Heat pump for heating or refrigerating buildings and delivering in combination hot water for sanitary fixtures

Abstract: A reversible heat pump is disclosed in which there is provided a generator (10) of freezing fluid under the vapour state produced by a rectifying column (12) having perforated plates, with hydrostatic head on the plate assured by the surface tension of the liquid, a reboiler (14) of the vapour generator heated indirectly, a storage tank (34) of the condensate freezing fluid which contributes to control the cycle pressure for optimizing the efficiency under partial load conditions, lamination means (36) of the condensate freezing fluid which changes the flow section as a function of the pressure and controls the flow rate of the freezing fluid for draining any impurity, means (40) reducing the load loss of said lamination means during summer, a plate absorber (18) with swirl grid providing a microdrop flow between poor solution and freezing vapour fluid, and a multi-way valve (26) which allows said heat pump to be coupled with a split-exchanger (54) by deviating the flows of the operating fluids according to the requirements so as to cause said split-exchanger (54) to perform the function of cold source during winter and the function of hot drain during summer.

Description: The present invention relates to a reversible heat pump capable of heating or refrigerating buildings and delivering in combination hot water for sanitary fixtures. The heat pump of the invention is of the absorption type, the energy source of which is a primary energy source such as natural gas, and is intended to meet the heating and refrigerating requirements in the field of the absorption heat pumps (AHP) of mean power rating between 10 and 100 kW. As known heat pump is an apparatus which transfers heat from one thermal level to a second higher thermal level at the cost of energy consumption. Such apparatus allows theoretically a certain amount of thermal energy equal to the sum of the energy delivered to the environment and the energy taken therefrom to be delivered to the user. Heat pumps can be of the mechanical type (compressor) operated by an electric or mechanical motor or a thermal absorption motor. The novel interest in the absorption heat pump is due to the following requirements: a) diversifying the use of the energy sources (oil, methane, a.s.o.) both for decreasing the peak load in the power plants and best using the surplus deliveries of natural gas during summer; b) decreasing the pollution due to the use of coal as AHP consume less than electric heat pumps or boilers with the same continuous yearly performance. According to a known design (US-A-3 527 061) a single stage absorption heat pump with recovery of heat includes the following components: a generator to bring the refrigerant to the vapor state, a boiler to supply said generator with heat, a condenser for the refrigerant vapor coming from said generator, a storage tank for the refrigerant condensed from said condenser, a subcooler for said condensed refrigerant, an absorber where the pure refrigerant is absorbed into the poor solution from the generator to provide a rich solution, a pump for the rich solution for delivering such solution to the generator, a first expansion means for passing the poor solution from said generator to said absorber, a heat exchanger for exchanging heat between the rich solution and the poor solution, a second expansion means for subcooled condensed refrigerant coming from said tank, means for reducing pressure loss of said second expansion means during summer, an evaporator receiving heat from a low-temperature source to evaporate refrigerant passing through said second expansion means, and a multi-way valve allowing said heat pump to be coupled with a split-exchanger by deviating the flows of a process fluid according to the season so as to cause said split-exchanger to perform the function of a cold source during the winter and the function of a hot drain during the summer. The above heat pumps provide the following technological solutions: the operative fluids can be either liquid or gaseous; the cold sources can be air, water of any source or ground. According to the combined selection of process fluids and source the commercial heat pump is referred to as water-water pump, water-air pump, air-water pump, air-air pump. The most common pumps are water-water pump and water-air pump. Absorption pairs of the commercial pumps are water-ammonia or water-lithium bromide. Commercial AHPs of mean power rating such as that of the present invention are based upon the technology developed by Arkla Servel, an U.S.A. Company. Heat is delivered either directly by a gas burner with fire contacting the reboiler of the generator or by circulating hot water produced by a conventional boiler. All of the components except for the solution pump are substantially heat and/or matter exchangers handicraft-manufactured by the technique of coaxial pipes. US-A-3.527.061 shows an absorption heat pump with a heat exchanger which is a heat sink or a heat source depending on the time of year. However, such solutions involve a number of troubles which have delayed the entry on the market, namely: excessive weight, volume and cost; the difficulty for the user to utilize AHPs for the production