Abstract:
An assembly for installing geothermal conduit loops into the ground under an existing foundation, including a support platform including a plurality of beam sections interconnected to form an elongated support beam having a longitudinal axis, the plurality of beam sections including first and second beam sections each defining a respective end of the elongated support beam, each of the first and second beam sections including an attachment flange attached to the respective end of the elongated support beam, each attachment flange defining a flange plane oriented non-perpendicularly to the longitudinal axis, each attachment flange configured for detachable securement to a respective one of adjoining walls of the foundation.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
       [0001]    This application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 13/037,396 filed on Mar. 1, 2011, the entire contents of which are incorporated by reference herein. 
     
    
     TECHNICAL FIELD 
       [0002]    The present invention relates to an assembly for the installation of geothermal conduits adjacent a foundation wall inside or outside a building structure. 
       BACKGROUND ART 
       [0003]    Reference is made to U.S. application Ser. No. 12/320,754, entitled “System and method for geothermal conduit loop in-ground installation and soil penetrating head therefor”, filed Feb. 4, 2009, in which there is disclosed a drive mechanism to drive a force transmitting shaft into the ground to install geothermal conduit loops therein. Geothermal systems are usually installed remote from a building structure by drilling holes into the ground and in which conduits are installed. This usually requires heavy and bulky machinery. It is also difficult to adapt geothermal systems to existing buildings or residential dwellings where land mass around most of these dwellings is very restricted. It is very difficult in such limited space to use heavy machinery to drive pipes into the ground or to drive conduit loops into the ground. When installing a geothermal conduit system into the ground it is often required to bore several holes within the ground and to install several conduit loops and to interconnect them together. This requires extensive excavations or surface area to install a complete system. 
         [0004]    The use of thermal energy is becoming more and more important due to the high cost of combustible products or electrical energy. Accordingly, existing building structures with limited land thereabout can only convert to geothermal energy if such energy can be captivated from under the existing foundation of the building or very close thereto. Accordingly, such geothermal conduits need to be driven into the soil from the basement concrete floor of the foundation or in a limited space outside the foundation walls. The use of heavy machinery to drive soil penetrating shafts into the ground is not possible for such restricted spaces. Therefore, the solution is to have a modular system whereby the parts thereof are easily transportable and can be assembled by a small work force such as a two person crew and operated in an existing basement of a building. 
       SUMMARY OF INVENTION 
       [0005]    In at least some embodiment, the present invention provides a support assembly for a drive mechanism adapted to drive a force transmitting shaft having a soil penetrating head with a geothermal conduit loop attached thereto into the ground under an existing basement concrete floor of a building structure or closely adjacent transverse foundation walls. 
         [0006]    In at least some embodiments, the present invention provides a support assembly for a drive mechanism adapted to drive a force transmitting shaft having a soil penetrating head with a geothermal conduit loop attached thereto into the ground under an existing basement concrete floor by the use of interconnectable support platform sections which are removably attachable to opposed transverse foundation walls of a basement concrete structure. 
         [0007]    In at least some embodiments, the present invention provides a support assembly for a drive mechanism adapted to drive a force transmitting shaft having a soil penetrating head with a geothermal conduit loop attached thereto into the ground and wherein the support assembly has a turret support base capable of orienting the drive mechanism at different angles to install several conduit loops into the ground in an area under the turret support base and wherein the drive mechanism can also be angulated at different angular positions. 
         [0008]    In at least some embodiments, the present invention provides a method of installing a geothermal conduit system interiorly under a basement concrete floor or exteriorly adjacent a concrete foundation. 
         [0009]    In one aspect, there is provided a support assembly for a drive mechanism adapted to drive a force transmitting shaft having a soil penetrating head with a geothermal conduit loop attached thereto into the ground under an existing basement concrete floor of a building structure through a hole formed in the concrete floor. The support assembly comprises a support platform formed of platform sections having interconnecting means for interconnection together. Attachment means is provided at opposed ends of at least some of the support platform sections for detachable securement to a respective one of opposed transverse foundation walls adjacent the concrete floor whereby the support assembly extends diagonally between the opposed transverse walls. 
