Advanced Direct Exchange Geothermal Heating/Cooling System Design

Abstract

A direct expansion / direct exchange (“DX”) geothermal heating / cooling system having a plurality of pin restrictors positioned in housing units at ground accessible locations. The pin restrictors are preferably located near the compressor unit and on the field side of the distributor. Refrigerant is substantially equally distributed by a distributor to substantially equally sized line sets in the DX system with multiple wells. The distributors are place in either horizontal or vertical inclinations with the pin restrictors situated on the field side of the distributor in each individual liquid refrigerant transport line. A cut-off ball valve is located within the liquid refrigerant transport line on each side of the respective pin restrictor housing units. A filter / dryer is place within the same liquid refrigerant transport line segment as the pin restrictor(s) with a refrigerant flow shut-off valve being situated on each side of the liquid line segment containing the filter / dryer and the distributor.

Description

[0001] This is a non-provisional application claiming priority based upon co-pending U.S. Patent Application Ser. No. 60 / 806,739 filed Jul. 7, 2006 entitled “Advanced Direct Exchange Geothermal Heating / Cooling System Design.”[0002] I, B. Ryland Wiggs, of Franklin, Tenn., have invented a new and useful “Advanced Direct Exchange Geothermal Heating / Cooling System Design”. [0003] A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains material that is subject to copyright. The copyright owner has no objection to the authorized facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent document or the patent disclosure, as it appears in the Patent and Trademark Office patent file or records, but otherwise reserves all copyright rights whatsoever. [0004] All patents and publications discussed herein are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0005] The present invention relates to a geothermal direct exchange (“DX”) heating / cooling system, which is also c...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0016] Further, the use of a filter / dryer for refrigerant is a useful and common piece of equipment used in DX systems, as is well understood by those skilled in the art. However, historically in the DX field, filter / dryers have been placed within the compressor box itself. Thus, when the filter / dryer needs to be changed, the historical and common practice in the DX HVAC field has been to open the compressor box, re-claim all refrigerant the within the box, change the filter / dryer, and then replace the refrigerant that had been reclaimed. Typically, many compressor boxes in the DX field even have no isolation valves so as to limit refrigerant reclaiming to the refrigerant within the box. Thus, a design improvement, so as to materially facilitate servicing and reduce servicing time / expense, would be to place the filter / dryer within the same liquid refrigerant transport line segment as the pin restrictor(s), with a refrigerant flow shut-off valve being situated on each side of the liquid line segment containing the filter / dryer and the distributor (if there are more than one sub-surface liquid refrigerant transport lines).

[0115] Preferably, the test will be conducted before the well is grouted, so that if there is a problem, the tubing can be withdrawn from the well and repaired prior to grouting. This simple test can save thousands of dollars and time, otherwise lost if a refrigerant transport line is only found to be restricted by means of the traditional DX system operational test, after full job completion. A defective / restricted line set, after full job completion, can only be corrected by means of installing a complete new replacement line set, within a newly drilled and grouted well.

Problems solved by technology

The problem with self-adjusting heating valves in a DX system in the heating mode is that the refrigerant has to travel so far in the sub-surface environment, the automatic valve is constantly “hunting” for an optimum setting, resulting in rather continuous and inefficient swings in set points.

The problem with a manually adjusted valve is that a precise optimum setting is a matter of luck, rather than design.

While this design was a major improvement over predecessor technology, providing uniform refrigerant flow through systems with multiple combined wells / line sets, the ability to service or change the pin restrictor was cumbersome.

Since such a liquid line segment will be relatively heavy.

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