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Hot water and heating system operating on the basis of renewable energy carriers

Hot water and heating system operating on the basis of renewable energy carriers description/claims

The invention relates to a hot water and heating system, which operates on the basis of renewable energy carriers.

For economic and political reasons, the importance of renewable energies is becoming ever greater. Obtaining energy from the sun, air or geothermal heat is known in various embodiments. This also applies to combinations of the systems with one another.

In the field of housing construction, but also in the case of offices or commercial buildings, it is particularly important to produce hot water for heating circuits and/or for heating fresh water.

The continuous provision of energy poses a substantial problem in this context. In summer, solar energy is available virtually limitlessly; but in summer the minimum requirement also exists for hot water for heating purposes and/or for heating fresh water.

In transitional periods such as autumn, and in winter, this requirement increases. When the sky is overcast and outside temperatures are relatively low, scarcely any energy contributions of note can be provided via solar collectors, for example.

It is intended with the invention to provide a hot water and heating system that permits an all-year-round supply to residential, office and commercial buildings independently of the weather as far as possible.

To achieve this object, the invention starts out from the following considerations:

The system can be subdivided into various system circuits. A so-called brine circuit takes care, for example, of the heating of a carrier medium such as glycol by a solar collector. If sufficient primary energy (sun) is available, the brine can be heated to temperatures of 60°, 100° or more degrees Celsius and transferred directly to water via a heat exchanger.

Alternatively, the brine circuit can be routed via the evaporator part of a heat pump, where the brine can be cooled down for example by 5°-10° C. A refrigerant, which circulates in the heat pump, is used furthermore to heat water, which can be stored in an insulated vessel.

The brine circuit, refrigerant circuit and water circuit are thus linked according to the invention.

The system comprises so-called primary energy heat exchangers (PHEs). These include said solar collectors, air heat exchangers or geothermal heat probes in any number and combination. Using these PHEs, primary energy such as solar energy is transferred to a heat carrier medium, termed brine below (for example glycol).

Furthermore, the system comprises a heat pump, which consists at least of an evaporator part, a compressor, a condenser part and an expansion device, wherein the heat pump has a refrigerant, such as CO2 or ammonia, flowing through it.

The evaporator part of the heat pump can be formed by a heat exchanger. This is described as a secondary energy heat exchanger (SHE), because in the SHE the heat is transferred from the brine already heated in the PHE to the refrigerant or vice-versa.

A SHE can also be a heat exchanger that facilitates a heat transfer from the brine to water.

The condenser part of the heat pump forms a tertiary energy heat exchanger (THE) in this terminology, as in a third stage heat is transferred from the refrigerant to water.

The system also includes a so-called buffer tank, which is used for layered storage of water for at least one closed water circuit. Since hot water is lighter than cold water, a temperature gradient from top to bottom results in the buffer tank. Due to intermediate floors, so-called layer or layers plates, different sections (temperature zones) can be delimited from one another, wherein fluidic connections between the sections are permitted.

The system is connectable to at least one high-temperature heating circuit (in particular for radiators). To this end, water with a flow temperature of 50°-90° C., for example, can be taken from the buffer tank. A heating circuit for low temperatures can likewise be connected, for example for floor heating systems, which operate at flow temperatures of 20°-60° C., for example.

The hot water of the buffer tank can likewise be used for heating fresh water, for example via an interconnected heat exchanger. The buffer tank has corresponding supply and removal lines for the circulation water for this purpose.

The water supplied to the buffer tank can be routed into the appropriate temperature zone according to its temperature.

At least one section (one temperature zone) of the buffer tank can have a supplementary heating system, in order if necessary to be able to heat water in the buffer tank independently of the PHEs. The supplementary heating can be realized for example by way of a conventional heating system using fossil fuels. An electric supplementary heating system is likewise possible.

• Provisional Patent
• Utility Patent

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