tubes - on the figures) alternatively could be arranged in the cores so that the tubes are physically freely floating in the cores on the core floor. This is not a good solution as the air gap between hose and core wall will lower thermal conductivity significantly from hose to deck. Column 4 line 47 section 0018 of the EP patent describes a variation of filigree with integrated tubing for cooling already described incorrectly in EP 0922637 as mentioned, but more correctly in EP 0992637.

EP20020025140 (EP1314520) by Mr. Armin Bϋhler in Germany from 2001 describes an invention for curing, accelerating the settling, drying of cement, sand based concrete elements in situ. The main subject behind this patent is obviously manufacturing of the concrete part by altering the settling or curing by controlling the temperature carefully in situ. In the description of figure 2 and claims 9 and 10 it is mentioned to use the deck or wall element as a "beheizbares und/oder kuhlbares Klimabauelement" (heatable and/or coolable environmental building element) without any further explanation. No comments are seen to what "Klimabauelement"

(environmental building element) is considered to be. Possibly the acclimatization of the casting process where the concrete is kept at controlled climate obtains benefits in strength. No explanation of connecting the channels to the compartment air for cooling or heating purposes is provided. No explanation of the invention being useful as a heat exchanger is provided. No explanation of the important option for storing energy for cooling or heating purposes is seen.

The Danish engineering and consulting company COWI together with the Danish deck slab manufacturer Spaencom A/S in the year 2005 did a project with PEX tubes cast in concrete core slab and obtained a one side surface cooling effect of 6.5 VWm²K and heating effect of 3.5 WYm²K on the tested ceiling surface area. The project was financed by Danish ELFOR under contract # 335-20. No other structures similar to the presented invention were described. No use of the core in the pre-cast concrete element was described or used for increased cooling/heating capacity as to the increased surface area. Only one outer surface is described for energy transport to the compartment air via radiation and convection only.

Dr. Frank Bruno from Sustainable Energy Centre, University of South Australia described in March 2005 in a paper presented at the AIRAH conference some work including Phase Changing Materials (PCM) in gypsum and wood based light walls. The major problems experienced were the difficulties in energy transfer based on the low mass of air. No use of water for energy transport, exchange or heavy building material was described. None of the above patents or articles describe or mention any of the products, principles or methods as described in the present specification. Which hereby distinguishes the current invention from the above prior art with respect to the characteristics of the overall replacement of known visible metal duct based air condition systems with the present invention being a "Building part with the ability to exchange energy" for a much lower carbon foot print on our globe.

Summary of the Invention

A first aspect of the current invention is therefore to provide for a new type of thermally active building component or set of building components which can increase the thermal comfort of a room or compartment while reducing electrical energy consumption.

A second aspect of the current invention is to provide for a new type of thermally active building component or set of building components which is more visually attractive than previous forms of thermally active products such as radiators and air conditioners.

The above mentioned aspects are solved in part in that a thermally active building component or set of building components is provided according to claim 1. In this way, a thermally active building component or set of building components is provided which allows a very high surface area between the building component and the air conducting channel while still providing a visually attractive outer appearance since the air from the room is pulled into the wall or ceiling via openings in the wall or ceiling instead of relying purely on convection and radiation from the visible surface.

It should be noted that according to this specification, the phrase "set of building components" should be understood as a set of components which are marketed or sold as a set or are designed to be used as a set. It should also be noted that according to this specification, the phrase "integrated into a wall or ceiling" should be understood as being an integral part of the wall or ceiling. In most cases, the component or components will be hidden behind the visible surface of the wall or ceiling or form a portion of the visible surface of the wall or ceiling. For example radiator elements are available which are integrated into footpanels which run along a wall. These types of radiators would not be considered to be integrated into the wall since they are mounted on the wall after the wall has been constructed and are not integrated into the wall.

It should furthermore be noted that according to claim 1 , the energy transfer can both be between the gas conducting channel and the liquid conducting channel directly, or the energy transfer can occur via a potential third, fourth, fifth, etc element of the building component or set of components.

In one embodiment, the first fluid conducting channel could be a first gas conducting channel and the second fluid conducting channel could be a first liquid conducting channel. In claim 2, it is further specified that the component or set of components could further comprise a volume having a thermal capacity. In this way, the building components or set of building components can store energy for releasing it later.

In claim 4 it is further specified that the building component or set of building components could be a "structural building component or a set of structural building components". By structural, it is meant that the component or set of components forms a structural part of the wall or ceiling. In general, the purpose of claim 4 is to specify that the component or set of components comprise two materials, one with a structural puφose and one with a thermal purpose.

In claim 6 it is specified that the building component could be a deck plate or a wall plate. This is one embodiment of the invention where both fluid conducting channels are provided in a single premade unit. This is in contrast to the embodiment where a set of building components are provided which are to be built into a wall or ceiling.

Claim 9 further claims a building compartment which has at least one thermally active component and which is connected to a fluid source arranged exterior to the building compartment. This should be interpreted in the current specification as being a source of fluid which can either provide cooling and/or heating liquid to the thermally active building component. The source of fluid could for example be a heat exchanger placed in a ground water reservoir, a heat exchanger placed in a solar panel mounted on the roof of the building, etc.

In claim 11 , a building is claimed which has both a compartment and an external liquid source. In claim 12, it is specified that the building could comprise two liquid sources, one for cooling and one for heating. In this way, a thermally active building component in the building compartment could be selectively connected to the cooling source if the temperature in the room is too high or connected to the heating source if the temperature in the room is too low.

Finally claims 13-15 provide for control systems which are suitable for controlling the temperature of a building compartment having a thermally active building component.

It should be emphasized that the term "comprises/comprising/comprised of when used in this specification is taken to specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps or components but does not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, components or groups thereof. For example, in one of the claims it is stated that a building compartment comprises one wall. However the person skilled in the art should understand this to read that the building compartment comprises at least one wall.

Brief description of the invention

The current invention relates to a traditional building block or component for example a deck slab or to a set of traditional building blocks or components for example a set of bricks modified to become a multi passageway dual heat exchanger for integration into a building for improved comfort at reduced energy consumption. In one embodiment, the building block or set of building blocks, the block or set of blocks further comprises the ability to store energy. The invented individual building parts participate actively in the compartment conditioning by storing respectively warm energy in the day time or cold energy in the night time, each individual building part being able to for each specific use release its stored energy hours after its collection. Energy transport is done by several energy conveying circuits in said building part. The use of water for energy transport is highly efficient as to its high mass and thermal capacity. Not only the external surfaces exchange energy but in specific the internal surfaces of the buildings parts helped by air circulation. This allows the surface area of the heat exchange to be increased significantly without affecting the visual exterior appearance of the building component. Exchange of energy via air-to-air and air-to-fluid type of exchange with a building part with high thermal capacity offers slow response time, though vastly depending on thermal capacity of the building part. Definitions

• Conduct energy, conducting, transmitting - transport of heat through, passing a (solid or fluid) material, thermal conductivity measured in Watt / (m^{2 *} Kelvin)

• Convey energy - transport of energy contained in a fluid such as a liquid or a gas based on said fluids specific heat capacity measured in Joule / (kg ^* Kelvin) of which water has specific heat capacity of 4.186 kJ/kgK

• Store energy - energy contained in a solid or a fluid based on said materials specific heat capacity measured in Joule / (kg * Kelvin)

• Heat, energy exchanger - a device or building part interchanging energy, exchanging energy between two fluids passing a solid barrier without mixing the fluids

• Building part, block or component - A part which is used for building up a wall, ceiling or floor which when integrated in the wall is located between the visible surfaces of the wall, ceiling or floor

• Brick, hollow block - A building component which is structural and which supports the wall, ceiling, or floor in which it is arranged

• Extrusion - A process of manufacturing where a material is pressed through a die wherein the resulting product has (in most cases) a constant cross section.

• Casting - A process of manufacturing where a material in liquid form is poured into a form whereafter it hardens and is removed from the form, for example concrete is poured into a form to manufacture a floor slab. Elements such as hoses, ducts, etc can be placed in the form before pouring the liquid material into the form, whereby the elements are embedded in the final product.

• Fluid - both liquids and gases - for example air is gas and water is a liquid, but for the sake of this specification they are both considered to be fluids.

• Building compartment - a room or enclosed volume inside a building.

• Channel - should be understood as also tubing, ducts, passageways or cavities, i.e. any passageway which is suitable for transporting a fluid.

Detailed description of the invention

The present invention (named JouleWall with respect to vertical arrangements and JouleCeiling with respect to horizontal arrangements) is in one embodiment a giant low cost conventional building material based and easily building integrated multi purpose heat exchanger which transmits thermal energy among various technical installations and storing energy for later use, removal or exchange. The basic purpose is to reduce the need for electrical power consuming traditional air conditioning systems in buildings. The present invention's principle and its use are designed for residential area homes as well as for industrial buildings, hotels and office buildings. Hydronic fluid conveying piping and ducting integrated into the building parts of the present invention ensure simple transportation of energy among technical devices and the space, compartment.

