Storage source and cascade heat pump systems
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Solution Overview
Problem
Large buildings face challenges in efficiently managing heating and cooling demands, particularly in cold climates, due to varying energy needs across different areas and times, which often rely on fossil fuel-based boilers that are inefficient and environmentally harmful.
Innovation Solution
Implementing a heat pump system integrated with thermal storage, where waste energy from cooling is used for heating, allowing for energy storage and efficient distribution, reducing peak capacity needs and energy consumption, and decoupling energy collection from usage to operate at lower costs and higher efficiencies.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Power
If thermal storage is used to store energy for heating operations, then the system capacity can be reduced and peak energy consumption minimized, but the device complexity increases due to additional thermal storage tanks and heat exchange circuits
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary action by storing thermal energy in advance during periods of low demand or waste heat availability. Thermal storage tanks accumulate heat energy before peak heating demands occur, allowing the system to meet high heating loads without requiring proportionally large heating capacity equipment. This shifts the capacity requirement from the heating generation side to the storage side, enabling smaller peak heating equipment while maintaining system complexity at manageable levels through standardized storage components.
2Object-generated harmful factors
If heat pump systems are used to provide heating, then reliance on fossil fuels is reduced and environmental impact minimized, but the use of energy increases during peak times when energy availability may be limited
Solution Approach 1:
The thermal storage system acts as an intermediary between the heat pump and the heating demand. Instead of directly coupling the heat pump to heating loads (which would require peak-time operation), the storage tank mediates by decoupling energy generation from energy consumption. The heat pump charges the thermal storage during off-peak hours when energy is more readily available and less expensive, then the storage discharges during peak heating demand, eliminating the need for fossil fuel backup while avoiding peak-time energy constraints.
3Quantity of substance
If thermal storage material undergoes phase change to store energy, then large amounts of thermal energy can be stored in compact form, but the temperature control precision becomes more challenging
Solution Approach 1:
The system exploits phase transitions of thermal storage material (such as water freezing/thawing or phase change materials transitioning between solid and liquid states) to store and release large quantities of thermal energy. During phase change, the material absorbs or releases latent heat at nearly constant temperature, providing inherent temperature stability. This natural temperature buffering effect actually simplifies temperature control compared to sensible heat storage, as the phase change process maintains a relatively constant temperature plateau during energy transfer, reducing the need for complex temperature regulation mechanisms.
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 enhances energy efficiency, reduces reliance on fossil fuels, and allows for smaller, lower-cost HVACR systems by utilizing thermal storage to meet building demands while minimizing peak energy consumption and environmental impact.
Implementation Method 1
a source heat exchange circuit including a heat pump configured to absorb energy from a source and provide energy to a source circuit process fluid, the source heat exchange circuit configured such that the heat pump exchanges heat with the one or more thermal storage tanks
Implementation Method 2
For a material such as water, the latent energy required for a phase change can be orders of magnitude greater than the energy required to change temperature within a phase, allowing large amounts of thermal energy to be stored by thawing the material so that it can be frozen as energy is pumped out
Implementation Method 3
a heat exchanger allowing heat exchange between the storage circuit process fluid and the cooling circuit process fluid
Data Source
AI summary
A heating, ventilation, air conditioning, and refrigeration (HVACR) system includes a heating fluid circuit, a cooling fluid circuit, and a storage fluid circuit. A thermal system of the HVACR system absorbs energy from the storage fluid circuit and rejects it to the heating fluid circuit. The storage fluid circuit includes s containing thermal storage material that can provide energy for heating or absorb energy for cooling depending on the state of the thermal storage material. Heating can be provided using the heating fluid circuit and the heat provided by the thermal system. Cooling can be provided using the cooling fluid circuit by absorbing energy from the conditioned space using a cooling fluid and rejecting energy from the cooling fluid to the storage fluid circuit. The thermal storage tanks can have heat added to them using an air source heat pump system to support heating operations.