Vertical fluid heat exchanger installed within natural thermal energy body

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9587890-B2
Application number	US-59102409-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 5, 2009
Priority date	Nov 5, 2009
Publication date	Mar 7, 2017
Grant date	Mar 7, 2017

Abstract

The present invention relates to a vertical relay fluid storage barrel installed with fluid inlet and fluid outlet for whole or in part placement into natural thermal energy body in vertical or downward oblique manner, wherein a thermal energy exchanger is installed inside the relay fluid storage barrel temporarily storing thermal conductive fluid for external flow, the thermal energy exchanger is installed with fluid piping for the thermal conductive fluid passing through, to perform heat exchange with the fluid in the relay fluid storage barrel, and the fluid in the relay fluid storage barrel performs heat exchange with the natural thermal energy body.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A vertical heat exchanger installed within a natural thermal energy body ( 1000 ), comprising:
a relay storage barrel ( 700 ) made of a thermally conductive material and at least partly placed in or installed in proximity to the natural thermal energy body ( 1000 ) in a vertical or downwardly oblique orientation for temporarily storing a relay fluid, said relay storage barrel ( 700 ) including a first fluid inlet ( 701 ) on a first side of the relay storage barrel ( 700 ) and a first fluid outlet ( 702 ) on a second side of the relay storage barrel ( 700 ) to enable continuous passage of the relay fluid from the first side to the second side, said thermally conductive material serving as a primary means for exchanging thermal energy between said relay fluid and said natural thermal energy body ( 1000 ) while said relay fluid passes through said relay storage barrel ( 700 ) from the first side to the second side; and
at least one thermal energy exchanger ( 705 ) installed inside the relay fluid storage barrel ( 700 ) between said first side and said second side and having piping that forms at least one independent thermal exchange fluid flow path for passage of a thermal exchange fluid, said piping having a second fluid inlet ( 708 ) and a second fluid outlet ( 709 ), wherein the thermal energy exchanger ( 705 ) exchanges thermal energy between the relay fluid passing through the relay storage barrel ( 700 ) and the thermal exchange fluid in the thermal energy exchanger ( 705 )
wherein the relay fluid storage barrel ( 700 ) is situated in an external conduit ( 3000 ) having an internal diameter larger than an external diameter of the relay fluid storage barrel ( 700 ), said external conduit being made of a thermally conductive material, and
wherein the external conduit ( 3000 ) is separated from the relay fluid storage barrel ( 700 ) by a space that is filled with a thermally conductive material in at least one of a colloidal, liquid, and solid state.

2. A vertical heat exchanger installed within a natural thermal energy body ( 1000 ) as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the natural thermal body ( 1000 ) is a layer of earth or a body of water.

3. A vertical heat exchanger installed within a natural thermal energy body ( 1000 ) as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the relay fluid is one of tap-water and water from a river, lake, or sea.

4. A vertical heat exchanger installed within a natural thermal energy body ( 1000 ) as claimed in claim 1 , wherein said thermal exchange fluid is in one of a liquid state, a gaseous state, a liquid-to-gaseous state, and a gaseous-to-liquid state.

5. A vertical heat exchanger installed within a natural thermal energy body ( 1000 ) as claimed in claim 1 , wherein passage of the relay fluid into and out of the relay fluid storage barrel ( 700 ) is controlled by at least one of manual control, a switch valve ( 703 ), a control device ( 2000 ) for controlling the passage of the relay fluid into and out of the relay fluid storage barrel ( 700 ), and at least one pump ( 704 and/or 714 ) installed at the first fluid inlet ( 701 ), the first fluid outlet ( 702 ), or both the first fluid inlet ( 701 ) and the first fluid outlet ( 702 ).

6. A vertical heat exchanger installed within a natural thermal energy body ( 1000 ) as claimed in claim 1 , wherein passage of the relay fluid into and out of the relay fluid storage barrel ( 700 ) is controlled by a pump ( 704 ) installed at the first fluid outlet ( 702 ) of the relay fluid storage barrel ( 700 ).

7. A vertical heat exchanger installed within a natural thermal energy body ( 1000 ) as claimed in claim 6 , further comprising a control device ( 2000 ) for controlling the pump.