Functionally being a giant low cost heat exchanger, JouleWall or JouleCeiling is easy to fabricate and erect all over the globe based on the available building materials and is easy to control. Traditional ducting in office buildings for ventilation and temperature control account for 50% of the typical total installation cost ranging from 2,000 to 5,000 Euro/m² including heat pumps, tubing, ducting and lowered ceiling grid system. Electricity consumption in order to run such systems in office building, hotels, etc range from 0.5 kWh/m² (cooling by traditional WACS or AACS is roughly 150 kWh/m²/year) or 0.5 kWh x 24 x 365 resulting in an impressive electricity consumption of 4,380 kWh/m² per year. Roughly 1 MW/h of produced electrical energy from a natural gas fired power plant emits 600 kg CCVh and as much as 1,100 kg of CO₂/h when based on coal as the energy source. So basically every one square meter of floor in office buildings globally is the cause of 5 tons of CO² emission per year!

Calculations show that the same or better comfort is obtainable with the present invention at an investment reduction of 25% and further a 85% savings in electricity consumption for operating the system. Hereby the present invention will offer a significant positive effect on the CO² emission based on the level of implementation globally.

It is furthermore well known that long and extended air distribution ducting systems like those found in centralized air-condition systems dramatically reduce air quality and should be avoided. Such ducting channels are also known to host and transport dust and bacteria all over a building complex. In one embodiment of the current invention, the gas such as air when passing through the channels/ducts of the JouleWall will alter its temperature from entrance to exit/exhaust to the building compartments. The present invention according to one embodiment functions as a giant heat exchanger and as a giant energy storage. Preferably the energy transmitting and energy storing building part may be kept at constant 20⁰C temperature during summer time by transferring fluids of lower temperature obtained from other technical installations inside or outside of or integrated into the building. The air passing though the many integrated gas channels and radiated from the surfaces will alter the temperature and either cool or heat the building compartments depending on time of year, the respectively cool energy being obtained during the night and the respectively warm energy being obtained during the day time. Low temperature based energy obtained and stored during the night until use the following day and vice versa. The overall benefit being improved comfort and much lower energy consumption at the same time. Also the building compartment temperature will be much more even and see less spread over the day improved by the high thermal mass of the energy transmitting and energy storing building part.

Important properties of the energy transmitting and energy storing building parts and their performance are; 1. thermal conductivity, 2. heat capacity, 3. invisible air channel surface and roughness, 4. invisible fluid channel surface and roughness, 5. visible external wall surface area, roughness and colour, 6. various heat exchanger surface areas, 7. air humidity, 8. air and fluid pump capacity, 9. geographical location. If larger gradients of the cooling fluid is needed when compared to that obtainable from climate shield integrated heat exchangers, then access to sea or lake water or ground cooling only or ground cooling including heat pumps is needed, for example in areas of high night temperature such as in some tropical areas. In certain areas were enough cooling effect is not available, cooling sources such as traditional heat pump systems could also be used. The building cooling capacity required is dependent on geographical area and ranges between 60-120 watt/m² for office areas and between 20-40 watt/m² for residential building areas. The heat load being highest in buildings having a single layer of glass, no window shading and no insulation. The need for office room cooling during the day time is >3 times the capacity compared to night need. Therefore it is proposed to cool building parts during the night where the need is low and the external capacity typically is high. In typical cases, air is used to cool and since the thermal capacity of air is low, huge amounts of air are needed requiring large ducts and fans for circulation. The thermal conductivity of air is 0.026 W/m²/K, and its thermal capacity 1 kJ/kg/K, but the mass is only 1.29 kg/m³! So a stunning 3500 times more air is needed to hold the same energy as water or 1750 times as much compared with concrete.

In general, humans prefer temperature control via air contact where convection has an importance of 50% and radiant losses (mean surrounding surface temperature) influence having also an importance of 50%. The thermal conductivity of the energy transmitting and energy storing building parts may be altered by inclusion, blending of materials of higher thermal conductivity than that of concrete which is around 1 W/m²/K and materials of higher thermal capacity than that of concrete which is around 0.9 kJ/kg/K. Tubing used in the building component can be based on plastic or metal suitable for operating at reasonable fluid pressure such as maximum 1 MPa (Mega Pascal). Dimensions for such tubing can be selected from roughly 06 to 050 mm outside depending on application with fluid flow ranging from 1-100 l/min depending on the JouleWall or JouleCeiling size and mass. Fluid in the integrated plastic or metal tubing can be forced though the tube by an external mounted pump of suitable capacity. Plastic tubing typically has a low thermal conductivity and adds to the delay in thermal response.

The heat capacity of the energy transmitting and energy storing building part may be altered by addition of and/or blending with suitable materials different to the relevant cement based concrete. Also pockets and/or channels in the energy transmitting and energy storage building part may be filled with materials of different heat capacity for increased performance. Examples of such are a fluid or a solid or a salt or combinations hereof with high melting enthalpy like water in a separate enclosure. In addition, Phase Changing Materials (PCM) based on linear crystalline alkyl hydrocarbons are available which are able to operate around 25⁰C. A phase change material is a substance with a high heat of fusion which, when melting and solidifying at a certain temperature, is capable of storing and releasing large amounts of energy.

Heat is absorbed or released when the material changes from solid to liquid and vice versa; thus, PCMs are classified as latent heat storage (LHS) units. The PCM may be a fluid for example a paraffin wax like Sunoco P-116 or a powder for example DELTA-COOL-24 from Cosella-Dόrken Products Inc. from Canada with 2.2- 2.7 kJ/kg/K general heat capacity and phase change enthalpy of 158 kJ/kg enclosed in an aluminium foil bag. Another example is 5 μm small Acrylic polymer shell microcapsules Micronal PCM from BASF cast into and mixed into the concrete. These microcapsules melt at 23° or 26°C depending on the application and have a phase change enthalpy of 110 kJ/kg.

During the day time the wall collects heat from the room via the wall surface and the wall integrated air channel air circulation system and releases the accumulated heat during the night time via the wall integrated fluid channel circulation system. Preferably the accumulated heat during the day is lost through one or more non glass covered solar panels on the roof in a simple and inexpensive way. The present invention solves the typical problem of obtaining sufficient contact area with low mass gas for exchanging energy such as contact with air to wall surface only during night time and room window ventilation. In the present invention, low mass air is replaced with high mass liquid circulating through channels integrated into the wall eliminating the need for room window ventilation. One major drawback of latent thermal energy storage is the low thermal conductivity (typically solid 1 Wm²/K and as liquid 0.5 Wm²/K) of the materials used as PCM. This circumstance makes heat transfer into / out of the thermal energy storage during charging / discharging difficult. The present invention solves this problem via the integrated fluid tubes. Another way of further improving the energy flow capability of the concrete wall is by potentially replacing the typically used SiO₂ type of sand having a thermal conductivity of approximately 1 Wm²/K with materials, powders of higher thermal conductivity, such as aluminium granulates or SiC powder having a thermal conductivity of 50 Wm²/K or more. The traditional building ventilation ceiling mounted ducts are very large in cross section for transporting the approximately 1/750 density air when compared to water density. Duct diameters therefore start at 100mm and can go to an impressive 1000 mm. This is not uncommon, it is troublesome and it is costly to fit into a building. These systems typically operate at much lower operating pressure ranging from for example a few Pascal's and use low gas velocity ranging 1-3 m/s to avoid noise and the otherwise enormous power to drive the fans. Air ducts integrated into the traditionally erected JouleWall with standard bricks and concrete filled cavity could be pre cast thin wall cement duct tubes. Alternatively air ducts constructed from round thin wall metal tubes, like from the guttering industry, preferably with an internal turbulence creating and surface area increasing shape.

Plastic ducts are also possible but with somewhat lower thermal conductivity having a negative influence on the efficiency. The internal surface roughness of the gas/air carrying channels in the energy transmitting and energy storing building part may be designed for improved heat transfer. This phenomenon can be further improved by adding devices for a turbulent flow in said ducts.

Air is forced through the air ducts by natural convection or by at least one air pump mounted at the top of the wall or at the bottom at the wall for access to each duct. Alternatively the ducts are connected via air duct manifolds to a larger air pump externally mounted in a facility specifically designed for technical devices.

The properties of wall surfaces of a traditionally erected JouleWall for example roughness and colour are important factors for infrared radiation and increased surface area for turbulent vertically flowing gas flowing along the wall in the compartment. Improved roughness may be constructed from black stone pieces assembled with concrete on the spot or from pre-assembled stone pieces on a frame as known from Spanish company CUPA Natural Materials under the trade name Stonepanels. The JouleWall outer surface will give different heat exchanging performance if plastered, covered with other means and possibly painted in light colours.

