Geothermal Cooling Device

Abstract

A geothermal cooling device is couplable to a ground coil formed from a thermal superconductor material. The device includes a thermal superconductor heat exchange coil, and a thermostat controller and a blower. The device uses a high thermal transfer superconductor to efficiently move heat to the earth source for the purpose of cooling. The device operates by controlling the blower operation in response to the difference between a set point and a measured temperature. Optionally cooling device is enclosed in a housing mounted in standard structural spaces. Alternative simplified versions, without a thermostat, operate manually with a switch or power connection.

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION [0001] The present invention relates generally to geothermal cooling systems, and more particularly to a geothermal cooling device coupled with a superconducting heat transfer element for use as an air conditioner. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0002] Ground source heat pump systems, also known as geothermal or geoexchange systems, have been used for cooling and heating homes for more than half a century. In 1993, the Environmental Protection Agency evaluated all commercially available technologies and concluded that ground source heat pumps were the most energy efficient systems available to the consumer. [0003] Conventional ground source heat pump systems operate on a simple principle. In the cooling mode, heat from the building is collected at a heat exchanger and transferred to the heat pump, which concentrates the heat and transfers it to a ground source loop, which transfers the heat to the ground. In the heating mode, heat energy is absorbed from the grou...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0016] Cooling devices are provided that use a thermal superconducting transfer medium to absorb heat from a room and transfer that heat to the ground where it can be dissipated. The thermal superconducting transfer medium in these devices allows heat to move between building and ground without the assistance of a compressor or refrigeration circuit, and without the assistance of a ground loop and associated pumps, valves and circulating fluids. This reduces the power required to operate these cooling systems, and also eliminates or reduces refrigerant leaks and reduces cost and system complexity.

[0019] In another embodiment, a simple cooling device not requiring a thermostat or switch is suitable for coupling to a thermal superconductor geothermal ground coil extending below a ground level allowing passive thermal conduction to an earth source and for connecting to a power source. The cooling device includes a thermal superconductor having a first end couplable to said thermal superconductor geothermal ground coil and a second opposing end configured as a thermal superconductor exchange segment, and a blower positioned in the region of said thermal superconducting exchange segment, and a power connection for providing operating power to said blower when connected. The blower may be powered by connecting the external power connector to the power source, for the purpose of operating in a cooling mode to efficiently cool an indoor space.

Problems solved by technology

Even though ground source heat pump systems achieve efficiencies of up to 350% compared to less than 100% for most conventional systems, they have achieved a very low level of adoption in the commercial marketplace because their capital costs and installation costs have been much higher than conventional systems.

These high capital and installation costs have largely been due to fundamental inefficiencies in the ground loop subsystem.

Few installations have sufficient available land for trenching so loops are most commonly installed in deep holes and this makes them relatively expensive for several reasons.

Holes of this size are relatively expensive to drill and require heavy equipment that disrupts landscaping, making it expensive to retrofit existing homes.

Holes of this size also leave large voids around the loop that should be filled with materials such as bentonite clay in order for heat to transfer from the ground to the loop, which adds significantly to the cost of installation.

Second, having both supply and return lines in the same hole results in thermal “short circuiting” which reduces the efficiency of the loop.

This lowers the efficiency of the loop so the loop should be made longer to compensate, adding to the cost of drilling and piping.

This consumes a significant amount of electric energy, lowering the overall efficiency of the system.

Third, the copper pipes used in direct geoexchange transfer heat more efficiently to and from the ground so the total length of loop required is typically less than conventional systems.

First, both supply and return pipes run in the same hole, so the thermal short circuit problems of conventional systems remain.

Second, the loop system pumps much more refrigerant through many more feet of piping past many more connections than conventional systems, so the potential for refrigerant leaks is increased.

Both direct geoexchange and conventional ground source heat pump systems have additional limitations that affect their usefulness.

First, they are designed to heat and cool whole buildings, so neither can efficiently be installed on the incremental room-by-room basis on which most of the world—particularly the developing world—installs air conditioning.

Second, they require significant amounts of electrical energy to operate pumps and compressors; this power is not often available or reliable in many parts of the world.

Rising demand for energy, however, is changing these markets.

Rising demand is causing the cost of electricity to rise, making inefficient systems such as room air conditioners much less attractive to consumers.

Rising demand is also causing shortages of power.

Metropolitan areas such as Shanghai are finding that room air conditioners are consuming as much as two thirds of the capacity of the entire electrical grid on hot summer days, destabilizing the grid and leaving too little power for the manufacturing sector to operate during the day.

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