This application is a continuation-in-part of co-pending U.S. non-provisional patent application Ser. No. 12/212,822, filed Sep. 18, 2008, which is a continuation of U.S. non-provisional patent application Ser. No. 11/818,401, filed Jun. 13, 2007, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,441,558, which is a non-provisional of U.S. provisional patent application Ser. No. 60/852,844, filed Oct. 19, 2006, the entirety of which applications are incorporated herein by reference.
The invention relates to a system for heating and cooling of residential and commercial building spaces and hot water systems, and more particularly to an active heat transfer system used for use in efficiently controlling air and water temperature in commercial buildings and residences.
The electrical energy generation and distribution networks in the United States are currently stressed to the limit by peak demands during daytime hours. Quite expectedly, the demands of the industrial sector, commercial and residential air conditioning and water heating are highest during the daytime hours. During the off peak, late evening and night time hours, the opposite is true, and there normally is excess electrical power available which is not needed in the local power grid.
Using nationwide transmission power lines, the power generation and distribution grid is used to transfer excess power to other grids that require it. This is a form of load leveling that is aimed at maintaining the coal, oil or nuclear power generation plants at a level, constant, load. The problem with such a load leveling scheme is that costs are high, due to the costs of transmission and line losses inherent in cross-country transmission to other power grids.
Further, large coal, oil and nuclear power generation plants operate most efficiently when running at full capacity. Due to the short time of peak demand large generation facilities are not scaled to peak demand. Smaller generation units are started up to meet the extra needs of peak demand. This allows the large generation units to run at full capacity for most of the day. These smaller generation units are significantly more costly and polluting than their larger counterparts.
It would be advantageous to provide a system that enables local off-peak utilization of the excess power from the local grid, thus reducing costs associated with peak production, pollution associated with that peak production, and also reducing costs associated with transmission of excess power over long distances.
A system is disclosed for storing excess local grid power produced during off peak hours (e.g., night, holidays, etc.), for use in heating/cooling systems in residential and commercial buildings during peak (e.g., daytime) periods. An active thermal energy storage system (hereinafter referred to as “ATESS”) is disclosed for storing this excess local grid off peak power in a thermal energy storage material, such as that described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,976,584 to Leifer, and for using the stored energy to control air and water temperatures in residential dwelling and/or commercial buildings during peak energy periods. It will be appreciated, however, that the ATESS may be used to provide energy for heating/cooling at any time during a 24 hour day, and not just during the peak energy periods.