         [0010]    In another aspect, there is provided a support assembly for a drive mechanism adapted to drive a force transmitting shaft having a soil penetrating head with a geothermal conduit loop attached thereto into the ground adjacent foundation walls of a building structure. The support assembly comprises a support platform formed of sections having interconnecting means for interconnection together. Attachment means is secured to at least two of these sections for detachable securement to a respective one of opposed transverse foundation walls of the building structure. One of the sections projects exteriorly of the foundation walls and has a support means for securing the drive mechanism spaced from the foundation walls whereby to drive the force transmitting shaft at different angles into the ground. 
         [0011]    In another aspect, there is provided a method of installing a geothermal conduit system under a basement concrete floor. The method comprises forming a hole in the concrete floor spaced from opposed transverse foundation walls to expose the soil thereunder. A support platform is assembled from platform sections. Opposed ends of the assembled support platform are secured to a respective one of the opposed transverse foundation walls with the support platform extending at least partly over the hole. A drive mechanism is secured to the support platform over the hole. A force transmitting shaft having a soil penetrating head is secured to the drive mechanism. A geothermal flexible conduit loop is secured to the soil penetrating head. The drive mechanism is operated to displace the force transmitting shaft into the ground to bury at least part of the geothermal flexible conduit loop. 
         [0012]    In another aspect, there is provided an assembly for installing geothermal conduit loops into the ground under an existing foundation, the assembly comprising: a support platform including a plurality of beam sections interconnected to form an elongated support beam having a longitudinal axis, the plurality of beam sections including first and second beam sections each defining a respective end of the elongated support beam, each of the first and second beam sections including an attachment flange attached to the respective end of the elongated support beam, each attachment flange defining a flange plane oriented non-perpendicularly to the longitudinal axis, each attachment flange configured for detachable securement to a respective one of adjoining walls of the foundation; a turret support base secured to the support platform; a drive support base pivotally and detachably engaged on the turret support base such as to be pivotable relative thereto about a first axis; a drive mechanism engaged to the drive support base such as to be pivotable relative thereto about a second axis non-parallel to the first axis; and a force transmitting shaft drivingly engaged to the drive mechanism and extending downwardly therefrom, the force transmitting shaft having a soil penetrating head configured to penetrate the soil while engaging one of the conduit loops when the force transmitting shaft is driven by the drive mechanism. 
         [0013]    In a further aspect, there is provided an assembly for installing geothermal conduit loops into the ground adjacent an existing foundation, the assembly comprising: a support platform including: a first beam section having a first longitudinal axis and opposed first and second ends, a first attachment flange connected to the first beam section adjacent the second end thereof, the first attachment flange defining a first flange plane parallel to the first longitudinal axis, a second beam section having a second longitudinal axis non-parallel to the first longitudinal axis and opposed first and second ends, the first end of the second beam section being connected to the first beam section between the first and second ends thereof, a second attachment flange connected to the second beam section adjacent the second end thereof, the second attachment flange defining a second flange plane parallel to the second longitudinal axis, wherein the first and second attachment flanges are each configured for detachable securement to an exterior surface of a respective one of adjoining walls of the foundation; a turret support base secured to the first beam section adjacent the first end thereof; a drive support base pivotally and detachably engaged on the turret support base such as to be pivotable relative thereto about a first axis; a drive mechanism engaged to the drive support base such as to be pivotable relative thereto about a second axis non-parallel to the first axis; and a force transmitting shaft drivingly engaged to the drive mechanism and extending downwardly therefrom, the force transmitting shaft having a soil penetrating head configured to penetrate the soil while engaging one of the conduit loops when the force transmitting shaft is driven by the drive mechanism. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS 