of heat and cold without specialist's help; the potential danger due to fire contacting a container under pressure in case of a water-ammonia AHP or the necessity of providing two boilers plus two refrigerators in case of water-lithium bromide AHPs. The present invention seeks to find a solution for the above mentioned drawbacks by disclosing a combined, reversible absorption heat pump capable to provide an environment summer/winter conditioning, and to supply hot water for sanitary fixtures at any time, the management of which can be related to the use of a wall boiler. This is achieved by providing an AHP having a simple summer-winter switching device (multi-way valve) which can be directly controlled by the user and the operation of which can be reversed. It is therefore an object of the present invention an absorption heat pump for heating or refrigerating buildings and for delivering in combination hot water for sanitary fixtures as previously disclosed wherein : the second expansion means for subcooled condensed refrigerant coming from the storage tank includes a screw which is screwed against the force of a spring into a corresponding female nut thread with an axial clearance between the thread of the screw and the nut thread, the screw being axially movable against the spring bias by the pressure differential thereacross to vary the clearance as a function of the pressure differential, whereby an increasing pressure differential increases the clearance and therefore decreases the pressure loss, the clearance and spring bias being set so that the storage tank is full when the flow rate of the refrigerant through the second expansion means is equal to the maximum flow rate produced by the generator at maximum power rating thereof, a bypass is provided for the second expansion means for reducing the pressure loss thereof, the bypass having a bypass control valve therein, and control means are provided for controlling the multi-way valve and the bypass control valve so as to open the bypass and thereby reducing the pressure loss of the second expansion means if the multi-way valve is switched to cause the split exchanger to perform the function of a hot drain during the summer. Namely such device is adapted to supply the user according to his needs with heat and cold, and hot water at a limited cost, reduced weight and dimension, and under higher efficiency and safety conditions. Selected absorption pair is the water-ammonia solution allowing at the same time the user to be supplied with delivery water at high temperature and the evaporator to operate with water at a temperature quite lower than the water freezing point, further providing a high heat of vaporization. The generator of the ammonia vapour consists of a rectifying column having perforated plates with a hydrostatic head on the plate assured by the surface tension of the liquid, and a partial condenser socalled dephlegmator having high efficiency features. The peculiarity of the hydrostatic head over the rectifying plates aims at assuring the enthalpic liquid/vapour exchange and then providing a greater efficiency in rectifying ammonia vapour. Thus it is further provided a rectifying system capable to reach very quickly the steady state. In other words, unlike all of the systems used today in the rectifying processes of a solute dissolved in a solvent, the apparatus allows the operation to be switched off or the flow rate to be choked after the first starting without repeating the operation necessary to reach again the steady condition for optimizing the separation of the distillate.Indirect heating of the process fluid has been further resorted to by providing a natural circulation through a double phase change of the thermal carrier fluid, which besides allowing a technologically reliable, low-cost component (commercial boiler) to be used aims at minimizing some problems relative to container under pressure contacting fire by referring such problems to those provided for the manufacturing of the wall boilers. The selected thermal carrier fluid is propylene glycol, a not harmful, selfextinguishing compound. Such component is in practice provided by lining the bottom of the reboiler with a tank where the vapour of propylene glycol produced by a wall gas boiler condenses; alternatively, the use of a compact exchanger similar to the other exchangers is proposed. It can be finally used a plate absorber provided with swirl grid aiming at providing a flow of microdrops between poor solution and NH3 vapour for optimizing heat and matter exchange in the compact exchangers. Further features and advantages of the present invention will now be apparent from the following description with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Fig. 1 is a basic diagram of the single-stage absorption heat pumps with recovery of inner heat; Fig. 2 is a process diagram of the absorption heat pump according to the present invention; Fig. 3 shows a heat pump similar to that of Fig. 2 where the reboiler is heated by a compact exchanger; this heat pump does not entirely correspond to the invention because it has no bypass for the second expansion means. Fig. 4 shows the equilibrium state of a drop on a perforated plate having wettable surface; Fig. 5 shows the equilibrium state of a drop on a perforated plate having