2266results about "Heating fuel" patented technology

A heat pump water heater and systems and methods for its control are disclosed. The systems are configured to heat water within a water storage tank of a heat pump water heater wherein a controller within the system is operatively connected to a plurality of heat sources including at least one electric heating element and a heat pump and sensors in order to selectively energize one of the plurality of heat sources. The controller is configure to process data representative of the temperature of water within the tank near the top of the water storage tank, and rate of water flowing out of the water storage tank, in order to automatically selectively energize the heat sources. The selection of heat sources by the controller is determined by a mode of operation selected by the user and the data processed by the controller in view of the selected mode of operation.

The present invention is directed at methods and apparatus for controlling multi-source heating systems. The multi-source heating systems of the present invention may include two or more heat sources such as a heat pump, a furnace, an electric heating strip, or any other suitable heat source. An illustrative system includes a multi-zone, multi-source heating system. The illustrative system may determine which of the multiple sources to use depending on a number of factors. Some illustrative factors include information about zones calling for heat, external environment information, and information about the heat sources. One of the heat sources may be, for example, a heat pump, and a determination of whether to activate the heat pump may include determining the current heating capacity of the heat pump and comparing the heating capacity to the amount of heat needed to satisfy the current heat calls. Methods for determining which of at least two heat sources to use are also provided. Additional embodiments include methods for controlling multiple-source heating systems, and systems for providing heat with multiple sources.

A power distribution / generation system is disclosed for supplying electrical power to a number of sites (32, 33, 34), one or more of which has a generator (53, 1) such as a Stirling engine (1) which is capable of generating electrical power. The generators (53, 1) are linked together on a local network that is connectable to an external power grid (31). A controller (35) can hold the distribution of power so that a site is supplied with electrical power from the local network if its power demand exceeds the power generated by the generators in that network. However, if the total power demand of all the sites in the network exceeds the total power available from the generators in that network, then the controller (35) causes power to be drawn from the grid (31) instead.

A water heater includes combustion means (burner) that combusts fuel and generates exhaust; heat exchange means (primary heat exchanger and secondary heat exchanger) that exchanges heat of the exhaust for supplied water; bypassing means (bypass pipe) that makes the supplied water flow to an outlet of the heat exchange means; exchanged heat temperature detection means (exchanged heat temperature sensor) that detects temperature of the supplied water after heat exchange; flow rate adjustment means (bypass valve) that adjusts a volume of the supplied water flowing into the bypassing means and the heat exchange means; and a control unit that controls the flow rate adjustment means so as to make a predetermined volume of the supplied water or over flow to the heat exchange means.

The present invention relates to a process and apparatus for processing agricultural waste to make alcohol and / or biodiesel. The agricultural wastes are subjected to anaerobic digestion which produces a biogas stream containing methane, which is subsequently reformed to a syngas containing carbon monoxide and hydrogen. The syngas is converted to an alcohol which may be stored, sold, used, or fed directly to a reactor for production of biodiesel. The solids effluent from the anaerobic digester can be further utilized as slow release, organic certified fertilizer. Additionally, the wastewater from the process is acceptable for immediate reuse in agricultural operations.

The present invention relates to a heating element controller 100 for a liquid heating system arranged to determine the duty cycle of a heating element 106 and modulate the timepoint of heating initiation by the heating element 106 in dependence upon an expected duration of completing the heating process and upon a required time at which the heating process is to be completed, wherein said expected duration is determined in dependence on said duty cycle. The invention extends to a heating element controller comprising means for computing a fouling parameter and means for controlling the operation of the heating element in dependence upon the fouling parameter. The invention extends to a system for heating liquids comprising at least one heating element associated with a liquid vessel, and preferably the heating element is moveable in the vessel, or alternatively the system for heating liquids may comprise a plurality of heating elements.

A control system is provided for a modulated heating system including a plurality of modulating water heaters, which may be modulating boilers. A deadband control scheme provides for reduced cycling of the modulating heater when total system heat demand falls between the maximum output of one heater and the sum of the maximum output of that one point and the minimum firing point of the next subsequent heater.