         [0014]    A preferred embodiment of the present invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: 
           [0015]      FIG. 1  is a schematic view showing a plurality of geothermal conduit loops installed into the ground under an existing foundation of a building structure and interconnected together to form a geothermal conduit system which is secured to a heat exchange device to heat air within the building structure or to cool air within the building structure; 
           [0016]      FIG. 2  is a perspective view showing the support assembly in an assembled state and connected across opposed transverse foundation walls of a building structure with a hole having been made in the basement concrete floor and a drive mechanism secured to the support assembly over the hole; 
           [0017]      FIG. 3  is an enlarged perspective view showing the construction of the drive mechanism and its securement to a section of the support beam assembly; 
           [0018]      FIG. 4  is a side view of the drive mechanism secured to the beam assembly and illustrating the position of the angulated end attachment plate securable to the foundation walls as well as illustrating the adjustable inclination support rod; and 
           [0019]      FIG. 5  is a top view of a schematic diagram showing various modifications to the support assembly for supporting a drive mechanism over a hole formed in a basement concrete floor adjacent opposed transverse foundation walls or in a restricted exterior area of the opposed transverse foundation walls. 
       
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
       [0020]    Referring now to the drawings, and more particularly to  FIG. 1 , there is schematically illustrated a geothermal conduit system  10  consisting of a plurality of geothermal conduit loops  11  installed into the ground  12  under a foundation  13  of a building structure  14 , herein a residential building structure. As hereinshown, the conduit loops  11  are interconnected in an upper region above ground in a series configuration whereby a fluid can be circulated through the series assembly of loops from an input end  15  to an output end  16  which are connected to a heat exchange device, not shown herein but obvious to a person skilled in the art, to extract heat from the ground or release heat into the ground to cool the fluid. Reference is herein made to our co-pending application Ser. No. 12/320,754 and entitled “System and method for geothermal conduit loop in-ground installation and soil penetrating head therefor” the contents of which is incorporated herein by reference. 
         [0021]    Referring now to  FIGS. 2 to 4 , there will be described the support assembly  20  of the present invention to support a drive mechanism  21  over a hole  22  formed in an existing basement concrete floor  23  of the building structure  14  as shown in  FIG. 1 , and adjacent opposed transverse foundation walls  24  and  24 ′ of the foundation  13 . The drive mechanism  21  is adapted to drive a force transmitting shaft  25  having a soil penetrating head  26  into the ground  27 . Attached to the soil penetrating head  26  is a conduit loop  11  as shown in  FIG. 1 . The force transmitting shaft  25  is driven into the ground  27  to a predetermined depth and to do so the force transmitting shaft  25  is formed of short sections which are interconnected end-to-end and easy to transport and assemble in a limited space.  FIG. 2  shows the bottom section only of the force transmitting shaft. 
         [0022]    Due to the limited space in a basement of an existing building, the support assembly  20  is constructed of support platform sections  28 ,  28 ′ and  29 . The section  29  is a central platform section to which a drive mechanism is secureable, while the other two sections  28  and  28 ′ are connected to opposed ends thereof by interconnecting flanges  30 . These platform sections facilitate the transport thereof due to their smaller size and the limited space available to transport these into an existing basement. Carrying handles  31  are provided on each of the platform sections  28 ,  28 ′ and  30  to facilitate its transport. 