water-proofing surface according to the invention; Figs. 6a and 6b are longitudinal section of the rectfying column and the reboiler of the apparatus according to the invention, respectively; Fig. 7 is a detail of the dephlegmator with the shaved filling; Fig. 8 is a top plan view of the same; Fig. 9 is a detail of a perforated plate with a weir according to the invention; Fig. 10 shows schematically the expansion device of the invention; Fig. 10a shows in particular the clearance between male and female threads of the device of Fig. 10; Fig. 11 is a vertical section view of the multi-way valve for summer-winter switching according to the invention; Fig. 12 is a top plan view of the same valve along arrow B of Fig. 11; Fig. 13 is a front elevation of the valve of Fig. 12; Figs. 14 and 15 are section views according to line E-E, F-F and C-C. D-D of Fig. 11, respectively; Fig. 16 shows schematically an exploded view of the plate pack of the absorber according to a first embodiment of the invention; Fig. 17 is a flow diagram relative to the absorption of pure NH 3 in a solution having little ammonia. With reference to Fig. 1 showing the traditional diagram of an absorption heat pump, the pure refrigerant condensed at C (condenser), expanded at V (expansion valve), and evaporated at E (evaporator), is first absorbed in a solution A (absorber) with development of heat and then, after pumping, desorbed from the same solution at G (generator) through heating by an outer energy source. A single-stage, water-ammonia heat pump of the water-water type arranged for air according to the invention is shown in the diagram of Fig. 2. It substantially includes: a vapour generator 10 formed of a rectifying plate column 12 with a dephlegmator 30 and a reboiler 14, a heat generator 38 supplying reboiler 14 with heat, a condenser 22 of the vapour, a tank 34 for receiving the condesate, a subcooler 25, expansion means 36 for the condensate, a device 40 for reducing the pressure loss of said expansion means during summer, an evaporator 24 where the refrigerant receiving heat from a low temperature source evaporates again, an absorber 18 where the pure refrigerant is absorbed by the poor solution from the bo tom of the generator, expansion means 46 for the poor solution, a solution exchanger 20 and a pump 48 for delivering the near saturated solution from the absorber to dephlegmator 30. In the embodiment of Fig. 2 the heating of reboiler 14 is carried out indirectly as the bottom thereof is lined with a tank 16 on which propylene glycol vapours produced by a wall gas boiler 38 condense. Alternatively, as shown in Fig. 3, a compact exchanger 37 of the same type as the other exchanger can also be used. The heat delivered to reboiler 14 produces a certain amount of vapour which flows through the holes of the different plates of the rectifying column 12 in countercurrent with the feed liquid (near saturated solution) of line 28. Through succesive enthalpic exchanges occurring among plates and the partial condensation due to the dephlegmator 30 a pure or almost pure (99,6%) refrigerant (ammonia) is achieved at the outlet of the column head. According to a further development of the present invention the plates of rectifying column 12 have a hydrostatic head provided by the use in combination of two phenomena such as the surface tension of the liquid and the non-wettability of the material forming the rectifying plate. From the researches about the dripping from perforated plates the inventors have found that such quantities contribute with an inversely proportional ratio with respect to the section of the holes of the plate to increase the hydrostatic head according to the formula: h =-2σcosα/rδg where: σ = surface tension, J/m2 h = raising of the liquid level, m α = angle of contact between pipe and liquid g = gravitational acceleration, m/s2 δ = density of the liquid, kg/m3 r = radius of the capillary (hole), m The analysis of such expression brought to the conclusion that the head on the plates of the column can be assured only by manufacturing the plates with water-proofing material, and on the same diameter of the hole the head will be as much higher the more the value of α tends to 180°. With reference to Fig. 4 in a perforated plate of the conventional type there is no dripping only under optimum steady state because the vapour current balances the thrust of the liquid head downwards. In case of transient conditions or when the reflux is short the hydrostatic head "h" is not assured as both the weight of the head and the wettability of the surface by the process liquid contribute to the emptying. If conversely the surface of the perforated plate is manufactured with water-proofing material, the equilibrium state is as shown in Fig. 5 where independently of the vapour flow the force F = 2πrσ due to the surface tension of the liquid is equal and opposite to the weight of the liquid column h resting on the hole. Table 1 carries data collected in five experimental tests for checking the reliability of the calculation as well as the value of the angle of contact between the used liquid and the surface of the plate. The tests have been carried out under atmospheric pressure at the temperature of about 20°C and in the calm air. Experimental tests for keeping the static head on perforated plates fluid plate material hole diameter (mm) initial hydrostatic head (mm) time for reaching equilibrium (sec) final hydrostatic head (mm) H 2 O aluminum thick. 