A control system is provided for a modulated heating system including a plurality of modulating water heaters, which may be modulating boilers. A deadband control scheme provides for reduced cycling of the modulating heater when total system heat demand falls between the maximum output of one heater and the sum of the maximum output of that one point and the minimum firing point of the next subsequent heater.

A floor heating system includes a flooring substrate having a heating or cooling element in heat transfer relationship therewith. A heat spreader is in heat transfer relationship with the flooring substrate. The heat spreader includes a layer of flexible graphite material. A floor covering overlies the layer of flexible graphite material. Temperature variations across an exposed surface of the floor covering are reduced by the presence of the flexible graphite heat spreader, thus providing an improved and more uniform heating to the floor and to the room with which the floor is associated.

A hot water supply system including a water heater that includes a storage unit storing at least device information of another water heater, and performs hot water supply control by which the water heater cooperates with the other water heater, these water heaters being able to supply hot water according to a hot water supply request; one or a plurality of the other water heater that is connected to the water heater in parallel, and supplies hot water according to the hot water supply control by the water heater; communication connection means that communicably connects the water heater and the other water heater; water supply means that supplies water to the water heater and the other water heater; and hot water supply means that supplies hot water heated by the water heater and the other water heater to a hot water supply destination.

In a hybrid water heater, a heat pump unit and a combustion heating unit are combined for heating water to be stored in a hot water tank. The combustion heating unit includes a combustor for heating water in a chamber by combustion operation. The chamber of the combustion heating unit communicates with the hot water tank through a first water port provided at an upper side of the hot water tank and a second water port provided at a lower side of the hot water tank, so that hot water heated in the chamber flows into the upper side in the hot water tank through the first water port, by using natural convection. Further, water in the hot water tank at the lower side flows from the second water port into the chamber.

A hybrid space and water heating heat pump system includes a heat pump including an outdoor assembly and an indoor assembly; a hot water module including a first heat exchanger, a controller, and a water pump connected to a water line, the first heat exchanger being configured for heating water; and a water heater in fluid communication with the hot water module, the water heater configured for receiving heated water from the first heat exchanger; wherein the controller is configured to select between one of conditioning an interior space or heating of the water in the first heat exchanger; and wherein the heat pump is configured for circulating a refrigerant through a first refrigerant circuit in response to the conditioning of the interior space and circulating the refrigerant through a second refrigerant circuit in response to the heating of the water in the first heat exchanger.

The thin film transistor formed of polycrystalline silicon is positioned adjacent a heat reaction chamber. The gate electrode for the transistor is formed within a silicon substrate and a gate dielectric is positioned over the gate electrode. A pass transistor is coupled to the gate electrode, the pass transistor having a source / drain region in the same semiconductor substrate and positioned adjacent to the gate electrode of the thin film heating transistor. When the pass transistor is enabled, a voltage is applied to the gate electrode which causes the current to flow from the drain to the source of the thin film transistor. The current flow passes through a highly resistive region which generates heat that is transmitted to the heat reaction chamber.

An air-conditioning apparatus has at least one intermediate heat exchanger that exchanges heat between a refrigerant changing in two phases or a refrigerant in a supercritical state and a heat medium such as water and anti-freezing fluid different from the refrigerant, a refrigeration cycle in which a compressor, a heat-source side heat exchanger, at least one expansion valve, and a refrigerant-side channel of the intermediate heat exchanger are connected via a pipeline through which the refrigerant flows, and a heat-medium circulation circuit in which a heat-medium side channel of the intermediate heat exchanger, a pump, and a use-side heat exchanger are connected via a pipeline through which the heat medium flows, in which in the heat-medium circulation circuit, a fourth temperature sensor that detects a temperature of the heat-medium flowing out of the use-side heat exchanger is provided, and leakage of the heat medium from the heat-medium circulation circuit is detected on the basis of a change amount of a detected temperature of the fourth temperature sensor.