         [0023]    As also shown in  FIG. 2  attachment means in the form of attachment flanges  32  and  32 ′ are provided at the free ends of the sections  28  and  28 ′ and these are provided with holes  33  and  33 ′ to receive anchor bolts  34  and  34 ′ to secure the support assembly  20  to the opposed transverse foundation walls  24  and  24 ′. As can be seen, these attachment flanges  32  and  32 ′ define a flange plane which is a substantially planar surface delimited by the face of the attachment flanges  32  and  32 ′. The flange plane is oriented parallel to, and offset from, the plane defined by the foundation walls when the flange plane is installed thereagainst. The flange plane can intersect a straight axis of a corresponding section  28  and  28 ′, and is oriented at an angle that is different from 90°, i.e. is not perpendicular. In other words, the flange plane is not normal to the straight axis which intersects it. In a preferred embodiment, the flange planes of the attachment flanges  32  and  32 ′ are angulated at an angle of 45 degrees whereby to support the assembly  20  diagonally between the opposed transverse walls  24  and  24 ′. 
         [0024]    As shown in  FIG. 2 , there are three platform sections constituted by hollow metal support beams but the assembly could also be constituted by two or more than three of these beam sections whereby to construct a support beam assembly  20  along a straight axis to form an elongated straight support beam. The platform beams are assembled resting on the floor  23 . 
         [0025]    As more clearly illustrated in  FIG. 3 , a turret support base  35  is secured to the top wall  36  of the central platform section  29  and the drive mechanism is provided with a support base  37  which is detachably secured to the turret support base  35 . The connecting mechanism is not shown herein but can consist of several turret attachments obvious to a person skilled in the art. The turret support base makes it possible for the drive mechanism  21  to be oriented at a desired position relative to the support beam and the hole  22  thereunder. To facilitate the assembly of the platform sections  28 ,  28 ′ and  29  these are assembled resting on the basement concrete floor  23 . As can be seen, the end attachment flanges  32  and  32 ′ do not extend under the lower surface  38  of the end beams  28  and  28 ′. Accordingly, it is not necessary to lift the opposed side beam sections  28  and  28 ′ during assembly and the central platform beam  29  is made smaller, thus lighter, for ease of installation. Of course, the drive mechanism  21  is assembled only after the entire support assembly is connected to the opposed vertical side walls  24  and  24 ′. 
         [0026]    With reference now to  FIGS. 3 and 4  it can be seen that the drive mechanism  21  is also provided with an adjustable inclination means, herein constituted by an adjustable support rod  39 , pivotally connected at a top end thereof to a pivot connection  40 . The adjustable support rod  39  is also guidingly received and displaceable in a pivoting linkage  41  secured to the support base  37 . The adjustable support rod  29  is displaced to adjust the angular position of the drive mechanism  21  and therefore the force transmitting shaft  25  with respect to the support beam assembly  20  to drive conduit loops at different angles into the soil  27 . Once the angle is selected the support rod is arrested by tightening the bolt  42  to clamp the adjustable support rod  39  to the pivotal linkage  41 . 
         [0027]    As shown in  FIG. 4  the adjustable support rod  39  may also be provided with a plurality of spaced-apart through holes  43  and the means to arrest the support rod with the pivotal linkage  41  may be constituted simply by a bolt fastener positionable through a passage in the pivoting linkage  41  and a selected one of the spaced-apart through holes  43 . 
         [0028]    As shown in  FIG. 3 , the support base  37  may also be provided with a locking means in the form of a lock bolt  45  extending through the flange wall  46  of the support base  37  for engagement with the turret support base  35  to maintain the drive mechanism  21  at a desired angle with respect to the longitudinal axis  47  of the support beam assembly. A plurality of pin receiving holes  48  may be disposed about the turret support base  35  to receive the lock bolt  45  in a selected one of these to provide an immovable connection. Of course the lock bolt  45  may be secured to a hinge mechanism secured to the flange  46  to quickly engage and disengage the lock bolt  45  with a selected one of the holes  48  provided in the turret support base  35 . 
