System for regulating a temperature of a thermal energy carrying fluid in a sector of a fluid distribution network

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12331494-B2
Application number	US-202217859127-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 7, 2022
Priority date	Jul 9, 2021
Publication date	Jun 17, 2025
Grant date	Jun 17, 2025

Abstract

A system ( 15 ) regulates a temperature of fluid in a sector of a fluid distribution network, including a feed line ( 11 ) transporting fluid from a thermal energy source ( 3 ) to a thermal energy consumer ( 7 ) within the sector and a return line ( 13 ) transporting fluid back. A bypass line ( 17 ) connects the return line to the feed line, mixing fluid from the return line into the feed line. A pump is at the bypass line. A temperature sensor determines a temperature of fluid in the feed line downstream of the bypass line. A pressure sensor determines an uncontrolled pressure difference between the feed line and the return line, or an uncontrolled pressure difference correlated therewith. A control unit controls the speed of the pump with a closed-loop control for achieving a target feed line temperature based on the determined temperature, and a feed-forward control compensating fluctuations of the pressure difference.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A system for regulating a temperature of a thermal energy carrying fluid in a sector of a fluid distribution network, the fluid distribution network comprising a feed line for transporting the fluid from a thermal energy source to at least one thermal energy consumer located within the sector and a return line for transporting the fluid back from the at least one thermal energy consumer to the thermal energy source, the system comprising:
a bypass line connecting the return line to the feed line for mixing fluid from the return line into the feed line;
a bypass pump arranged at the bypass line for pumping fluid from the return line to the feed line;
a temperature sensor arranged and configured to determine a temperature of the fluid in the feed line downstream of the bypass line;
a pressure sensor arranged and configured to determine an uncontrolled pressure difference between the feed line and the return line, or to determine a pressure difference correlating therewith; and
a control unit configured to control a speed of the bypass pump based on a combination of:
a closed-loop control to provide a fluid flow in the bypass line for achieving a target feed line temperature based on the determined feed line temperature T* 1 , wherein the control unit is configured to set a target bypass fluid flow q*(T 1 ) to minimize a deviation e T =T* 1 −T 1 between the determined feed line temperature T 1 and a target feed line temperature T* 1 ; and
a feed-forward control to compensate fluctuations of the pressure difference between the feed line and the return line based on the determined pressure difference.

2. The system according to claim 1 , wherein the control unit is configured to combine the closed-loop control and the feed-forward control by determining a target speed (ω) as a parameterized pump model-based function ω=ƒ −1 (q*(T 1 ),p), wherein the pump model-based function ω=ƒ −1 (q*(T 1 ),p) is parameterized by at least two pre-determined parameters a h1 ,a h3 .

3. The system according to claim 1 , wherein the control unit is configured to set a pump differential pressure p to compensate for the determined pressure difference Δp.

4. The system according to claim 1 , further comprising a non-return valve at the bypass line downstream of the at least one bypass pump, wherein the non-return valve is configured to prevent a fluid flow through the bypass line from the feed line to the return line.

5. The system according to claim 4 , wherein the pressure sensor is arranged and configured to determine the pressure difference by measuring a difference between:
a pressure in the bypass line upstream of the bypass pump or in the return line; and
a pressure downstream of the non-return valve or a pressure upstream of the non-return valve and downstream of the bypass pump, or a pressure in the feed line upstream of the at least one bypass line.

6. The system according to claim 1 , further comprising:
a temperature sensor arranged and configured to determine a temperature of the fluid in the return line; and
a temperature sensor arranged and configured to determine a temperature of the fluid in the feed line upstream of the bypass line, wherein the control unit is configured to set a target speed based on a feed-forward control to compensate uncontrolled fluctuations of a temperature difference between the temperature of the fluid in the feed line upstream of the bypass line and the temperature of the fluid in the return line.

7. The system according to claim 1 , wherein the control unit is configured to stop the bypass pump if the speed is below a pre-determined stop speed threshold, and wherein the control unit is configured to start the bypass pump if the speed is at or above a pre-determined start speed threshold.

8. The system according to claim 1 , wherein the control unit is configured, upon start-up of the bypass pump, to ramp up the feed-forward control to compensate uncontrolled fluctuations of the pressure difference based on a ramp-up value multiplied with the determined pressure difference.

9. A method for regulating a temperature of a thermal energy carrying fluid in a sector of a fluid distribution network, the fluid distribution network comprising: a feed line for transporting the fluid from a thermal energy source to at least one thermal energy consume located within the sector; a return line for transporting the fluid back from the at least one thermal energy consumer to the thermal energy source; and a bypass line connecting the return line to the feed line for mixing fluid from the return line into the feed line, wherein the method comprises the steps of:
determining a temperature of the fluid in the feed line downstream of the bypass line by at least one temperature sensor;
determining a pressure difference between the feed line and the return line by at least one pressure sensor, or a pressure difference correlating therewith;
controlling a speed of at least one bypass pump that is arranged at a bypass line connecting the return line to the feed line for mixing fluid from the return line into the feed line, wherein said controlling of the speed of the bypass pump is based on a combination of:
a closed-loop control to provide a fluid flow in the bypass line for achieving a target feed line temperature based on the determined feed line temperature T* 1 , wherein a target bypass fluid flow q*(T 1 ) is set to minimize a deviation e T =T* 1 −T 1 between the determined feed line temperature T 1 and a target feed line temperature T* 1 ; and
a feed-forward control to compensate uncontrolled fluctuations of the pressure difference between the feed line and the return line based on the determined pressure difference.

10. The method according to claim 9 , wherein combination of the closed-loop control and the feed-forward control comprises determining a target speed (ω) as a parameterized pump model-based function ω=ƒ −1 (q*(T 1 ),p), and wherein a pump differential pressure p is set to compensate for the determined pressure difference, wherein the pump model-based function ω=ƒ −1 (q*(T 1 ),p) is parameterized by at least two pre-determined parameters.

11. The method according to claim 9 , further comprising preventing a fluid flow through the bypass line from the feed line to the return line by a non-return valve arranged at the bypass line downstream of the bypass pump.

12. The method according to claim 11 , wherein determining the pressure difference comprises measuring a difference between:
a pressure in the bypass line upstream of the bypass pump or in the return line, and
a pressure downstream of the non-return valve or a pressure upstream of the non-return valve and downstream of the bypass pump, or a pressure in the feed line upstream of the at least one bypass line.

13. The method according to claim 9 , further comprising:
determining a temperature of the fluid in the return line by at least one temperature sensor; and
determining a temperature of the fluid in the feed line upstream of the bypass line by at least one temperature sensor, wherein controlling of the speed of the bypass pump comprises setting a target speed based on a feed-forward control to compensate uncontrolled fluctuations of a temperature difference between the temperature of the fluid in the feed line upstream of the bypass line and the temperature of the fluid in the return line.

14. The method according to claim 9 , further comprising:
stopping the bypass pump if the speed is below a pre-determined stop speed threshold; and
starting the bypass pump if the speed is at or above a pre-determined start speed threshold.

Assignees

• Grundfos Holding As

Inventors

• Nielsen Brian Kongsgaard

Classifications

• E03B7/077

  Arrangement of backflow preventing devices · CPC title

• E03B7/02

  Public or like main pipe systems · CPC title

• F24D2220/046

  Pressure sensors · CPC title

• F24D2220/042

  Temperature sensors · CPC title

• G05D23/1927

  using a plurality of sensors (G05D23/1902, G05D23/1917, and G05D23/1919 take precedence) · CPC title