The invention discloses a glassworks low-temperature afterheat recycling system. Heat is stored underground through an underground pipe heat exchange unit; in winter, an absorption heat pump unit is matched to extract low-temperature afterheat for directly supplying the heat to peripheral communities; and in summer, a cooling tower is used for assisting cooling, so that recycling of low-grade industrial afterheat is realized, and the shortage problem of heating heat sources is effectively solved.

A water heater includes one or a plurality of heat pumps that heat tap water or return water from a hot water supply part, a circulation line that supplies hot water heated in the heat pumps to the hot water supply part, and introduces the return water from the hot water supply part to the heat pumps, an incoming water pipe that joins to between the hot water supply part in the circulation line and the heat pumps and supplies the tap water, a circulation pump that returns the return water to the heat pumps and circulates the return water through the circulation line, and a control unit that controls operation or stop of the circulation pump according to driving operation time or elapsed stop time by linking a combustion process of the heat pumps.

A system and method for controlling operation of a hybrid heating system that includes a heat pump and a gas heater is disclosed. Peak demand or pricing information is received from gas and electric utilities, and outdoor ambient temperature data is also fed to a smart hybrid thermostat. A controller processes this data and calculates overall efficiency of operating the heat pump versus the gas heater by accessing stored performance data relating to the heat pump in memory.

An electric water heater that includes a thermostat is retrofitted for remote control as follows. A relay is installed on an electrical feed to the electric water heater. Water temperature and electric current or power through the electrical feed are measured over time with the relay closed, and the thermostat deadband maximum and minimum are detected as the water temperature at which the thermostat turns the heating element off, and the water temperature at which the thermostat turns the heating element on, respectively. The detected thermostat deadband maximum and minimum are stored as load controller deadband maximum and minimum, respectively. The thermostat set point is raised, and the electric water heater is thereafter controlled using the load controller by operations including closing the relay when the water temperature falls below the load controller deadband minimum and opening the relay when the water temperature rises above the load controller deadband maximum.

A hybrid heating system (10) and method in which an indoor coil (12) of a heat pump (14) is located upstream of a heat output of a non-electric second heat source (22), e.g., a gas or liquefied petroleum gas furnace. The heat pump (14) continues to operate even at low temperatures, i.e., below 0° F., and the non-electric second heat source (22) supplements the heat output of the heat pump (12) as needed to maintain a desired indoor temperature, thereby maximizing economic benefit from the heat pump (12).

The invention provides a thermoelectricity decoupling transformation and operation method based on heat source end and heat network comprehensive adjustment, and the thermoelectricity decoupling is realized through transformation of a high-pressure bypass and low-pressure bypass, cylinder disengaging operation of a low-pressure cylinder, additional arrangement of an electric boiler and pipe network heat storage of a heat network. In order to ensure the heat supply capacity of a unit under the low load, the cylinder disengaging operation transformation of the low-pressure cylinder is carried out on the basis of an original steam extraction and heat supply mode to increase the heat supply capacity of the unit; meanwhile, by means of joint adjustment of an initial station and a secondary station, the defect that the heat supply capacity is insufficient under the low load is overcome through the heat storage of a primary pipe network under the high load; by means of the cylinder disengaging operation of the low-pressure cylinder and the heat storage of the primary pipe network, the problem that the heat supply amount under the low load is low during the whole heat supply period can be solved basically; the electric boiler is adopted during transformation so that the electric boiler can be used as the peak adjustment of the heat load when the heat storage function fails because of an extreme weather period and a long-time pipe network operation of the unit under the low load; and meanwhile, the high-pressure bypass and the low-pressure bypass are transformed to serve as a standby means for heat supply, so that the reliability of heat supply under the low load of the unit is further improved.

The invention is directed to a high efficiency cogeneration system capable of creating electricity and usable heat. The invention includes a fuel source, which can be a reservoir filled with a fossil fuel. The fuel source feeds a modified combustion engine that can turn a shaft to power an alternator to create electricity. The combustion engine creates hot gases that are treated by a catalytic converter. The byproduct and hot gases are then fed into one or more cooling manifolds.

