A district energy distributing system is disclosed. The system comprises a geothermal heat source system comprising a geothermal heat source and a feed conduit for a flow of geothermally heated water from the geothermal heat source. The system further comprises a district feed conduit, a district return conduit and a plurality of local heating systems, each having an inlet connected to the district feed conduit and an outlet connected to the district return conduit, wherein each local heating system is configured to provide hot water and/or comfort heating to a building, A central heat exchanger is connected to the feed conduit of the geothermal heat source system such that an incoming flow of geothermally heated water is provided to the central heat exchanger.

Various embodiments of the teachings herein include a control platform for controlling a heat network. A plurality of heat consumers and/or heat generators are coupled to the heat network for heat exchange. The control platform is programmed to: receive from each heat consumer information about a respective local feed temperature required as a minimum by the heat consumer within a time interval; and/or receive from each heat generator information about a respective local feed temperature that can be provided as a maximum by the heat generator within the time interval; and control the heat network depending on the received information relating to the local feed temperatures.

A central controller for controlling power consumption in a thermal energy system is disclosed, the energy system may include a plurality of heat pump assemblies and a plurality of cooling machine assemblies, each heat pump assembly being connected to a thermal energy circuit comprising a hot conduit and a cold conduit via a thermal heating circuit inlet connected to the hot conduit and via a thermal heating circuit outlet connected to the cold conduit, each cooling machine assembly being connected to the thermal energy circuit via a thermal cooling circuit inlet connected to the cold conduit and via a thermal cooling circuit outlet connected to the hot conduit.

A furnace includes a pump in a circuit through a heat exchanger and a manifold having a plurality of discharge openings in a first area and return openings in a second area connected by a transfer area with each discharge and return feeding a respective heat loop. A bypass in the circuit includes a temperature controlled protection valve connected between the bypass and the manifold. The heated liquid inlet of the manifold is connected to the manifold in the first area with the plurality of discharge openings at a position between the plurality of discharge openings and the plurality of return openings. The manifold is defined by a rectangular chamber divided longitudinally and diagonally by a transverse wall which terminates at one end at a position spaced from an adjacent end of the chamber to define an undivided portion of the chamber at the end which forms the transfer area.

An exemplary system is for a facility including a first heating/cooling zone and a water delivery system configured to deliver domestic water to a point of water use. The system generally includes a facility loop having a facility loop refrigerant flowing therethrough, a first zone heat pump configured to transfer thermal energy between the facility loop refrigerant and the first heating/cooling zone, and a first water-source heat pump configured to transfer thermal energy between domestic water upstream of the point of water use and the facility loop refrigerant.

The patent application relates to a district-heat consumer plant which is capable of being linked to a district-heat network and which comprises at least one heat-consumer which is capable of being supplied with heat from the district-heat network, the district-heat consumer plant comprising a port via which the district-heat consumer plant is capable of being linked to a district-heat reflux of the district-heat network, in order to withdraw heat from the district-heat reflux for the purpose of supplying the at least one heat-consumer. The patent application further relates to a district-heat network, to which a district-heat consumer plant is capable of being linked, the district-heat network comprising a district-heat reflux, and the district-heat reflux comprising a port for the district-heat consumer plant, in order to supply the district-heat consumer plant with heat from the district-heat reflux. Lastly, the patent application relates to a district-heat system which comprises a district-heat consumer plant and a district-heat network.

The present invention is a method of optimizing radiant and thermal efficiency of a gas fired radiant tube heater. A heat exchange blower receives intake air and delivers intake air through a heat exchanger as pre-heated air to a combustion air blower. The combustion air blower receives pre-heated intake air from the heat exchanger and then provides the pre-heated intake air to a burner for mixing with fuel. The fuel-intake air mixture is burned in the burner thereby producing combustion gasses which are fired into a radiant tube. The exhaust combustion gases pass through the balance of the radiant tube and through the heat exchanger where residual heat is transferred and extracted from the combustion gases to pre-heat the intake air. The turbulators are configured to increase the turbulence within the radiant tube and are placed within the initial 10′ to 30′ of the radiant tube after the burner to increase the tube temperature and the radiation emitted from this section of the radiant tube.

Disclosed herein are related to a system, a method, and a non-transitory computer readable medium for operating an energy plant having a plurality of subplants that operate to produce one or more resources consumed by a building based on ranks. In one aspect, the system obtains rank identifiers indicating ranks of the plurality of subplants. In one aspect, the ranks indicate a priority of each subplant with respect to production of a resource relative to other subplants that produce the resource. In one aspect, the system determines resource allocation of the plurality of subplants according to the ranks of the plurality of subplants. The system may operate the plurality of subplants according to the resource allocation.

A system and method of providing a high temperature hot water system assembly including a direct buried valve box that connects to one or more underground service pipes is disclosed. The buried valve box contains a valve assembly configured to control the flow of water through the one or more service pipes. An air gap within the valve box allows for movement and expansion of the components as the temperatures rise, preventing cracking or other failures. A bypass valve is also provided within the buried valve box, allowing for a small amount of hot water to flow through the service pipes to gradually increase the temperature. The direct buried valve boxes, controllable through valve risers that terminate in surface assembly boxes, eliminate the need for large, concrete underground vaults that make maintenance and operation of valve assemblies more difficult.

A system and method of providing a high temperature hot water system assembly including a direct buried valve box that connects to one or more underground service pipes is disclosed. The buried valve box contains a valve assembly configured to control the flow of water through the one or more service pipes. An air gap within the valve box allows for movement and expansion of the components as the temperatures rise, preventing cracking or other failures. A bypass valve is also provided within the buried valve box, allowing for a small amount of hot water to flow through the service pipes to gradually increase the temperature. The direct buried valve boxes, controllable through valve risers that terminate in surface assembly boxes, eliminate the need for large, concrete underground vaults that make maintenance and operation of valve assemblies more difficult.