The heat exchanging capability of the JouleWall or JouleCeiling is in part based on:

1. tubing surface area, tubing spec, flow speed and fluid spec

2. internal duct surface area, duct material spec, gas, air speed and mass

3. external surface area, room gas, air speed and mass

4. specifications of the materials used, the material thickness, the material mass

In buildings with numerous floors, the use of the cores in the JouleCeiling pre-stressed deck for air transport eliminate the need for costly ducting in metal sheet tubing as the fluids are transferring the energy from a central energy control unit to each slab on each floor. As water has 750 times the density of air and 4 times the heat capacity it becomes 3000 times more efficient to use water compared to air for cooling or heating puφoses in specific for the exchange of energy. In specific over longer distance such as in larger building complexes with several floors which are otherwise traditionally equipped with large diameter ducts having huge air pumping losses. The need for external cooling of the internal building parts can be facilitated by both roof elements and wall elements being integrated with tubes and or channels for fluid transport.

In typical air con systems, fresh air exchange is typically taken care of from central air con units by creating a ducting system linking all the compartments together in a network. This can lead to isolation problems during fires. The present invention offers the option to allow each compartment to have its own fresh air system. A relatively small ventilator for each compartment drags in outdoor air which passes through a particle separating filter element and right through the JouleWall or JouleCeiling for temperature conditioning.

For a compact construction, low cost and simple on the building site to erect, the energy exchanging/transmitting/storing JouleWall building part could be based on fired clay building bricks designed to be glued together around the vertically oriented fluid transporting tube(s). This simple setup creates the present inventions building material based dual heat exchanger with both gas ducts and fluid tubes orientated vertically. Preferably a male/female brick design for vertical arrangements is provided with larger square designed openings being the gas conveying ducts or conveying channels integrated inside two mating individual building blocks. For extrusion and in specific drying purposes during manufacturing a number of smaller channels must be included in the design to insure equal wall structure thickness.

In each end of the male or female block end walls grooves are arranged as support and guides for integrating during construction the fluid conveying tubes in larger groove and steel bars in smaller groove for armament. On the inside of the male or female block one grove is arranged to cover either the fluid conveying tube or the steel bar depending on which side of the wall the male or female block is located.

The gas conveying channel openings correspond so that when the male and female blocks are assembled into a wall and glued together around the fluid tubes and the steel bars, the gas conveying channels are fully open from top to bottom of the wall outlet and inlet entrances. At both the top and the bottom the stacked blocks being connected to 90° bend blocks or 180° T-blocks with openings to the compartment(s), room(s) for air circulation. This would be considered a set of building components. In other words the set of building components comprises a number of blocks having straight channels and then at least one block having a 90 degree channel (or T block) allowing the air in the compartment to communicate with the air channels.

Alternatively the building blocks are cast in cement with similar design and internal longitudinal closed channels for gas transport and external semi opened channels or groves for fluid tube support. This could be considered a building component. With two different designed brick shaped building blocks the brick laying person is able to construct the wall around the network of re-enforcing steel bars mounted vertically and the fluid tubes are also mounted vertically in at least one circuit. Steel bars being prefered which are as long as the distance between the ceiling and the floor.

The invented concept including the ducts and tubing may be prefabricated at a factory and transported to the building site by trucks and loaded onto the building for an even faster process. The energy exchanging/transmitting/storing JouleWall building part may be a vertical or horizontal building part or any building part angled in between, for example on a sloping ceiling.

In the horizontal version of the present invention one could consider hollow core planks, roof sections or pre-cast ceiling slabs, where the modules have openings cut out and facing down into the room/compartment under the slab. In one embodiment, the openings are arranged such that the air inlet is in the centre of the slabs length and at least one opening is provided in each opposite end of the slab for air outlet or exhaust. In this way air is forced to circulate in individual vortexes, two or even more vortexes depending on the room dimensions. Ventilators mounted either at the inlet or outlet or at all slab openings can be provided. At each end of the hollow core slab, a tubing interface is needed by leaving a volume non cast in cement and preferably covered with EPS foam or wood for later interfacing with the tubes. The tubing being cast into the first extruded casting with several tubes in parallel in between the cores being added continuously by the casting machine from the extrusion. Such action will eliminate weight increase of the slab, allow continuous production and allow manual work to insure correct orientation of the pipe thread connections to the hoses. Alternatively the tubing in one circuit could be added on top of a first pre-cast part of the slab as a network of one corrugated tube with preferably the two hose ends visible in only one end of the slab. Hereafter the top concrete layer is added in the thickness needed for coverage and thermal capacity.

Fluid handling tube to pipe thread connections being 180° or in a 90° angle to the slab length will improve the interfacing at the building plot. Surface mounted pipe thread connecting bends can be cast into the slab and can attached to the cast in longitudinal tube allow much protected interface points for later connection.

Alternatively the, in the deck plate cast cores, longitudinal holes may be adjusted in design and diameter to facilitate transport of liquids and/or gases saving the otherwise to some extent complicated addition of PEX or other tube materials during the casting process. In order for those channels to be fully water tight a wall coating or surface treatment is needed. After, casting and drying the channels must be coated with either/or combined hydrophobic and 100% non penetration tight coating based on a combination of inorganic(s) (like cement, silicates, sodium silicates or other nano size particle based fluids) and semi elastic organic compounds like polymer, bitumen, oil, silicone, rubber, epoxy or chemical based fluids. The surface treatment closes the pores by penetration into the concrete pores and further adds a layer of liquid tight surface membrane to the concrete channel. Furthermore it should be noted and taken into account that the fluid passing the coated or non coated channels will influence the performance of the channels. For example the pH value of the fluid, oil or water based, coating in the anaerobe environment should be taken into consideration.

After drying, the channels are water tight and in excellent thermodynamic contact with the concrete deck or wall plate. The later added pipe thread interface device is either an expanding device with flexible seals to seal towards the internal somewhat smooth surface in the deck plate. Alternatively the pipe thread interface is glued into place with epoxy type of glue or other suitable glues for a water and pressure tight connection.

Acoustic problems were also a problem for the COWI project as described in the report from ELFOR under contract # 335-20 but work if fully covered with insulation. The on the underside flat or non porous material coated surface does not give any sound reduction, but reflection. Other public literature describes that the underside of such deck plate must be uncovered and carpets or furniture are needed in order to depress noise. The present invention solves this problem, by using the internal core or internal channels for the energy exchange and interface to the room air. This allows the visible surface to be insulation covered. COWI obtained from the slab underside only a ceiling surface cooling effect of 6.5 VWm²K and a heating effect of 3.5 VWm²K measured corresponding to the floor surface area. This was obviously without ceiling surface insulation for noise reduction or any ventilation. If covered with insulation the cooling/heating effect is correspondingly reduced or fully lost with 100% coverage. The closer the building parts are kept to the desired room temperature the higher comfort level is experienced. The ceiling difference temperature may be kept at 10⁰C hereby obtaining 65 VWm² energy transfer capacity. This presumably meets the needs in office buildings in warmer climates. Obtaining a 10 degree lower than building part desired room temperature is not comfortable and demands a heat pump connection device or access to <10°C sea water which is not easy. Air movement over the ceiling surface will improve the cooling effect, but again eliminates noise reduction surfaces on the ceiling and it is anticipated that floor carpets are not planned.

Both the JouleWall and/or JouleCeiling concept solves each of the above issues and improves vastly the energy transferring capability such that only a few ⁰C temperature difference is sufficient. In other words in one example a high cooling media temperature of 18°C is sufficient! Both the JouleWall and/or JouleCeiling concept at least double the room air to building part surface contact area and are further vastly improved with integrated low noise simple air ventilation - and at the same time allowing a full coverage of the ceiling with noise reducing insulation. Combining both the JouleWall and the JouleCeiling concept the total effect offers many times the performance by previous COWI work on slabs.

Cooling the building mass in a JouleWall and/or a JouleCeiling during the night with HelioPower integrated roofing panels combined with presumably less than 18⁰C pool bottom water or sea, lake water is sufficient to keep room at max 20-21⁰C temperature during the day. The integrated heating/cooling roofing/wall exterior panels will furthermore during the day time, also during the winter time, harvest energy for floor heating and a nice winter comfort. Floor temperature should be kept at around 24-25°C all year around. Energy savings (electricity) are calculated to be 85% compared to conventional heat pump, duct based air-con systems. The estimated conventional cooling requirement for an in South Africa traditional low-tech insulation 2,580 m² large hotel is believed to require a 2 MW installed capacity. The needed 2 MW/h x 24 x 365 = impressive 17.5 GW/h with the cost of R5x10*6/year in 2009!

An 85% reduction in usage of power based on the presented invention is regarded as significant! A Hotel of this size will have a cost of R280 x10^*6 of which app R50 x10^*6 is the air-condition system cost or 17% of the investment.