0.5 1 42 45 emptying H 2 O aluminum thick. 0.5 1,2 42 10 emptying H 2 O + NH 3 30% aluminum thick. 0.5 1 42 50 emptying H 2 O teflon thick. 0.5 1 42 15 17 - 18 H 2 O + NH 3 30% teflon thick. 0.5 1 42 16 10 - 11 Angle of contact between H 2 O and teflon under atmospheric pressure and at 20°C: α = 128° Angle of contact between H 2 O/NH 3 , 30%, and teflon under atmospheric pressure and at 20°C: α = 115° As can be seen from the table the convenient selection of the hole diameter in the rectifying plates allows the desired height of the head to be assured in order to grant the necessary enthalpic exchange between liquid and vapour for the rectifying process. The plates both of the exhaustion section 106 and the enrichment section 108 are shown together with their weirs 110 in the rectifying column 12 of Fig. 3a. The enlarged detail of a weir is shown in Fig. 9. As seen in such figures, weirs 110 are formed of metallic pipes of suitable diameter which are inserted into corresponding holes 111 of the rectifying plates. The function of the weirs is that of allowing the liquid to pass from the upper plate to the lower plate, thus assuring a descent time such as to allow the liquid to be completely degassed. In the plate columns of the conventional type such aims is achieved by a suitable hole size. However, the conventional solution could not allow a reduced flow rate to be kept under steady conditions in the described apparatus because of the need of continuously varying operating conditions. To solve this problem a pressure loss has been provided at the ends of each weir by teeth 113 spacing it apart from the underlying plate. Such pressure loss controls the flow rate of the weir as a function of a hydrostatic head internal to the same weir which increases or decreases according to the flow rate of the column to be removed, thus varying the stay time for the degassing. As far as the partial condenser, socalled dephlegmator 30 (Fig. 7), is concerned its efficiency has been increased for the sake of perfectly rectifying the solute by inserting the conventional helicoidal pipe 116, in which the cold liquid is being flowed for the cooling, into a kind of volute formed of a plurality of slotted and overlapped discs 118. Such discs 118 have slots 120 opposed two by two and are twisted by a width equal to the diameter of the helicoidal pipe. Gap 122 between helicoidal pipe and discs is completely filled by metallic shavings of suitable length in order to cause a pressure loss and to make as short as possible the preferential paths both of the liquid and the vapour. Thus all of the vapour to be rectified establishes contact both with helicoidal pipe and the condensing, percolating liquid. Metallic shavings are also present in column head 124 in order to avoid or at least to reduce the entrainment of the liquid by the rectified vapour. In Fig. 8 a further feature is shown relating the vapour outlet 126 at the column head which is oriented upwards in order to reduce the entrainment of the liquid phase at the minimum. Such vapour is condensed through line 32 in condenser 22 (plate exchanger) and collected into a little storage tank 34 acting both as hydrostatic head and converter of the NH 3 concentration in the near saturated solution. This in order to optimize the performance of the absorption heat pump both under maximum power rating and lower power rating. Expansion means 36 of the refrigerant is calibrated to assure a flow rate equal to the amount of refrigerant distilled by the rectifying column at the maxi um power rating. The function of storage tank 34 in the system for controlling the flow rate of the refrigerant as a function of the needed power is as follows. During the heating operation, when the apparatus is switched on, the burner operates at the maximum power rating and then with the maximum vapour production. The pressure of the apparatus is low; therefore, the flow rate of the refrigerant from expansion means 36 will be lower than that of the produced fluid. Under such conditions storage tank 34 will be filled up. Storage tank 34 is suitably dimensioned in order to be full when the mass flow rate of the refrigerant produced by generator 10 is equal to the mass flow rate of the refrigerant fluid from expansion means 36. When the energy requirement is lower than the maximum power rating of the absorption heat pump the amount of thermal energy supplied to generator 10 is decreased by the system for regulating burner 38. As a result the flow rate of the produced refrigerant is reduced. The decreasing of the inner circulation pressure is not instantaneous or is a little delayed due to the system inertia; therefore, the flow rate of the refrigerant from expansion means 36 will be greater than that of the produced fluid, and then the liquid level in storage tank 34 will be decreased. Thus the mean concentration of the cycling solution is enhanced. The concentration increase allows a certain pressure value to be maintained. During the cooling operation it is necessary to reduce the pressure loss of expansion means 36 so that the mean concentration of the circulation solution is higher in order to reach a