It is intended to realize an air conditioning system of high operational efficiency without reducing the user's comfort. In an air conditioning system 1, a set temperature determining device 31 determines a target temperature of water to be supplied to an indoor heat exchanger 12, based on [“target outflow temperature”=“current outflow temperature”+((“inlet and outlet temperature difference” / “indoor and outdoor temperature difference”)דset temperature difference”)]. The indoor and outdoor temperature difference is a difference between an indoor temperature and an outdoor temperature, the inlet and outlet temperature difference is a difference between temperatures of water at the inlet side and the outlet side of an intermediate heat exchanger 9, and the set temperature difference is a difference between an indoor temperature and a set temperature. A control device 32 controls an outdoor unit 2 in response to the target temperature determined by the set temperature determining device 31.

The invention discloses an anti-freezing control method of a low-temperature air source heat pump heater. By means of the method, a required anti-freezing level can be judged automatically according to the temperature, and then corresponding devices are started for anti-freezing treatment. When the environment temperature is not very low, a water pump is started to run intermittently, and a watersystem is made to generate current to prevent freezing; when the environment temperature is low and water is still in a low-temperature state even after a first-stage freezing prevention mode of the water pump is started, a second-stage freezing prevention mode is started, heating starts, special treatment is carried out on defrosting at low water temperature, efficiency reduction caused by excessive frosting in the running process is avoided, and the water temperature is increased quickly to prevent freezing; and under the situation that the system cannot implement the second-stage freezing prevention mode due to refrigerant absence, start failure of a compressor and the like, a third-stage freezing prevention mode can be started, and an auxiliary electric heater of the water system is started to directly heat water to increase the temperature, so that the anti-freezing effect is achieved. By adoption of three-stage anti-freezing design, freezing prevention of the water system when the air source heat pump heater is in a standby state or shutdown state or failure state under the low-temperature environment is thoroughly achieved.

The invention relates to a swimming pool heating system, characterized in that it comprises a heat pump and means for controlling the compressor of said heat pump according to a number of non-zero power levels, as a function of a predetermined set of parameters. The system comprises, for example, three power levels, the first level being close to 40% of the compressor speed, the second level being close to 70% of the compressor speed, and the third level being close to 100% of the maximum compressor speed.

In a hybrid water heater, a heat pump unit and a combustion heating unit are combined for heating water to be stored in a hot water tank. The combustion heating unit includes a combustor for heating water in a chamber by combustion operation. The chamber of the combustion heating unit communicates with the hot water tank through a first water port provided at an upper side of the hot water tank and a second water port provided at a lower side of the hot water tank, so that hot water heated in the chamber flows into the upper side in the hot water tank through the first water port, by using natural convection. Further, water in the hot water tank at the lower side flows from the second water port into the chamber.

The invention belongs to the technical field of thermoelectricity and relates to a cogeneration unit with a heat storage device and a peak shaving method of the cogeneration unit. The cogeneration unit comprises a turbine, a heating network heater, the heat storage device and a heating network circulation water pump. A phase-change material thermocline heat storage tank and an adjusting system of the phase-change material thermocline heat storage tank are adopted in the heat storage device. The heat storage device is arranged behind the heating network heater, and part of discharged water of the heating network heater serves as a heat storage heat source. When the unit participates in peak shaving and the heat generating amount changes, the working state of the heat storage device is changed by opening and closing a valve. When the heat generating amount of the unit is large, heat is supplied through the heating network heater, and the heat storage device stores heat. When the heat generating amount is small, the heat storage device releases heat to replace part of extracted steam of the heating network heater to heat return water of a heating network, and after the return water is mixed with the discharged water of the heating network heater, the mixed water is sent to a heating station. It is ensured that the heating quality is not changed when the heat generating amount of the unit is changed, the capability of the cogeneration unit for participating in peak shaving of a power grid is improved, positive significance is achieved for absorption of renewable energy such as wind power, and the method is suitable for the cogeneration unit participating in peak shaving of the power grid.