A horizontal JouleCeiling may be based on building blocks like the PoroTherm from the Austrian building material company Wienerberger AG and the vertical JouleWall from Wienerberger or from French Imerys-Structure and similar companies known through many years from various plants around the globe. PoroTherm is an old fashioned technique providing extruded and fired clay hollow sections supported on cast concrete steel bar re-enforced beams. After assembling, the sections are cast with concrete into one rigid building horizontal deck plate. Advantages of this method are that it is cost effective, it is light weight for transport, strong, easy to manufacture and fast to use. None have however ever taken advantage of the natural built-in channels for energy exchange combined with ventilation. Channels easily used for ventilation purposes and before casting the fluid conveying tubes also easily included in order to create the double heat exchanger principle. One or more channels may also include concrete for heat capacity adjustment and/or PCM materials in bags.

A horizontal JouleCeiling could also be based on pre-cast deck panels (suspended slab) with exposed steel bars and the pre-cast portions of the deck plate facing down. The rectangular deck plates mounted close to each other exposing the steel bars on top and a flat smooth surface facing down is hereafter filled with concrete. The deck plates easily further including a set of fluid tubes and pipes for ventilation through grate holes in the deck facing down and tubes in any direction for later connection. The orientation of the cast in ducts and ventilation openings or grates are determined according to an air flow analysis and according to the actual requirements. The ducts being cast into the concrete deck have good contact with the thermal mass of the deck. The ventilation system ducts are connected in any configuration (series, parallel and/or combined) and have any possible external connection with pumps and other systems.

The pre-cast deck plate can also be used as a vertical wall and combined with the inventions integrated dual heat exchanger in a double thin concrete plate pre-cast configuration. Or in single plate configuration further covered on the open side with bricks or stone panels.

Such vertical and horizontal duct systems can potentially be connected in horizontal edges hereby creating invisible duct connections from close to the floor grates to the grates in the ceiling. Increasing the contact time between air conveyed through the ducts and further increasing the distance between grates provides for optimum air flow control. Re-enforcement around the holes for ventilation in pre-stressed deck plates is obtainable by cast in metal rings around the holes fastened to the otherwise passing re-bars. The core holes and/or ventilations ducts may be internally coated for dust control with a suitable fluid after casting.

The JouleWall or JouleCeiling concept may be a factory pre-cast plate from concrete and internally mounted JouleWall or JouleCeiling parts in larger wall or floor sections can be transported to the building site by trucks and erected by cranes. Internationally pre-cast products are offered by many companies around the globe such as Spancrete lnc in USA, Boligbeton A/S in Denmark, Echo Prestress Pty. Ltd. in South Africa, Buerkle - Keller GmbH in Germany and many more. In situ cast concrete deck may in the rebar systems include all the needed hoses and ducts in order to facilitate the present invention. There are no limits to exploration of the present invention when the deck is cast in situ in larger buildings.

JouleWall/Ceiling may be connected "hidden", also horizontally into the ground volume under the basement floor, under a pool or other building parts cast into low strength cements and separated on its top side towards the building with a high load carrying capacity insulation layer, such as high density EPS foam in thickness of preferably several hundred millimetres. Being insulated on at least one side in this way, the upper side of a JouleWall can be used primarily for cooling purposes of the building. The high thermal mass of the ground are further viewed as energy storage for also room or building heating or cooling purposes then with insulation on all 6 sides of the selected ground volume. Combination of one ground volume for cooling purposes with insulation on one side and one other ground volume with insulation on all 6 sides depending on the geographical area on the globe can also be imagined. In general the fire prevention and fire technical aspects of the present invention are improved as each space or compartment is predominantly ventilated internally and in general kept separated from other spaces. The outdoor air ventilation could further be designed for limited or single compartments, hereby avoiding the typical severe distribution of harmful fumes in case of a fire. Both the JouleWall and JouleCeiling depend specifically on high thermal mass building parts manufactured specifically not from light weight structures or wood structures covered with gypsum boards. However in certain embodiments according to the invention, a light weight edition of a building component or set of building components according to the invention is also provided.

Control for the building based on JouleWall and/or JouleCeiling is preferably performed constantly by a computer, for example a PLC (programmable logic control) device, with input from:

• Temperature sensors from thermocouples for example PtIOO or R1000 sensors mounted in every relevant part and area of the building

• Flow sensors offering fluid and gas speed and/or mass flow figures from the fluid tubing and the air ducts in the JouleWall and JouleCeiling

• Moisture / humidity sensor(s) in the building compartments

• CO² sensor(s) in building compartments to judge the need of fresh air • Motion sensor(s) in various spaces to judge if humans were or are in the room

• Door and window open/closed sensors

• Fume, smoke sensors

• Meteorological sensors

The computer, or PLC, also controls a series of actuators and motors for example: • Fluid and/or air valves

• Fluid and/or air pumps or fans

• Solar shielding devices

• Windows for opening or closing

For advanced building control purposes a highly sophisticated computer, or PLC₁ platform including digital signal processors should be used with closed-loop control concepts for maximum convenience and comfort. Various sensors monitor references and control variables, which the computer, or PLC, then converts to signals required to adjust the peripheral actuators, pumps, etc. With artificial intelligence built into the computer, or PLC, such computer, or PLC, will be able to adaptively learn and over time improve the control algorithms. An example is in high class vehicles where electronics combined with CARTRONIC from Bosch are now self adaptive and able to learn from the first days of driving to provide maximum fuel efficiency and the lowest possible emission outlet.

Methods of controlling the interior temperature in each compartment individually in a S building based on the present invention should preferably be performed by the computer ,or PLC, only which analyse, calculate and determine:

• Distribution of fluids among appropriate building parts for optimum comfort

• Present fresh air ventilation needed in each compartment

• Amount of energy to be stored in appropriate building parts for future use0 Future use will in most cases be the following night or day depending on heating or cooling requirements in the respective building part. However the system could be programmed to perform its control over even longer periods where more energy of high or low temperature is stored as to predicted needs. Important data for the computer, or PLC, can also be based on metrological data obtained externally from the building for5 example over the internet from publically available sites like www.wunderground.com or the national meteorological institute or from internally within the premises for example from a local weather station with the ability to predict the weather. The computer, or PLC, program could furthermore be able to collect data directly from instruments which measure the outdoor; temperature, humidity, pressure, wind speed0 and direction, the amount of rain and solar irradiation sensors. For larger buildings it will be obvious to install a complete weather station or all such instruments.

A much simplified version of the invention designed for homes is based on a combination of hollow bricks and inlay-bricks fabricated from fired clay or cast from5 cement based materials. The Adobe type of buildings are world famous for better comfort, but only based on thermal mass reducing the day-night gradients - not by smart ventilation or energy exchange. When the buildings outer walls, the floor and roof are based on inlay-blocks and hollow blocks it is simple to involve those building parts to participate in the buildings comfort by allowing forced air circulation in the hollow0 blocks through the cores.

The principle of use depends on the geographical location on the globe:

1. If it's cold during both day and night time - but sunny during the day - then one could consider a system which during day time comprises a by Photo Voltaic5 (PV) cells operated air pump which circulates the air from cement covered dark roof inlay-blocks down through hollow block walls facing the sun, through and warming a hollow block floor, and up through the opposite hollow block wall in order to reach the roof again. Room temperature gradients night-day should be reduced vastly insuring higher life quality and general health.

2. If it's warm during the day and cold during the night, then preferably the energy transport during the day time is from the warm walls to the inlay-blocks in the floor for heating purposes. During the night time the air flow is reversed and the now colder outer wall exchanges energy to the space ceiling controlled by valves. This may also be separated into two individual systems so that the building wall facing towards the sun handles the heating purposes only and the building wall facing in the opposite direction of the sun handles the cooling purposes.

This principle improves the comfort by simple means by introducing the hollow brick into the construction of the home. The wide building blocks cores could be divided in inner and outer cores to suit the purpose of insulation towards the space, compartment and not insulated towards the surface intended for heat exchange. This further feature will reduce the gradients in the compartments of the home.

