Heating Control Station for Cross-Room Heat Recirculation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional heating systems struggle to efficiently and economically manage temperature deviations across different rooms or parts of a building, leading to suboptimal energy usage, as they rely on throttling or ventilation to adjust room temperatures, which limits energy savings.
Innovation Solution
A control device that utilizes a closed circuit of a fluid medium between heat exchangers in different parts of a building to compensate for temperature deviations by recirculating the medium, allowing overheated rooms to cool and subcooled rooms to heat without additional energy input from a furnace, using temperature sensors to initiate and maintain this recirculation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Temperature
If the infeed of the fluid medium or its flow rate is throttled or interrupted to reduce room temperature, then the room temperature can be decreased, but energy savings are limited and the optimal flow rate cannot be maintained
Solution Approach 1:
The heating system uses its own fluid medium to perform temperature compensation between rooms. The excess heat from overheated rooms is automatically transferred to subcooled rooms through the existing fluid circulation, making the system self-regulating without external energy input or active control intervention.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent combines heating and cooling functions into a single fluid circulation system. By connecting heat exchangers from different rooms in parallel circuits, the system allows thermal energy to be shared between rooms, merging the previously separate heating and cooling operations into one integrated process.
2Temperature
If automatic ventilation is used to decrease room temperature, then the room temperature can be reduced, but energy savings are limited even with heat recovery
Solution Approach 1:
The system converts the harmful effect of overheating in certain rooms into a beneficial resource by using the excess thermal energy to heat other subcooled rooms. What was previously waste heat becoming a useful heating source for other parts of the building.
3Temperature
If the flow rate of the fluid medium is optimized for each room, then temperature control is improved, but the system complexity increases due to different optimal flow rates in various rooms
Solution Approach 1:
The heating system is segmented into multiple independent parallel circuits, each serving specific rooms or groups of rooms. This segmentation allows different flow rates to be optimized for different circuits while maintaining overall system simplicity, as each circuit can be independently controlled without affecting others.
Solution Approach 2:
The system dynamically adjusts the circulation pattern of the fluid medium based on real-time temperature conditions in different rooms. The control station can switch between different circulation patterns (individual room heating, group heating, or cross-room heat transfer) to optimize temperature control while maintaining manageable system complexity.
4Temperature
If heating is performed in all rooms to ensure adequate temperature, then temperature adequacy is maintained, but energy consumption increases when some rooms already exceed target temperature
Solution Approach 1:
The control station continuously monitors the temperature in each room and uses this feedback information to dynamically adjust the circulation patterns of the fluid medium. When temperature deviations are detected, the system automatically initiates appropriate heating or heat transfer operations, and stops them when target temperatures are reached, ensuring energy-efficient operation.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This approach allows for quicker and more efficient temperature adjustments across the building, reducing energy consumption by leveraging the existing fluid medium to balance temperatures between rooms, thereby enhancing energy savings without active heating or cooling.
Implementation Method 1
at least one first temperature sensor associated with the first heat exchanger and measuring a temperature in the first part of the building, at least one second temperature sensor associated with the second heat exchanger and measuring a temperature in the second part of the building
Implementation Method 2
an at least partial exchange of the fluid medium takes place between the first heat exchanger and the second heat exchanger
Implementation Method 3
the flow streams of the fluid medium are diverted, that is re-routed, in a way that differs from the flow scheme in conventional operation
Data Source
AI summary
A control device for controlling a heating system having a first heat exchanger disposed in a first part of a building, and second heat exchanger disposed in a second part of a building, the control device comprising: a first temperature sensor associated with the first heat exchanger and measuring a temperature in the first part of the building, a second temperature sensor associated with the second heat exchanger and measuring a temperature in the second part of the building. The control device includes a control station by which a temperature compensation can be initiated by recirculating a fluid medium to be used for heat exchange as a function of the temperatures (T1, T2) measured by the first and the second temperature sensor and at least partial exchange of the fluid medium takes place between the first heat exchanger and the second heat exchanger.