better efficiency of the refrigerating cycle. This is achieved by providing a bypass 40 controlled by an electrovalve 42 servo controlled in turn by a summer/winter conditioning switch 60 of the absorption heat pump (Fig. 11) which allows the pressure loss of lamination means 36 to be reduced. The hydrostatic head of storage tank 34 determines the circulation pressure as a function of the temperature of the stored liquid. Such conditions of hydrostatic control allow liquid ammonia in subcooler 25 to be subcooled. Therefore, the refrigerant is fed under subcooled conditions to expansion means 36. A further subcooling of the refrigerant as a result of an adiabatic transformation is caused by the low pressure downstream of said expansion means. Expansion means 36 is located at the inlet of evaporator 24 where ammonia evaporates and absorbs heat from a low temperature source which in the illustrated embodiment is provided by a circulator 44 of water-ethylene glycol mixture. As seen in Fig. 10 expansion means 36 includes a screw 36a having square thread which is screwed against the force of a spring 36b to a corresponding thread of conduit 36c to which bypass 40 leads between evaporator 24 and subcooler 25. A clearance "g" of suitable size is provided between the male thread of the screw and the female thread for allowing the refrigerant to circulate and any impurity to pass. As the pressure of the generator acting on the head of the screw increases, the bias of the spring is overcome and the screw traverses the conduit due to the provided clearance, and the flow section of the refrigerant is proportionally increased so that the pressure loss is reduced. Parallel, circular grooves 36d spaced apart from one another and increasing the pressure loss are provided to form a labyrinth for any impurity which can obstruct the passageway. A total or partial obstruction could cause the pressure of the generator to be further increased and thin the outlet port to be enlarged such as to allow any impurity not held by the filters to be discharged. Refrigerant traversing subcooler 25 at low temperature but with high enthalpy is heated and causes the subcooling of liquid ammonia from storage tank 34, and then flows to absorber 18 in the same current as the poor solution. Poor solution flows from the bottom of reboiler 14 of the generator. Such solution before flowing to absorber 18 gives its high heat content to the near saturated solution in the solution exchanger 20, and then flows through expansion means 46. Poor solution and ammonia are absorbed by absorber 18 which also develops a high heat of absorption. thus forming a near saturated solution at low temperature. In order not to excessively increase the dimensions and at the same time to keep a high efficiency, absorber 18 carries out the matter exchange admixing vapour and liquid in the same current between two plates including a swirl grid therebetween. Commercially available absorbers provide a large contact surface between liquid and vapour causing liquid to percolate through an appropriate distributor on a helicoidal pipe which is traversed in countercurrent by a cold fluid for the disposal of the heat of absorption. Vapour to be absorbed is flowed in the thin liquid film flowing on the helicoidal pipe. The desired solution is collected on the bottom of the tank in which the helicoidal pipe is contained. Such system requires large volumes and high weights, which prevents it from being used in a compact absorption heat pump intended to domestic utilization as herein requested. Heat exchangers having a swirl grid have been traded for some time, in which the liquid is passed between parallel plates including grids therebetween in order to cause the fluid to swirl at low rate increasing the heat exchange factor. Such plates are placed in series or in parallel and in countercurrent to a heat exchange liquid. Advantageously, according to a further development of the present invention the use of swirl grids is also extended to the matter exchange so as to provide highly efficient matter exchangers of reduced size and weights for transferring a fluid under the vapour state to a liquid solution poor in the same fluid (absorber). This has been achieved by providing an absorber having a plurality of plates disposed upon one another, in which the vapour to be absorbed (solute) and the liquid (solvent) are admixed in the same current between couples of plates between which a swirl grid is inserted. A dispersion of the liquid in the vapour under the form of microdrops increasing the contact surface between solute and solvent is provided along the path due to the presence of such grid. In order to provide the absorption the heat developed as a consequence of the absorption is subtracted by passing a heat exchange liquid in countercurrent or in the same current along the outer walls of the plates involved in the absorption. More particularly with reference to Fig. 16 absorber 18 includes a pair of outer slabs 202 and 204 between which a plurality of intermediate plates 106 are located, each of them is formed of a rectangular plane foil provided on at least three corners with holes 8 for the fluid circulation. Each foil is provided with peripheral sealing means 210 surrounding a swirl grid 212 and having at two diametrally opposed corners