If a PV cell driven air pump(s) are not desirable as to cost and availability, a chimney will work just as well as the driving force or motor. The German inventor of the modern round brick furnace Friedrich Hoffmann received a patent 1858 involving the principle of the chimney as the driving force for circulating air in a building. The present invention with hollow inlay-blocks and bricks as ventilation channels or ducts behave also as an heat exchanger in a building driven by a series of chimney as the drivers for air exchange in the building parts. The chimney(s) are to be placed on the roof on top of the wall so that the building parts operate in series. A number of identical serial systems placed in parallel depending on the building size. Such as when outside air guided to system inlet through a series of angled grates on top of the roof, passing down wards the below mounted wall ducts, passing an angled block guided into the floor blocks, passing along the floor blocks, passing a second angled block guided to the opposite wall ducts, passing the wall upwards to the bottom of the chimney, up through the chimney to the outside air. A rotating metal chimney top for vacuum purposes based on wind direction is considered to be advantageous combined with some valves. The typical hollow building block is placed with the channels vertical in order to take the highest possible load. For walls with low load capacity like indoor walls of less than 3 meters height the blocks may be designed for horizontal use. This creates the option of using the hollow core blocks for more than just the function as a wall. The present invention offer the feature as a ventilation system by the in building incorporated hollow building block system suitable as ventilation air transport channels, acting as horizontal ducts for air and energy transport on walls not intended to carry a high load. A fluid flow could take place in any directions and open up for unlimited interconnection of specialized blocks in order to guide a flow in a desired direction. The invented system does now offer a very compact solution. Specially manufactured flow distribution blocks acting as X-junctions, T-junctions, and various elbows in various angles allow for an exchange of the traditional metal ducting systems to fired clay or cements based ducting systems.

A combination of the JouleWall, JouleCeiling with fired clay or cement based ducting, provide a ventilation system which preferably shares the same building block shape and size. The ventilated air being conveyed in and/or in parallel with the neighbouring blocks, in double blocks, with counter flowing directions all sharing the same system of bricks. Such blocks improve the space comfort, specifically reduces the total building height by reduction of each floor height (more compact solution) and consequently hereby the building cost. In addition this further offers a better, lower cost, better physical, practical distribution of air ventilation grates in a room or space in specific when compared with high cost extra ceiling covering the traditional metal tube ducting.

For a well insulated building, the outer wall could preferably be based on the JouleWall concept for either cooling or heating purposes. A wall block combining two individual, hollow sections manufactured from fired clay or cast cements separated fully by insulation. Placed inter locking on each other the channels, ducts correspond from top to bottom. One set of hollow bricks are facing the external environment being the sun for heating purposes or opposite for cooling purposes. Or used during the night for cooling purposes. Valves and air pumps direct the air to the relevant building part to either heat or cool.

The dual or more channel duct block design is based on connecting two individual blocks into a mono block with suitable insulation like EPS or other foam insulation connecting the blocks for even further and improved insulation value for acceptance of large temperature gradients. Blocks may be equipped with grates, holes for controlled air entrance or exit. In order to mechanically lock the blocks to the insulation the parts are manufactured with suitable locking devices like trapeze teeth.

In a light weight embodiment of the invention, a building component or set of building components could be provided without a thermal mass. A liquid conducting channel is in direct thermal contact with a gas conducting channel. In one embodiment, the liquid conducting channel is arranged inside the gas conducting channel and is optionally provided with baffles to increase the surface area between the gas and the liquid conducting channel. In this embodiment, energy is transferred directly between the gas and the liquid. This type of embodiment could be manufactured in large area, but low thickness panels which could be mounted in existing structures. Suitable liquid fittings could be provided on a rear surface which can be connected before mounting. Grates or holes in the panels can be provided to provide fluid communication between the gas conducting channel and the compartment. As with the embodiment having a thermal inertia, this embodiment is also integrated into the wall or ceiling and again forms a very visually attractive thermally active building component having a high thermal exchange potential.

Brief description of the drawings

In the following, the invention will be described in greater detail with reference to embodiments shown by the enclosed figures. It should be emphasized that the embodiments shown are used for example purposes only and should not be used to limit the scope of the invention. Fig. 1 illustrate a first embodiment of a vertically arranged energy transmitting building part with an integrated horizontally oriented flexible fluid carrying tube circuit and multiple individual vertically and in parallel oriented gas carrying channels integrated in the wall. Fig. 2 shows a cross section of the embodiment of figure 1 having stone panels on one side and a plastered wall on the other side. The fluid tubing is spaced about 250 mm apart and the air ducts are about 100x100 mm in cross section.

Fig. 3 illustrates one embodiment of how the gas carrying channels may be at the top of the building part connected to slots or ducting channels in either one side or both sides of the building part and at the bottom also connected to slots or ducting channels in either one side or both sides of the building part.

Fig. 4 illustrates an embodiment of a combined vessel including PCM vessels in direct contact with the liquid energy carrier.

Fig. 5 illustrates an embodiment comprising a set of hollow section building blocks cast into a conventional wall. Fig. 6 illustrates an embodiment of an non-traditional ventilation system based on horizontally mounted blocks.

Fig. 7 illustrates an embodiment of small low weight and within human capability weight building block system for the JouleCeiling. One core is via holes open for air transport with the compartment.

Fig. 8 illustrates an embodiment of the JouleCeiling and JouleWall as a semi pre-cast deck plate for final in situ casting including the principles of the present invention. Fig. 9 illustrates an embodiment of the optimum in comfort and complexity with a JouleCeiling supplied from factory as semi pre-cast deck plate for final in situ casting.

Fig. 10 illustrates an embodiment of a horizontal JouleCeiling as a pre-cast hollow core deck plate including the principles of the present invention. A vertical JouleWall arrangement is also part of this invention.

Fig. 11 illustrates a detailed potential design of two different building blocks together becoming support for both fluid conducting tubes and gas conveying ducts. Fig. 12 illustrates an embodiment of a hollow, multi channel brick wall including a channel for a tube.

Fig. 13 illustrate the air flow principles of an Adobe type of building with hollow walls, floor and ceiling which by forced air ensure relatively high temperature floor and low temperature ceiling for improved comfort. And furthermore an insulated dual purpose building block is also illustrated. Fig. 14 illustrates one embodiment of a fluid diagram layout with a tubing circuit for conveying the fluids forced by pumps and flow sensors and temperature sensors. Individual similar sized air ducts in parallel connected to conical manifolds designed for equal mass flow in each ducts are arranged to pass a single air pump

Fig. 15 illustrates one embodiment of an advanced energy management system for cooling purposes only based on very low energy consumption. Fig. 16 illustrates one embodiment of an advanced energy management system for combined heating and cooling purposes for residential homes based on very low energy consumption.

Fig. 17 illustrates one embodiment of an advanced energy management system for combined heating and cooling purposes in office or hotel buildings having several floors or levels based on very low energy consumption.

Detailed description of the drawings

Fig. 1 illustrates in perspective a first embodiment illustrating the basics and principles of the energy transmitting building part according to the current invention. The building part is a wall component integrating a horizontally oriented liquid carrying serpentine like tube circuit 11 integrated into the wall centre cavity 15 between two walls 16 and a number of (only 3 shown) individual, in parallel and vertically oriented air carrying, ducts or channels 12 integrated in the wall. Each air channel is connected in each end with air slots or grates 13 which provide fluid communication between the air channel and the air in the compartment. The thermally integrated tube circuit 11 is shown as one continuous hose with horizontal layout and 180 degree bends 11a at both wall ends and dual external connection 14 to a technical installation. The air ducts 12 are thermally integrated into the wall and correspond with the compartment air via 90° bends 17 to the grates 13 at each end. The JouleWall is constructed like a cavity wall

15 though with larger than typical distance between the two individual brick wall parts

16 for more space to the ducts 12, tubing 11 and for allowing a larger thermal mass to be placed in between the two walls. For example, the cavity can be filled with concrete having a large thermal mass. Fig. 2 shows a JouleWall vertical building part cross section with visible bricks or stones 22b glued with mortar or cement 22c on the right side, and visible brick 22a based and plastered 24 wall on the opposite, left side. Coating or layer 24 could also be porous insulation for noise reduction purposes, specifically if it's a JouleCeiling setup. The individual horizontally mounted fluid conveying tubing of the circuit tubing 25 are spaced 50 to 500 mm apart, preferably 250 mm and the individual vertical air ducts 26a being 0100 mm in cross section and spaced apart 500 mm in the current embodiment. At the bottom of the wall an axial fan 27 in each vertical suction duct 26a ensures air room re-circulation in series with the compartment from suction grate 26c to grate 26b close to the ceiling 28. The energy transmitting building part is mounted directly on the concrete support 29a as to a calculated weight/thermal mass. For further comfort the floor is designed as a floating slab 29d covered on 5 sides by insulation 29b and encapsulating a fluid carrying tubing circuit 29c. The ceiling 28 is supported on the strong JouleWall. The cavity 29e between the brick wall 22a and 22b is filled with concrete or mortar in order to assure high thermal mass.

Fig. 3 illustrates how the air conveying vertically oriented ducts or channels 31 at the top of the building part or wall are connected to a horizontally arranged manifold 37b with air slots or duct openings 32 in (one or) both sides of the building part. The multiple, individual, in parallel, vertically oriented ducts 31 integrated in the building part are at the bottom connected to a manifold 33. Said horizontal manifold 33 is ducted further to the duct tubing collection area below the floor (or alternatively above the ceiling). At the wall bottom, close to the floor 35, further one set of wall air slots 36 are connected to yet another horizontally oriented manifold 37a or ducting channel placed also centrally in the building part and connected directly to collection duct 38 under the floor 35. The circulation of air is driven by a fan device (not shown) located outside the wall through ducts 34 and 38 to the building compartment and re-circulated for even and constant temperature for high comfort. The fluid conveying tubes 39 are integrated and cast into the cavity materials and further connected externally to a technical device such as a pump.

