Refrigeration – Disparate apparatus utilized as heat source or absorber – With vapor compression system
Reexamination Certificate
2002-08-30
2004-03-02
Jiang, Chen Wen (Department: 3744)
Refrigeration
Disparate apparatus utilized as heat source or absorber
With vapor compression system
C237S00200B
Reexamination Certificate
active
06698223
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an energy collecting system and a method of operating the same in which energy is collected through generation of electric power by a waterwheel using water used by, for example, an air-conditioning load or the like in a building.
For example, as an air-conditioning system in a building, there has been widely employed an air-conditioning system of heat storage type in which a heat source is operated using inexpensive nighttime electric power to store generated heat in a heat storage. In the daytime in which air-conditioning load takes place, the stored heat is fed from the heat storage to the load, i.e., an air conditioner to achieve air-conditioning operation.
FIG. 12
is a diagram showing a configuration of an example of the prior art, namely, an open-loop air-conditioning system of heat storage type. In a primary-side system S
1
, the configuration includes a water pump
1
which feeds water from a heat storage
16
to supply the water via a water supply pipe
4
a
to a heat source
4
and a both-end motor
2
of which one shaft end is directly coupled with the water pump using a shaft coupling to drive the water pump. The other shaft end is coupled with a waterwheel
12
via a clutch
12
b
. The waterwheel is disposed at a position at which potential energy of water discharged from the heat source can be completely collected. Numerals
18
and
19
indicate electric power sources, numeral
5
is a two-way valve to adjust a quantity of heat generated by the heat source, numeral
6
a
is a water supply pipe connecting the heat source to the waterwheel, and numeral
6
is an expansion tank associated with the water supply pipe. The tank
6
breaks a siphon to apply a head of the supplied water (potential energy thereof) to the waterwheel. In place of the expansion tank, a vacuum breaking valve may be disposed depending on cases. Numeral
12
c
indicates a water supply pipe to return the water from the waterwheel to the heat storage. That is, the water supplied to the heat source
4
by the water pump
1
is heated by the heat source and is then fed to the waterwheel
12
. The waterwheel
12
is operated by the potential energy of the water to generate power and then imparts the power to the both-end motor
2
. The load of the motor becomes lower than that of the water pump, the discrepancy therebetween corresponds to the power imparted from the waterwheel. The water from the waterwheel then returns to the heat storage.
The secondary-side system S
2
is a load of an air conditioner or the like and supplies water from the heat storage
16
via a water supply pipe
7
a
to an air han (air handling unit)
8
and a fan coil
9
by a pump
7
. The air han
8
includes an adjusting valve
8
a
to adjust a quantity of heat. The fan coil
9
also includes a similar adjusting valve
9
a
. The water of which heat is radiated is returned via the water supply pipe
7
b
to the heat storage
16
.
FIG. 13
shows an operating characteristic graph of a pump and a waterwheel in an example of the prior art. A total water pumping-up process of the pump, an effective head of the waterwheel, and power of the pump and the waterwheel are indicated along an ordinate. A water flow rate is indicated along an abscissa. A curve A is a curve of Q,H performance of the pump and a curve C is a curve of shaft power when the waterwheel is not operated. The total water pumping-up process is required to operate only the water pump to supply water at a flow rate of Q
0
to the water supply system shown in FIG.
9
. The operation point in this operation is point O
4
on the curve A. Power consumed in this operation is L
1
indicated by pump shaft power, and the operation point is point O
1
on the curve C. A curve B indicates an effective head of the waterwheel (pressure head difference between the inlet and the outlet of the waterwheel). This means that when water flows at a flow rate of Q
0
, a pressure head difference (effective head) of H
1
occurs between the inlet and the outlet of the waterwheel, and this potential energy is absorbed to generate power as below.
A curve D is a power curve when the water pump and the waterwheel are operated. Power consumed in the operation is L
2
indicated by pump shaft power and the operation point is point O
2
on the curve D. That is, when the flow rate is Q
0
, power generated by the waterwheel is L
3
.
In this case, the power collection ratio (L
3
/L
1
) is about 20% to about 30%.
In this way, the conventional apparatus effectively uses potential energy of the pumped-up water passed through the heat source.
For example, JP-A-50-128801 (a power collection pumping machine) and JP-A-50-49701 (a power collection pumping machine) describes known examples of this apparatus. However, the prior art technique uses a clutch to directly couple a motor with a waterwheel and there is a problem of improvement of transfer efficiency of the clutch. There exists another problem. That is, the energy collected by the waterwheel is power and there is a problem that the power cannot be used in this case, in consideration of structure, for any other load in the building. JP-A-5-10245 (an electric power generator using waterwheel of paddle-wheel type) is a known example of waterwheel electric power generation using a waterwheel in a dam, a paddy field, or a watercourse.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is therefore an object of the present invention to collect unused energy in a building by waterwheel electric power generation to use the energy again.
According to the present invention, there is provided an energy collecting system comprising as basic units a heat storage disposed in a lower section of a building; a heat source disposed in an upper section of the building for imparting heat to water supplied from the heat storage by electric power from a commercial power source and thereby producing cool or warm water; a primary cool/warm water pump for pumping up the water from the heat storage and supplying the water via a sucking pipe to the heat source; a water supply pipe disposed between a discharge outlet of the primary cool/warm water pump and the heat source; a water supply pipe for returning water from a discharge outlet of the heat source to the heat storage; an expansion tank or a vacuum breaking valve disposed in a highest section of the water supply pipe; a waterwheel disposed in a lowest section of the water supply pipe for collecting potential energy of the water discharged from the heat source; an electric power generator rotated by torque generated by the waterwheel to generate electric power; an inverter connected to an output port of the electric power generator for converting a voltage and a frequency of electric power generated by the electric power generator into a desired voltage and a desired frequency; a system collaboration unit between the motor and a commercial power source for changing a system from the power source to a side of the motor or from the inverter to a side of the commercial power source; and a cable for connecting an electric path between the system collaboration unit and the motor to an output port of the inverter.
To Start Operation
1) Before operation, close a waterwheel inlet valve, a waterwheel outlet valve, and a waterwheel bypass valve. First, turn on power of the heat source and power of the motor to drive the primary cool/warm pump.
2) Next, transmit an operation request signal from the heat source side to the primary cool/warm pump.
3) The primary cool/warm pump receives the operation request signal transmitted from the heat source side to start its operation and supply wager from the heat storage to the load side. Simultaneously, the pump transmits an operation answer signal to the heat source.
4) After the operation answer signal is received, when a predetermined period of time lapses enough to guarantee a water supply pressure, the heat source starts its operation.
5) When a predetermined period of time lapses after the heat source starts its operation, the waterwheel outlet and in
Fujita Yukihiro
Kunii Hiroshi
Satoh Kouichi
Shima Akio
Takahashi Shin-ichi
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