System for heat exchange between a building and the earth's sub-soil comprising the circulation of phase change materials in a closed circuit

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12449162-B2
Application number	US-202118256003-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 24, 2021
Priority date	Dec 8, 2020
Publication date	Oct 21, 2025
Grant date	Oct 21, 2025

Abstract

The present invention relates to a system of heat exchange between a building ( 1 ) and the Earth's subsurface ( 5 ), comprising a closed loop with at least one pipe ( 9 ) installed in said subsurface ( 5 ) for heat exchange with subsurface ( 5 ), and connected by connecting pipes ( 4, 7 ) to at least one pipe ( 6 ) installed in said building ( 1 ) for heat exchange with building ( 1 ), the closed loop comprising a circulation pump (P) for circulating a fluid through said closed loop, and the fluid comprising capsules containing phase change materials.
The invention also relates to a method for cooling or heating a building ( 1 ) from the heat exchange system between a building ( 1 ) and the Earth's subsurface ( 5 ).

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A heat exchange system between a building and the Earth's subsurface, comprising a closed loop comprising at least one device installed in said subsurface for heat exchange with subsurface, connecting pipes, and at least one device installed in said building for heat exchange with building, the at least one device installed in the subsurface being connected by the connecting pipes to the at least one device installed in the building, the closed loop comprising at least one circulation pump for circulating a fluid through said closed loop, the at least one circulation pump comprising a progressing cavity pump, characterized in that the fluid comprises capsules containing phase change materials).

2. The system as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the system comprises a heat exchanger for heating a second fluid flowing into the building, the second fluid preferably being water from a water distribution network.

3. The system as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the at least one circulation pump is positioned on a part of connecting pipes configured for circulating capsules of phase change materials from a heat source to a cold source, the cold and heat sources being building and subsurface respectively, or vice versa.

4. The system as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the material of capsules comprises silica, molten silica, graphene, biological porous carbon, polymers, polyamides, nylon, lignins, fatty acids, esters, crown ethers, and/or the capsule is a molecular cage.

5. The system as claimed in claim 1 , wherein capsules are functionalized with ionic molecules or hydrophobic long chains.

6. The as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the fluid comprises water.

7. The system as claimed in claim 1 , wherein phase change materials comprise metals, metal alloys, inorganic materials, organic materials or hydrates, preferably, the phase change materials comprise gallium, calcium salts, fatty acids, esters, carboxylic acid, or a eutectic mixture of these materials.

8. The system as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the size of capsules ranges between 5 nm and 2 mm, and the thickness of the material of capsules ranges between 0.5 nm and 500 μm.

9. The system as claimed in claim 1 , wherein at least part of connecting pipes comprises a thermal insulation layer.

10. The system as claimed in claim 1 , wherein at least one device installed in the building is located in at least one floor, in at least one ceiling and/or in at least one wall.

11. The system as claimed in claim 1 , wherein at least one device installed in the building and/or at least one device installed in the subsurface comprises several parallel branches and/or circulation loops.

12. The system as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the system comprises temperature measurement means for measuring a temperature of building and/or of the pipes and/or of the at least one device installed in the subsurface or the at least one device installed in the building, and/or of the subsurface, and the system comprises an automatic control system for starting and stopping the circulation pump depending on the temperatures recorded by the temperature measurement means.

13. The system as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the at least one device installed in the subsurface is positioned at a depth of between 4 m and 100 m below the ground surface.

14. The system as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the connecting pipes are installed at least partly in foundations of the building and/or in piles of the building.

15. The system as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the fluid comprises between 5 and 70 wt. % of capsules of phase change materials.

16. The system as claimed in claim 1 , wherein phase change materials comprise paraffins.

17. The system as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the fluid comprises water and an additive selected from among a biocide, an antifreeze, a surfactant, a capsule dispersing agent and/or an anticorrosion additive.

18. The system as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the fluid comprises between 5 and 40 wt. % of capsules of phase change materials.

19. A method for cooling and/or heating a building, wherein at least the following steps are carried out by means of the system as claimed in claim 1 :
circulating capsules of phase change materials in at least device installed in said building or in device installed in the subsurface in order to recover the heat of building or of subsurface respectively,
capturing the heat of building or of subsurface by means of phase change materials,
continuing the circulation of capsules of phase change materials, and releasing the heat recovered by phase change materials by means of at least said device installed in the subsurface for cooling building or of device installed in the building for heating building.

20. The method for cooling and/or heating a building as claimed in claim 19 , wherein the heat of building or of subsurface is captured by stopping the circulation of the capsules of phase change materials; once phase change materials have captured sufficient energy, the capsules of phase change materials are circulated again, then circulation is stopped so that phase change materials release the recovered heat respectively in subsurface to cool the building or in the building to heat the building.

Assignees

• Ifp Energies Now

Inventors

• Durand Isabelle
• Boulharts Habiba
• Bourbiaux Bernard
• Esnault Vivien
• Lecomte Jean-Francois
• Leontidis Vlasios
• Marsiglia Marie
• Sanz Elena

Classifications

• Y02E60/14

  Thermal energy storage · CPC title

• Y02E10/10

  Geothermal energy · CPC title

• F24T50/00

  Geothermal systems  (for producing mechanical power from geothermal energy F03G4/00) · CPC title

• F24T2010/56

  Control arrangements · CPC title

• F24T10/17

  using tubes closed at one end, i.e. return-type tubes · CPC title