Fig. 4 shows two cross sectional views of another embodiment of a JouleWall 44 with a number of (3 and a half shown) and vertically oriented (mounted in series and/or in parallel) sealed flat containers 40 filled with a PCM including a set of through going parallel tubes 41 connected externally to an inlet 42. A set of air conveying tubes 43 are also vertically and in parallel oriented in the wall 44 with room vent connection shown only on one side 45. The air conveying tubes are assembled from straight tubes 43a pieces and one 90° bend piece 43b at each end. The almost non existing cavity 46 in the wall 44 is filled with thermally conductive materials like concrete and by excluding an air gap ensuring good thermal contact to the air ducts 43, the PCM containers 40 and external surfaces of wall 44. The illustrated JouleWall may be very compact and thin when including PCM due to the significantly higher thermal capacity of the PCM when compared to concrete.

Fig. 5 illustrates a vertical JouleWall design assembled from a large number of pre- fabricated hollow brick or block sections 54 mounted on top of each other and individually glued together and in both top and bottom connected to 90° bends 53 with outlet grates 56 corresponding with the room air volume to be temperature conditioned. A fluid passing tube circuit conveying a temperature controlled fluid with an inlet 51 and an outlet 52 is cast in and primarily vertically oriented and closely integrated with each set of vertical arranged hollow sections 54 acting as gas conveying ducts. The JouleWall arrangement is plastered 55, covered on each side with suitable materials in order to appear building integrated and not visible. The illustration is a one way version corresponding with one room only. It could also be dual duct wall setup with correspondence to each side of the wall with individual duct systems. The volume 58 is intended to be filled with concrete for thermal purposes.

Fig. 6 illustrates an untraditional ventilation system and with components based on different hollow blocks in a horizontal configuration with channels or ducts for air transport within (the upper sketch illustrates a corner in perspective) a part of a wall and a part of a ceiling. The air is forced by a pump (not shown) into the lower ducts 61a within the wall blocks 61b from a supply centre. Hole(s) 61c in the lower side of the wall air transport block 61b corresponds with the end faces of ceiling block 61 d for access to the inlet grate 61 e in the compartment space ceiling (one ceiling row shown). The first single grate ceiling and distribution block 61 d, with only one grate hole 61 e in the bottom wall, receives the air to enter the lower duct 61f, but cannot pass the blockage 61 g block hereby being forced through to exit the ceiling grate 61 e. At the opposite side of the ceiling a dual grate block 61 h allows the used space air to be vented out though the first and visible ceiling grate 61 i, but not to pass the blockage 61j block hereby being forced through the second invisible grate 61k to the upper duct 61 L for return puφoses and pumped back to the wall block upper duct 61m and returned to the central supply. Specially manufactured flow distribution blocks act as X-junctions, T-junctions or various elbows, blocks with holes, blocks with valves, blocks with blocked channels, etc. secure the function of the ducting system (not shown). The lower sketch illustrates a wall connected to a ceiling section from the top and has the air duct entrance 62a at the end of the wall blocks 62b combined with 3 ceiling rows with blocks 62d all with a series of inlet holes 62e and outlet holes 62i. The fresh air enters the lower duct 62a and moves to the first row of ceiling blocks with the outlet holes 62e to the room compartment. Used air from the compartment returns into the ceiling block 62d through grates 62i to the upper return duct 62L and moves back to the wall block 62b where it enters the upper ducts and passes further on the exit 62m. The ceiling blocks are supported by beams 62n to form both ceiling and floor.

Fig. 7 illustrates a partial cut in a JouleCeiling and floor structure in a horizontal arrangement. The horizontally arranged brick building blocks 70 extruded from clay and fired or cast from cement as blocks supported by semi cast load bearing pre-cast and steel bar 71 reinforced beams 72 into a deck 74 with space above and under. Tubing 73 is arranged into a circuit in grooves passing along the side of the beams or through the legs of the beams. The arrangement of load-bearing beams 72 and inlay-blocks 70 further glued together when concrete 74a is pored over the complete setup hereby creates a strong deck 74 in the building. The hollow section inlay-blocks 70 are arranged in series between two load-bearing beams 72 and in each end of channel 77b connected via drilled holes or grates 77 to the compartment or office area through which a pumping device 77a for conditioning of relevant compartment air volumes. The horizontal JouleCeiling may further be used as deck support for insulation layer 76 further on the upper surface and yet further supplied with a floating slab plate 74b cast from cement 77a integrating fluid passing tubing 78 and steel rebar net 79 as in the traditional radiant floor heating setup. Hereby the specific building part integrates fluid conveying and gas conveying channel(s) within the same arrangements. This floating deck 74b is preferably kept at a different and potentially slightly higher temperature as the supporting deck 74 which is preferably kept at lower temperature for cooling comfort and elimination of the conventional heat pump based air conditioning systems.

Special grate blocks (for air inlet or air exit purposes) which simplify the interface to the internal ducts in multi cell blocks may be designed for extrusion or casting combined with machining. Fig. 8 illustrates an end face view of a open type of pre-cast concrete deck plate 81 a (known as filigree) with a steel bar re-enforcement 82 assembly of several bars into ladder arrangements ready for the later and final concrete casting 83 which encapsulates all the individual components. The lower sketch (shown before concrete casting) also includes ventilation ducts 84a with ceiling passing or grate connections 85 (for example one in each end of the duct and one central in the ceiling not shown) through a hole 86 and fluid conveying tube circuit 87a ready for final casting into the complete deck. The tubes 87a could also be located inside the exposed steel structure. Horizontal deck plate 81a and vertical deck plate 81b internal part and 81c external part are assembled in corners connecting the ducts 84a with 90° bends 84b which are later all cast into one structure. Fluid conveying tubes 87a are connected to tube manifolds 87b or a pipe thread connection point also integrated into the overall completely enclosed concrete structure.

Fig. 9 illustrate a more complex pre-cast filigree deck plate with three integrated (one air and two liquid) heat exchangers and two external surface heat exchangers for the purpose of high level of comfort. The upper sketch shows a cross section view into the pre-cast deck plate consisting of the basic deck plate 91a facing down, the in parallel arranged exposed steel bar re- enforcements systems 92 cast into the plate 91a and facing upwards. The steel bars are furthermore partly covered with a high compression strength porous (low thermal conductivity) concrete 98 intended to be in close mechanical contact with the upper concrete slab 91b completely encapsulating the complex structure. For air volume conditioning ventilation ducts 94a passing the ceiling plate 91a via grate connections 95 (only one shown) and through a hole 96 in plate 91a are provided and fluid conveying tube circuit 97a are arranged close to the deck 91a ready for the first casting of the lower part 93. First casting in situ 93, covers the cooling tube 97a and the ducts 94a and adds thermal mass and heat capacity to the structure. High density mineral fibre or similar specification insulation 99a separates the obtainable two different temperatures and thermal capacity bodies the lower being 91a and 93 added together and above the insulation 99a the last cast concrete slab 91b containing the floor heating tubes 97b. Noise reduction insulation 99b is added to the underside of the filigree deck 91a which is possible as the ducts 94a are the thermal correspondence between the thermal mass in 93 and the compartment via several grates 95. The lower sketch illustrates the from the factory pre-cast deck plate 91a facing up and the in parallel arranged exposed steel bar re-enforcements systems 92 (one shown) cast into the plate 91a also facing upwards. One end of the air duct 94a is yet to be cast into the structure with a 90° bend passing through the deck hole 96. The cooling tube 97a with a 180° bend visible on the deck 91a is not yet covered with concrete to be pored on top of the slab in situ. The relatively high insulation value elongated strip of porous concrete 98 covering the steel bar re-enforcements 92 is visible for the upper 20%. The duct 94a may be fabricated from high thermal conductivity materials like metals or be cements based. The high compression strength porous (low thermal conductivity) concrete 98 ensures full coverage of steel bars 92 and bond, laminate the upper and lower deck mechanically together.

Fig. 10 illustrates several pre-cast concrete hollow channel core deck plates or slabs in different configurations and with different details.

