Heating System Including A Refrigerant Boiler

Abstract

A heating system includes a refrigerant boiler including a heat source for heating a refrigerant from a liquid state to a vapor state, a boiler outlet and a boiler inlet; a heat exchanger in fluid communication with the refrigerant boiler, the heat exchanger including a upper manifold having a heat exchanger inlet coupled to the boiler outlet, a lower manifold having a heat exchanger outlet coupled to the boiler inlet and a plurality of tubes connecting the upper manifold and the lower manifold, wherein refrigerant passes from the upper manifold to the lower manifold via gravity; and a fan moving air over the heat exchanger to define supply air for a space to be heated.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS [0001]This application is a non-provisional patent application which claims the benefit of U.S. provisional patent application 61 / 561,309 filed Nov. 18, 2011, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0002]Embodiments of the invention relate generally to air conditioning systems, and in particular to an air heating system using a refrigerant boiler.[0003]Packaged rooftop air conditioning systems are used in the art for air conditioning (e.g., heating or cooling) of a building. Existing gas heat technology in use for most packaged equipment utilizes tubular gas heat exchangers with an induced draft combustion system. One downside of such designs is that the heat exchangers must be located on the discharge side of the fan, are very sensitive to airflow and system configuration changes and very expensive and time consuming to qualify. The combustion module also requires significant space that r...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

The present invention is a heating system that uses a refrigerant boiler to heat a refrigerant from a liquid state to a vapor state. The system also includes a heat exchanger, which allows the refrigerant to pass through tubes from a higher level to a lower level, using gravity. A fan is used to move air over the heat exchanger to create the heated air for the space to be heated. This system has efficient heating capabilities and can provide consistent results.

Problems solved by technology

One downside of such designs is that the heat exchangers must be located on the discharge side of the fan, are very sensitive to airflow and system configuration changes and very expensive and time consuming to qualify.

The combustion module also requires significant space that results in larger unit sizes than required for the electric heat option.

For outdoor weatherized applications, the technology is currently limited to non-condensing furnaces (<81% efficiency) due to added air side pressure drop, corrosion issues and disposal of the condensate.

The designs are very cost effective, but once again, are very time-consuming to qualify and require extensive testing for each unit size and airflow configuration.

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