8. A vertical heat exchanger installed within a natural thermal energy body ( 1000 ) as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the piping of the thermal energy exchanger ( 705 ) includes at least one of the following geometric shaped piping configurations: U-shaped fluid piping, spiral fluid piping, wavy fluid piping, and U-shaped piping additionally installed with thermally conductive fins.

9. A vertical heat exchanger installed within a natural thermal energy body ( 1000 ) as claimed in claim 8 , further comprising a second said thermal energy exchanger ( 705 ′) that includes a second piping having a third fluid inlet ( 708 ′) and a third fluid outlet ( 709 ′), said second piping carrying a same or different thermal exchange fluid than the piping of the thermal energy exchanger ( 705 ).

10. A vertical heat exchanger installed within a natural thermal energy body ( 1000 ) as claimed in claim 9 , wherein the piping of the thermal energy exchanger ( 705 ) and the second piping are each bent into a U-shape.

11. A vertical heat exchanger installed within a natural thermal energy body ( 1000 ) as claimed in claim 10 , wherein said first and second piping have one of the following configurations: parallel and side-by-side; and parallel and crossing at a 90 degree angle.

12. A vertical heat exchanger installed within a natural thermal energy body ( 1000 ) as claimed in claim 10 , wherein said first and second piping are connected to each other.

13. A vertical heat exchanger installed within a natural thermal energy body ( 1000 ) as claimed in claim 10 , wherein said first and second piping cross each other at a predetermined angle.

14. A vertical heat exchanger installed within a natural thermal energy body ( 1000 ) as claimed in claim 1 , wherein one of the first fluid inlet ( 701 ) and first fluid outlet ( 702 ) is installed at a first position in the relay fluid storage barrel ( 700 ) and one of the first fluid inlet ( 701 ) and first fluid outlet ( 702 ) is installed at a second position in the relay fluid storage barrel ( 700 ), and wherein the second position is higher than the first position to prevent stagnation of a relay fluid within a lower part of the relay fluid storage barrel ( 700 ).

15. A vertical heat exchanger installed within a natural thermal energy body ( 1000 ) as claimed in claim 1 , further comprising at least one switch valve ( 703 ) for opening and closing at least one of said first fluid inlet ( 701 ) and first fluid outlet ( 702 ) to stop, start, or control a flow rate of said relay fluid into and out of said relay fluid storage barrel ( 700 ), said switch valve ( 703 ) being manually controlled or controlled by a control device ( 2000 ).

16. A vertical heat exchanger installed within a natural thermal energy body ( 1000 ) as claimed in claim 1 , wherein said relay fluid storage barrel ( 700 ) has one of a circular, oval, or star-shaped cross-section.

17. A vertical heat exchanger installed within a natural thermal energy body ( 1000 ) as claimed in claim 1 , further comprising a first controllable valve ( 801 ) installed at said first fluid inlet, a second controllable valve ( 802 ) installed at the fluid outlet ( 702 ), and shunt piping ( 800 ) connecting said first controllable valve ( 801 ) with said second controllable valve ( 802 ), said first controllable valve ( 801 ) and second controllable valve ( 802 ) regulating flow of the relay fluid into and out of the relay fluid storage barrel ( 700 ) by controlling shunting of the relay fluid through the shunt piping ( 800 ) according to one or more of the following flow control modes:
(a) blocking the relay fluid from passing through the shunt piping ( 800 ) so that all of the relay fluid flows into and out of the relay fluid storage barrel ( 700 );
(b) blocking the relay fluid from entering into the relay fluid storage barrel ( 700 ) so that all of the relay fluid

Assignees

• Yang Tai-Her

Inventors

• Yang Tai-Her

Classifications

• F28F2270/00

  Thermal insulation; Thermal decoupling · CPC title

• F28D20/0034 Primary

  using liquid heat storage material · CPC title

• F28D20/0052

  using the ground body or aquifers as heat storage medium · CPC title

• F24T10/30

  using underground reservoirs for accumulating working fluids or intermediate fluids · CPC title

• Y02E10/10

  Geothermal energy · CPC title