Figure 10.1 is a roof deck system for building cooling based on the fluid in tubes 101a conveying energy in either direction depending on the need. The roofing material being a membrane 101b of suitable material and colour glued onto a series of in roof integrated solar panels 101c with integrated tubes 101d and connected with other panels 101c into a larger surface area. Both the roofing material 101b and the panels 101c attached or glued to the high density insulation 101e of suitable thickness again being glued onto the deck plate 101f. The deck plate being fabricated from steel bar re- enforced concrete has at least one integrated duct 101g and at least one fluid carrying tube 101a. The ducts are not closed but opened 101h at suitable places with at least one hole for a fan connection. Attachment of a ventilator in housing 101n is via the underside of the floor deck plate 101f. The wire for the ventilator may be located invisible and for simplicity in the hollow core 101g or duct. Figure 10.2 illustrates cast into the floor deck plate 102f, a tube 102a and the associated angled pipe thread bend 102m for external fluid connection to the tube 102a cast into the slab. This connection 102m or joint makes the manufacturing, transport and on site mounting much easier and is recognised at a critical point for practical manufacturing. Opposite of the angled pipe thread connection 102m the room air interface hole 102h allow access for the circulating air to the internal core 102g. Figure 10.3 illustrates the same floor deck plate 103f in a different view angle to figure 10.2 with the inclusion of the angled pipe thread connection 103m being cast into the slab 103f with its height being as to the slab top face. This principle reduces the overall thickness and weight of the deck plate. Useful for both horizontal and vertical use with interface holes 103h for the core 103g to air volume to be ventilated by 103n via interface hole 103h. The core 103g is in each end covered with plug 103p in order to keep dust out during transportation and installation.

Figure 10.4 illustrates a floor deck plate 104f with pre-cast grooves 104s for later mounting of the tubes or piping circuit as one endless tube. The groves are of a size which allows the use of fasteners and concrete to securely fasten the tube in the groove. The grooves may be all in parallel or designed as a circuit on the top side or at the under side. The principle to reduce the overall weight of the deck plate and move the final assembly from the deck plate manufacturer to the building site is considered important. Also after mounting of all the deck plates and finally cast together, the tube installation will allow for fewer tube connections and faster assembly. Simple metal clips with spring effect will ensure that the in the groove forced hose stays in place before casting. Figure 11 illustrates a brick concept design (male brick 11a and female bricks 11b) for vertical arrangement on-site hereby creating a hollow wall design with larger square designed openings 11c being the gas conveying ducts or conveying channels integrated inside the two individual building blocks 11a and 11b. The smaller round openings 11d are intended for drying purposes during manufacturing such that equal wall structure thickness is ensured. On the outside of the male block 11a in each end walls two grooves 11e, 11f are arranged as support and guides for integrating during construction the fluid conveying tubes in larger groove 11e and possible steel bars in smaller groove 11 f for armament. On the inside of the female block 11b on each long wall one groove 11g is arranged to cover either the fluid conveying tube or the steel bar depending on which side of the wall the female block 11b is located. The gas conveying channel openings 11c correspond so when the male 11a and female 11b blocks are erected, assembled into a wall and glued together around the fluid tubes and the steel bars, the gas conveying channels 11c are all lined up and fully open from top to bottom of the wall outlet and inlet entrances. At both the top and the bottom, the stacked blocks are connected to 90° bend blocks or 180° T-blocks with openings to the compartment(s) or room(s) for air circulation (principle shown in fig 5). A variation of the JouleWall principle is to be prefabricated and supplied to the construction in complete wall sections including fluid tubing and possibly the natural, in the bricks occurring, ducts coupled with the angled ventilation grate bricks or holes cut S as needed.

Figure 12 illustrates multi channel bricks 121 manufactured by extrusion or casting with two integrated and in parallel arranged trenches or grooves 122 for housing a fluid conveying hose. Furthermore the re-routing brick 123 including a 180° bend 124 to fit0 the hose, which fits centred on two individual bricks with straight grooves for re-routing the hose.

The wall to be fully erected and the mortar or glue hardened for full strength. Preferably the grooves 122, 124 are filled with fine grained mortar or glue and hereafter the hose5 (not shown) is clamped into the groove with slightly angled walls 126 in order to secure the hose physically in the trench. The hoses forced into the groove squeeze some glue out but do fill up and cover the cross section of the grooves fully and is further covered with plaster for full coverage, invisibility and strength. The plaster 127 layer thickness is added to the building structure according to the needed thermal mass of the wall. The0 two ducts 128 are shown for simplicity.

The trenches could alternatively be milled into the bricks after the erection of the wall with a tungsten/carbide cutting head mounted on a router device. 5 Figure 13 illustrates an improved Adobe type of building where the building's outer walls participate in obtaining good comfort by allowing forced air circulation inside the buildings inner hollow building parts.

The building blocks are partly hollow and allow air circulation via a pump 131b and0 hereby energy transport during the day time from its outer surface 131a passing the blocks outer wall to the blocks internal channels 131c, duct by thermal transport further exchanged to the air flow inside the block by heating the air mass passed on to the inlay-blocks in the floor 131d where the air looses its energy to the inlay-blocks for heating purposes of the floor. During the night time the air flow is reversed by the pump5 131b and the now colder outer wall 131a exchanges cold energy to the inlay-blocks in the space ceiling 131e all directed by a valve 131f and exhausted via 131g. The lower sketch illustrates a building wall block 132 combined by two individual hollow section blocks to create a version of the JouleWall. One set of hollow bricks 132a are facing the external environment being the sun for heating purposes or opposite for cooling purposes. One other set of hollow bricks 132b facing the internal compartment. The dual duct block setup is based on a connecting by the two individual blocks into a mono block 132 with suitable insulation 132c connecting the blocks for even further and improved insulation value for acceptance of large temperature gradients. A block may be equipped with grates, holes 132d for air entrance or exit. In order to mechanically lock the blocks to the insulation the parts are manufactured with suitable locking devices 132e.

Figure 14 illustrates the principal fluid diagram layout with the tubing circuit 141 for conveying the liquids forced by the pump 142, the liquid flow sensor 143, the in JouleWall 144 integrated temperature sensors 145c for measuring the different liquid inlet 145b and liquid outlet 145a temperature as a function of energy removed or accumulated. Several individual similarly sized air ducts 146 in parallel connected to manifolds or grates designed for equal mass flow in each duct 146 forced by air pump 147. The re-circulated air 149 is forced by the pump 147 passing the air flow sensor 148 which measures the mass or air speed passing also the temperature sensors 145d and 145e. The air pump is preferably connected via mufflers or is of a low speed type for lowest possible noise level. The cast into the wall temperature sensor 145c and the in room mounted temperature sensor 145f give information to the computer, or PLC, for control purposes of the pump as shown and for pumps not shown. The wall 144 will further exchange energy in the direction determined by respectively the air temperature and body temperatures around or close to the wall and relative to the wall temperature.

Figure 15 illustrates an embodiment of the invented devices and method around a compartment only for cooling purposes as the in the roof 151a and/or wall 151b integrated heat exchange panels are only in use during the night time and are connected to the JouleWall and JouleCeiling concept with integrated ducts 153 and air circulation ventilators 154. The angled roof integrated heat exchanger 152 illustrates energy losses during night time. The liquid conveying pumps 156 and flow sensors 157 are, in combination with the not shown thermo sensors, the input to the intelligent controlling unit integrating algorithms for ensuring best possible use of cooling capacity available. The JouleCeiling 151 shows how the ceiling is further improved with room air access by a central hole 158 for air intake and at least one exhaust 158a in each side of the deck plate via a hole for air outlet. One ventilation 154 unit may be connected to more than one core or in deck integrated duct channel. The floor plate 159 in said compartment is fully passive.

Fig. 16 illustrates another embodiment showing the invented devices and methods for sequentially combined heating and cooling purposes in a compartment surrounded by a ceiling 161a, a wall 161b and a floor 161c in a building. The energy losses for compartment cooling and energy harvesting for floor 161c heating are both based on the same heat exchanger 162 integrated in the climate shield illustrated at a 45 degree angle.

During night time the pump 166a conveys liquid through and from the wall integrated heat exchanger 167 with the purpose to loose energy via the climate shield integrated heat exchanger 162 to the atmosphere. During the day time the wall temperature is sufficiently low and combined with the thermal capacity of the wall able to hold the compartment temperature relatively constant. The wall mounted air circulation ventilator 164 re-circulates the compartment air volume. The mass of the wall is calculated to be able to hold the required kilo Joules of energy to hold the compartment at a comfortable temperature, such as 20 degree C temperature with slight variation over the day time.

During day time the climate shield integrated heat exchanger 162 shifts function to a harvest situation and the high temperature energy is via liquid pump 166b conveyed to the floor 161c integrated heat exchanger 168 in order to keep a comfortable temperature such as 25 degree C.

For simplicity no regulating valves, sensors or other necessary liquid controlling devices in the liquid circuit 169 is shown.