an extension 214 within which a corresponding hole 216 is formed communicating with the hole of the underlying foil. Accordingly, in a pack of plates alternatively overturned with one another the resulting gaps and the corresponding grids are crossed by fluids when holes 216 of a plates are aligned with holes 208 of the adjacent plate, while they are bypassed when holes 216 are aligned with other holes 216 since their sealing means prevents the fluids from overflowing to the grid. Moving slab 202 has two holes: the first designated by 218 for the inlet of the cooling fluid FR, the second 220 for the outlet of the enriched solution SR. Stationary slab 204, to which rubber plate 222 adheres, has in turn two holes 224 and 226 which are the inlet of the process fluids, i.e. liquid solvent SL and vapour solute SV, and the outlet of cooling fluid FR, respectively. Such slab is facing the smooth surface of and end plate 228 which unlike all of the other plates has only one hole 216 and one hole 208 horizontally aligned upwards. The whole assembly described above is provided with sealing means not shown as they are known, which seal all of plates of the pack from moving slab 202 to stationary slab 204. The operation is as follows: absorption fluids flow into the absorber through stationary slab 204. bypass then plate 228 through hole 216 and traverse the grid of the next plate 206 which is cooled during the absorption process due to the countercurrent flow of the cooling fluid along the grid of plate 228. The fluid is flowed repeatedly along the same way up to final moving slab 202 from which the enriched solution comes out through outlet 220. By changing the mesh of the metal wire nets a lot of different flow rates of the two fluids can be provided, thus allowing even the smallest flow rate which would be usually laminar to be strongly swirled, if necessary and permitted by the load loss. In an absorption heat pump it is desirable that the absorber has not too high pressure loss; to this purpose it is convenient to have "n" flows in parallel in the path of absorption of the solute into the solvent, where "n" is defined as the flow rate of the absorber and depends upon the need of keeping at least a little turbulence in order to assure the dispersion of the microdrops of the solvent in the solute. The flow in parallel is to be preferred because it assures lower pressure loss, however, it is not always capable of assuring an efficient heat exchange between cooling fluid and process fluid. In case "n" flows in parallel of the cooling fluid should be followed by "m" flows in series. at the end of the "n" flows a plate with two vertically aligned holes has to be placed. In Fig. 17 there is shown the flow diagram relative to the absorption of pure ammonia into a solution poor in ammonia, in which the cooling fluid is H 2 O. From that figure it is apparent that the paths of the two fluids designated with solid lines and dashed lines, respectively, are in countercurrent and/or in direct current according to the design requirements. In the illustrated case there are n=2 flows in parallel for the process fluids which are distributed in series for m times according to the necessity of eliminating the heat produced by the absorption. In the illustrated example m=15. In order to increase the number of flows in parallel of the process fluid followed by the m flows in series, plates having 4 holes, two up and two down, corresponding to n flows in parallel can be used after the first plate and the plates with three holes. The low-temperature solution near saturated with ammonia and formed in absorber 18 is transferred through pump 48 from a level of low pressure to the level of high pressure of the absorption heat pump in order to supply rectifying column 12. Such near saturated solution increases its heat content along the path and then recovers heat within the cycle and cools dephlegmator 30 and the poor solution through solution exchanger 20. The operating circuits are now briefly disclosed. The heat of condenser 22 and absorber 18 is removed by a process fluid (water - glycol) which is flowed by a circulator 52 of boiler 38. Such heat is used during winter both for heating and for the production of hot water for sanitary fixture, and during summer it is used for the production of hot water and for heating a storage tank 88 of the type usually referred to as water heater. The excess is dispersed through a water-air (or water-water) split-exchanger. Split-exchanger 54 supplies heat to water-glycol circulating in evaporator 24. According to a peculiar feature of the present invention this can be provided by a multi-way valve 26 allowing the flows to be deviated according to the operating requirements. The valve is shown in Fig. 11 and the following. Such valve is substantially formed of a solid cylinder 56 coaxially inserted in a hollow cylinder 58 provided with a bottom 62 and an upper lid 64 fastened by bolts 66 or the like. Outer cylinder 58 is provided with twelve lateral inlets: two series of four holes 68a, 68b, 68c and 68d, and 68a', 68b', 68c' and 68d' having horizontal axis (i.e. perpendicular to the plane of the drawing sheet of Fig. 5) and being diametrally opposed to one another, and two pairs of holes 70a, 70b and 70c, 70d having vertical axis, i.e. pairs of holes