         [0029]    Referring now to  FIG. 5 , there is shown modifications of the support assembly of the present invention.  FIG. 5  illustrates two modifications, one wherein the support assembly  20 ′ is secured to the opposed transverse foundation walls  24  and  24 ′ in the basement of an existing building structure but wherein the assembly comprises a diagonal support beam  50  having flanges  51  to secure to the transverse foundation walls and a transverse support beam  52  secured at one end  52 ′ to a corner of the opposed transverse foundation walls and projecting over the beam  50  and secured thereto and terminating over the hole  22  formed in the basement concrete floor  23 . The free end  52 ′ of the transverse beam  52  is provided with the turret support base  35  for mounting the drive mechanism  21  thereto. 
         [0030]      FIG. 5  also shows a further embodiment  20 ″ of the support beam assembly and herein constituted by two beam sections for securement to the opposed transverse foundation walls  24  and  24 ′ exteriorly of the building in a hole  55  excavated in the ground adjacent the foundation. This hole can be excavated by a small digging machine, such as a backhoe, which does not require much space to maneuver. As hereinshown, the support assembly  20 ″ is constituted by an elongated beam section  60  and a shorter transverse beam section  61  each provided with attachment flanges  60 ′ and  61 ′, respectively, for securement to the foundation wall. The flange planes of each of the attachment flanges  60 ′ and  61 ′ are oriented and angulated at an angle of 0 degrees (i.e. are parallel to) with respect to the straight axis of the beam sections  60  and  61  to which they are attached in order to support the beam sections  60  and  61  disposed in parallel to the opposed transverse walls  24  and  24 ′. The elongated beam section  60  projects exteriorly of the foundation walls and has the turret support base  35  secured at an extremity thereof whereby to support the drive mechanism  21  thereon. As hereinshown by the arrows  62  the force transmitting shafts can be oriented in a variety of angular positions to secure the conduit loops close to the foundation walls or under the foundation walls. The beam sections  60  and  61  are also interconnected together by an interconnecting flange  63 . 
         [0031]    In summary, the method of installing the geothermal conduit system under an existing basement concrete floor comprises the steps of firstly forming a hole in the basement concrete floor  23  spaced from opposed transverse foundation walls  24  and  24 ′ to expose the ground  27  thereunder. The support platform assembly is assembled and secured to opposed transverse foundation walls  24  and  24 ′, as above-described. The drive mechanism  21  is then secured on the turret support base  35 . The force transmitting shafts are then assembled in the drive mechanism  21  which is driven by a pair of pistons  71 , as shown in  FIG. 3 , to reciprocate the drive mechanism  70  to cause the force transmitting shaft  25  to be displaced in the direction of arrow  72  for driving same into the ground. Before doing so a geothermal flexible conduit loop  11  as shown in  FIG. 1 , is secured to the soil penetrating head  26 . The soil penetrating head  26  may have various designs as described in my above-referenced co-pending application. After one loop has been pulled into the ground to a desired depth it is then necessary to reverse the drive mechanism  70  whereby the reciprocation of the pistons  71  will pull the force transmitting shaft  25  in a direction opposed to arrow  72 . When the force transmitting shaft  25  is retracted, the soil penetrating head  26  is automatically disconnected from the end of the conduit loop. The drive mechanism is then re-oriented at a different angle with respect to the support beam assembly and may also be angulated at a different angle by means of the adjustable support rod  39 . A further conduit loop is secured to the soil penetrating head and the drive mechanism  21  is operated to drive the force transmitting shaft  25  to locate another conduit loop at a different orientation into the soil. Many conduit loops are thus installed into the ground under the foundation at different orientations all through a single hole  22  formed in the basement concrete floor  23  of the building structure. After a predetermined number of these conduit loops have been installed into the ground, the top end portions of the conduit loops which are exposed over the hole  22  are then cut close to the ground and interconnected in series by the use of elbow couplings and tube sections with only an inlet and outlet end of the series connected loops exiting the hole  22 . The hole  22  is then filled with concrete and the two exiting end sections are connected to a thermopump-type heat exchange device. 
         [0032]    It is within the ambit of the present invention to cover any obvious modifications of the preferred embodiment described herein, provided such modifications fall within the scope of the appended claims.