In another embodiment (not shown), a system for combined heating and cooling purposes in a residential home comprises a JouleWall for cooling purposes and floor heating. Both systems are based on an in roof integrated heat exchanger. Whenever the temperature obtained on the solar panel is higher than measured in the bottom of a hot water storage, a pump starts and/or a valve opens and transfer warm fluid from the solar panel to the storage. During the night time the pump moves liquid through and from the JouleWall to the in roof integrated heat exchanger which functions as an energy looser. The heat exchanger could also be integrated in an exterior portion of a wall. During the day time the wall temperature is sufficiently low and with its thermal mass, it is able to hold the room temperature relatively constant. The wall mounted air circulation ventilator re-circulates the room air volume approximately 1-5 timer per hour and ensures a constant temperature in the room. The thermal mass of the wall is calculated to be able to hold the kilo Joules of energy needed to hold the room at temperature variation accepted for example 2-4 degree over the 24 hour day. The hot water storage vessel for tap water is further equipped with a heating element in order to ensure above 60⁰C at the top of the stratified vessel for a high hygiene level.

Fig. 17 illustrates another embodiment of the invented devices and methods in an advanced energy management system for a hotel, a residential building or an office with very high comfort and minimum use of external power for operation. Only one compartment is shown for simplicity. Two or more compartments may be arranged next to each other and on top of each other in any order. The central energy management device 170 contains a heat pump and a full control valve arrangement for energy distribution according to the needs in the compartments and possibly the entire building. The outer surfaces of the building, such as the climate shield, integrate a heat exchanger for sequential harvest or loss of energy from/to the exterior environment depending on the time of the 24 hours day. Ground storage under the building is used either for cooling or heating the appropriate building part or storage of high or low temperature energy. Temperature and flow sensors are the primary input to the PLC in full control of the energy management though not shown for simplicity. If the illustrated building is further equipped with PV panels the present invention allows the highest comfort / luxury with limited or no external power connection.

The compartment is surrounded by ceiling 173, wall 174, floor 175 and furthermore a ground storage 176 in a building all integrate each at least one liquid borne heat exchanger. The energy losses for compartment cooling and energy harvesting for floor 175 heating are all based on the same exterior heat exchanger 172 integrated in the climate shield illustrated at a 45 degree angle. During night time the pump 177a conveys liquid through and from the ceiling and wall integrated heat exchanger 173a, 174a with the purpose to loose energy via the climate shield integrated heat exchanger 172 to the atmosphere. During the day time the ceiling 173 and wall 174 temperatures are sufficiently low based on the thermal capacity of the ceiling 173c and the wall 174c. The ceiling 173 and the wall 174 mounted air circulation ventilators 173b, 174b re- circulate the compartment air volume. The mass of the ceiling 173c and wall 174c is calculated with regards to the required kilo Joules of energy required to hold the compartment at a comfortable temperature, such as 20 degrees C temperature with slight variation over the day time.

During day time the climate shield integrated heat exchanger 172 shifts function to a harvesting situation and the relatively high temperature energy is via liquid pump 177b conveyed to the floor 175 integrated heat exchanger 175a in order to keep a comfortable temperature such as 25 degrees C. Excess energy is delivered to one or more ground storages 171d and the connection is via pump 177c.

The JouleWall or JouleCeiling is suitable for use in more than one section of a building, such as two fully independent JouleWalls potentially controlled individually. Furthermore one may be facing the outside environment and one the inside of a building so that the outside mounted JouleWall respectively cools or heats an internal JouleWall or floor or the like in the internal compartment. The JouleWall may also be the JouleCeiling floor in horizontal arrangement in combination with a JouleWall being used as a vertical wall or any angles in between.

The JouleWall may be combined with, based on other brick or wall system in order to create a traditional cavity wall for further improved insulation purposes.

It will be evident for the person skilled in the art to combine the particular details of the embodiments of the invention described above in other manners. Furthermore the selection of a gas or a liquid as the energy conveying fluid will depend on the particular circumstances in which they are to used, but such selection will be within the scope of the present invention as disclosed herein and defined in the following claims.

Claims

Claims:

1. A thermally active building component or set of building components suitable for being integrated into a wall or ceiling of a compartment of a building, said building component or set of building components comprising:

- a first surface which is arranged to be essentially parallel to the main visible surface of the wall or ceiling when the building component or set of building components is/are integrated into a wall or ceiling of a compartment of a building,

- a first fluid conducting channel,

- a second fluid conducting channel,

and where, when the building component or set of building components is/are integrated into a wall or ceiling of a compartment of a building,

- the first fluid conducting channel and the second fluid conducting channel are arranged such that they will be further from the inside of the compartment than said first surface,

- the building component or set of building components is/are arranged such that thermal energy is transferable between fluid flowing through the first fluid conducting channel and fluid flowing through the second fluid conducting channel, and where

- the first fluid conducting channel is arranged to be in fluid communication with the air in the compartment and the second fluid conducting channel is arranged to be in fluid communication with a fluid source external to the compartment.

2. A thermally active building component or set of building components according to claim 1 , characterized in that said building component or set of building components further comprises a first volume having a thermal capacity such that it is suitable for storing thermal energy and in that said first volume is in thermal contact with the first fluid conducting channel and said second fluid conducting channel such that thermal energy is transferable between said first fluid conducting channel and said first thermal volume and between said second fluid conducting channel and said first thermal volume.

3. A thermally active building component or set of building components according to claim 2, characterized in that the first volume is composed at least partly of primarily in-organic materials such as cement, concrete, stone, natural stone, sand, ceramics, clay, fired clay, mortar, calcium carbonate based products, metals, aggregates or any combinations hereof.

4. A thermally active building component or set of building components according to any one of claims 1-3, characterized in that said building component or set of building components is/are in the form of a structural building component or set of structural building components comprised of a first material which gives the building component or set of building components its supportive strength and in that the building component or set of building components further comprises embedded cavities or pores filled with materials, fluids, gases, solids of different thermal conductivity and/or different mean specific heat capacity and/or different melting enthalpy compared to the first material.

5. A thermally active building component or set of building components according to any one of claims 1-4, characterized in that said building component or set of building components is fabricated by extrusion or casting.

6. A thermally active building component according to any one of claims 1-5,

characterized in that the building component is formed as a deck plate or a wall plate.

7. A thermally active building component or set of building components according to any one of claims 2-6 characterized in that the first volume of said building component or set of building components has a thermal conductivity greater than 0.2 W/(m²K) and a mean specific heat capacity greater than 0.2 kJ/(kgK).

8. A thermally active building component or set of building components according to any one of claims 1-7, characterized in that said first fluid conducting channel and/or said second fluid conducting channel are provided by tubing, piping, tunnels, ducts, channels based on in-organic and/or organic materials embedded and/or integrated within said building component or set of building components.

9. A building compartment, said building compartment comprising a wall, a floor and a ceiling, said wall, floor and ceiling each having a main visible surface,

characterized in that said wall comprises a first fluid conducting channel and a second fluid conducting channel arranged behind said main visible surface of said wall, said first fluid conducting channel being arranged to be in fluid communication with the air inside the compartment and said second fluid conducting channel being arranged to be in fluid communication with a fluid source arranged exterior to the building compartment and/or in that said ceiling comprises a first fluid conducting channel and a second fluid conducting channel arranged above said main visible surface of said ceiling, said first fluid conducting channel being arranged to be in fluid communication with the air inside the compartment and said second fluid conducting channel being arranged to be in fluid communication with a fluid source arranged exterior to the building compartment.

10. A building compartment according to claim 9, characterized in that said floor of said compartment further comprises a liquid conducting channel arranged below the main visible surface of the floor and arranged to be in fluid communication with a liquid source arranged exterior to the building compartment.

11. A building comprising a building compartment according to claim 9 or 10, said building further comprising a liquid source arranged external to the building compartment, said liquid source being for example a heat exchanger integrated into the climate shield of the building, a ground energy storage, a solar panel, a pool, a lake or sea water.

12. A building according to claim 11 , characterized in that said building comprises at least two external liquid sources, for example heat exchangers integrated into the climate shield of the building, a ground energy storage, a solar panel, a pool, a lake or sea water, wherein one of said at least two external liquid sources is a source of heating liquid and wherein one of said at least two external liquid sources is a source of cooling liquid.

13. A control system which is programmed to control the interior temperature in a building compartment of a building according to any one of claims 11 to 12, said control system being arranged to control the fluid flow in the first fluid conducting channel of the wall and/or ceiling, said fluid conveying energy between the first fluid conducting channels arranged in the ceiling, wall and/or floor and the fluid source arranged externally to the building compartment.

14. A control system according to claim 13, characterized in that said control system further comprises a temperature sensor in the wall and/or ceiling of the building compartment and a temperature sensor in the external liquid source whereby the control system controls the flow of fluid to the wall and/or ceiling depending on the measured value of the temperature sensor in the wall and/or ceiling and the measured value of the temperature sensor in the external fluid source.

15. A control system according to claim 13 or 14 for a building according to claim 12, characterized in that said control system is arranged to supply liquid to the first liquid conducting channel in the wall or ceiling from the external liquid source of cooling liquid if the temperature of the wall or ceiling is greater than a preset temperature or from the external liquid source of heating liquid if the temperature of the wall or ceiling is lower than the preset temperature.