disposed side by side and spaced apart by 90° with respect to the preceding holes but placed at the opposite ends of two diametrally opposed generatrices of the same cylinder. In the inner cylinder 56 four conduits 74 are formed each by two radial holes disposed at 90° to each other and communicating at the centre. The four conduits are disposed so as to connect holes 70 to holes 68 or holes 68' according to the angular rotation. The angular amplitude of 90° of cylinder 56 is controlled by a rod 60 which is pivoted at one end about an axis 76 rigidly connected to cylinder 56. The stops of rod 60 are formed of a peg 80 sliding in a slot 82 formed in lid 64. Such peg 80 acts as a cam at its stop and lifts a rod 84 which in turn operates a microswitch 86 for reversing the operation of the thermostat and for energizing electrovalve 42 of bypass 40. The operation of multi-way valve is as follows. During winter user 90, for example a fan-convector, is connected to hot water produced by the condenser and the absorber of the absorption heat pump. At the same time water-glycol circulating in evaporator 24 is fed to split-exchanger 54. Conversely, during summer user 90 is connected to evaporator 24 and cooling water of the condenser and the absorber is fed to split-exchanger 54. From the foregoing the advantages of the invention are soon apparent: the system has small dimension and weight, and its management is related to the use of a wall gas boiler; the absorption fluid (water-ammonia solution) is indirectly heated with high heat exchange factors; the heat pump can be coupled through multi-way valve to any commercial heat split-exchanger which performs the function of cold source during winter and the function of hot drain during summer without any modification. The present invention has been illustrated and described according to a preferred embodiment thereof but it should be understood that construction changes can be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the present industrial invention as defined in the claims.

Claims: Water/ammonia absorption heat pump for heating or refrigerating buildings and for delivering in combination hot water for sanitary fixtures, comprising: a generator (10) to bring a refrigerant to the vapor state, a boiler (38) to supply said generator with heat, a condenser (22) for the refrigerant vapor coming from said generator, a storage tank (34) for the refrigerant condensed from said condenser, a subcooler (25) for said condensed refrigerant, an absorber (18) where the pure refrigerant is absorbed into the poor solution from the generator to provide a rich solution, a pump (48) for the rich solution for delivering such solution to the generator, a first expansion means (46) for passing the poor solution from said generator to said absorber, a heat exchanger (20) for exchanging heat between the rich solution and the poor solution, a second expansion means (36) for subcooled condensed refrigerant coming from said tank, means (40) for reducing pressure loss of said second expansion means during summer, an evaporator (24) receiving heat from a low-temperature source to evaporate refrigerant passing through said second expansion means, and a multi-way valve (26) allowing said heat pump to be coupled with a split-exchanger (54) by deviating the flows of a process fluid according to the season so as to cause said split-exchanger to perform the function of a cold source during the winter and the function of a hot drain during the summer, characterized in that, said second expansion means (36) includes a screw (36a) which is screwed against the force of a spring (36b) into a corresponding female nut thread with an axial clearance (g) between the thread of the screw and the nut thread, the screw (36a) being axially movable against the spring bias by the pressure differential thereacross to vary the clearance as a function of the pressure differential, whereby an increasing pressure differential increases the clearance and therefore decreases the pressure loss, the clearance (g) and spring bias (36b) being set so that the storage tank (34) is full when the flow rate of the refrigerant through the second expansion means is equal to the maximum flow rate produced by the generator at maximum power rating thereof, that a bypass (40) is provided for the second expansion means for reducing the pressure loss thereof, the bypass having a bypass control valve (42) therein, and that control means (60) are provided for controlling the multi-way valve (26) and the bypass control valve (42) so as to open the bypass and thereby reducing the pressure loss of the second expansion means (36) if the multi-way valve is switched to cause the split exchanger (54) to perform the function of a hot drain during the summer. The heat pump of claim 1, wherein the multi-way valve (26) is controlled directly by the user (90) so as to connect the latter during winter to the cooling circuit of the condenser (22) and the absorber (18), thus allowing the heat removed from said components (22, 18) to be used for the environment heating and for the production of hot water for sanitary fixtures, and to connect during summer the user (90) to the exchange circuit of the evaporator (24) and the cooling circuit of the condenser (22), and the absorber (18) to the split-exchanger (54), respectively. The heat pump of claims 1 and 2, wherein a manual control of the multi-way valve (26) actuates a cam (80) which operates a microswitch (86) for reversing the operation of a thermostat if the heat pump is programmed to operate at room temperature. The heat pump of claim 1, wherein in order to optimize the operation under continuously varying conditions the vapor generator (10) of the refrigerant includes a reboiler (14), a rectifying column (12) having perforated plates with wires with hydrostatic head, and a high-efficiency partial condenser or dephlegmator (30), said hydrostatic head on the plates of the rectifying column allowing, after the first starting, the operation to be restarted after having been discontinued without any delay for achieving the optimum steady conditions. The heat pump of claim 4, wherein the hydrostatic head on the plates of the rectifying column (12) is provided by using for the plates water-proofing material, and that the desired height of said head for any used liquid depends on the diameter of the holes in the plates. The heat pump of claim 4, wherein said dephlegmator (30) has a helicoidal pipe (116) in which the cold liquid for the cooling is flowing, said helicoidal pipe being an endless screw formed of a plurality of superimposed discs (118) provided with slots (120) opposed two by two and twisted by an amplitude corresponding to the diameter of the helicoidal pipe. The heat pump of claim 6, wherein free gaps (122) among discs (118) and helicoidal pipes (116) are filled with metal shavings which increase the pressure loss and reduce the preferential paths both of the liquid and the vapor to the minimum. The heat pump of claim 6, wherein also the top (124) of the rectifying column (12) is filled with metal shavings in order to avoid or at least to reduce the entrainment of the liquid phase by the vapor to the minimum. The heat pump of claim 6, wherein weirs (110) on the rectifying plates are provided with teeth (113) spacing them apart from an underlying plate in order to cause a pressure loss capable to assure a sufficient degassing time. The heat pump of claim 4, wherein in order to prevent fire from contacting containers under pressure the bottom of the reboiler (14) is lined with a tank (16) where the vapor of propylene glycol produced by said boiler (38) condenses. The heat pump of claim 4, wherein in order to prevent fire from contacting containers under pressure the reboiler (14) is heated by a compact exchanger (37). The heat pump of claim 4, wherein a boiler (38) which transfers heat to the reboiler (14) is a wall gas boiler. The heat pump of claim 1, wherein all of the heat exchangers are compact plate exchangers. The heat pump of claim 1, wherein said multi-way valve (26) includes: a stationary, hollow cylindrical valve body (58) provided with a first (68a,68b,68c,68d) and a second (68a',68b',68c',68d')series of first four holes in said valve body diametrically opposed to each other and two pairs of second holes (70a,70b; 70c,70d) each of said pairs being disposed at the opposite ends of two generatrices angularly spaced by 90° with respect to the first and second series of holes, and an inner cylindrical body (56) which is rotatable within said valve body and in which four conduits (74) are formed each by two radial holes at 90° to each other and communicating at the center, said four conduits being located so as to connect said pairs of second holes with the first or the second series of first four holes of the outer valve body, respectively, as a result of an angular rotation by 90° of said inner body. The heat pump of claim 1, wherein said absorber (18), where the pure refrigerant is absorbed in the poor solution for producing a rich solution , is formed by a pack of not corrugated plates (106) among which swirl grids (212) are interposed in a corresponding number, in which the refrigerant in the vapor state and the solvent in the liquid state are fed in direct current for providing a dispersion of microdrops of said solvent in the solute at said grids. The heat pump of claim 15, wherein the absorption heat in the absorber (18) is removed by a process fluid circulating (co-current or countercurrent) along the outer surfaces of the plates limiting the absorption fluids. The heat pump of claim 15, wherein in order to reduce the pressure loss in the absorber (18) the path of absorption of the refrigerant into the solvent is formed of flows in parallel and flows in series under the same exchange surfaces and the same flow section of any single plate (106). The heat pump of claim 17, wherein the number of flows in parallel depends on the amount of the material to be absorbed and on the need of keeping a turbulence condition which assures the dispersion of the solute in microdrops. The heat pump of claim 16, wherein the plates (106) of the absorber (18) are arranged both in parallel and in series, and the inlet and outlet collectors of the refrigerant and of the process fluid are located at both ends of the pack of plates.

Inventors: CENA VINCENZO, GIACOMETTI PAOLO, MUSTACCHI CARLO, CENA, VINCENZO, GIACOMETTI, PAOLO, MUSTACCHI, CARLO
Applicants: ENEA ENTE NUOVE TEC, ENEA ENTE PER LE NUOVE TECNOLOGIE, L'ENERGIA E L'AMBIENTE
Application year: 1992
Main classification: F25B29
IPC codes: F25B29, F25B15