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.

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.

A local energy distributing system includes a local feed conduit; a local return conduit; a central heat exchanger connected to a heating grid having a feed conduit for an incoming flow of heat transfer fluid having a first temperature in the range of 50-120° C., and a return conduit for a return flow of heat transfer fluid having a second temperature, the second temperature being lower than the first temperature, wherein the central heat exchanger is configured to exchange heat from the incoming flow of heat transfer fluid to an outgoing flow of local heat transfer fluid in the local feed conduit. The system also includes a plurality of local heating systems, each having an inlet connected to the local feed conduit and an outlet connected to the local return conduit, wherein each local heating system is configured to provide hot water and/or comfort heating to a building.

The disclosure relates to a method for controlling a heat distribution system. The method comprises: determining a time period of forecasted elevated overall outtake of heat from a district thermal energy distribution grid (110) by local heat distribution systems (150) connected to the district thermal energy distribution grid (110); determining, at a control sewer (130), a control signal associated with a respective one of a plurality of local control units (140), wherein each respective control signal is time resolved and comprises information pertaining to a temporary increase in heat outtake from the district thermal energy distribution grid (110) before the determined time period, and information pertaining to a temporary decrease in heat outtake from the district thermal energy distribution grid (110) during the determined time period; sending each respective control signal from the control sewer (130) to the respective local control unit (140); receiving the respective control signal at the respective local control unit (140); and regulating, at each respective local control unit (140) and based on the respective control signal, the outtake of heat by the respective local heat distribution system (150) from the district thermal energy distribution grid (110).

The present invention relates to a method for controlling setting of reversible heat pump assemblies (100) of a district thermal energy distribution system (1) in either a heating mode or a cooling mode. The method comprises: determining, at a control server, a first set of the reversible heat pump assemblies (100) to be set in the heating mode during a future time period; determining, at the control server, a second set of the reversible heat pump assemblies (100) to be set in the cooling mode during the future time period, wherein the second set of the reversible heat pump assemblies (100) is separate from the first set of the reversible heat pump assemblies (100); sending, from the control server (200) to the reversible heat pump assemblies (100) of the first set of the reversible heat pump assemblies (100), a respective control message to set the respective reversible heat pump assembly (100) in the heating mode for the future time period; sending, from the control server (200) to the reversible heat pump assemblies (100) of the second set of the reversible heat pump assemblies (100), a respective control message to set the respective reversible heat pump assembly (100) in the cooling mode for the future time period; and setting the respective reversible heat pump assembly (100) in either the heating mode or the cooling mode for the future time period.

A thermal energy network interconnecting a plurality of thermal loads and methods of providing thermal energy therebetween, the network and methods including: a primary circuit loop for working fluid, at least two thermal loads thermally connected to the primary circuit loop, at least one of the thermal loads being capable of taking heat from the primary circuit loop and at least one of the thermal loads being capable of rejecting heat into the primary circuit loop, an energy centre connected to the loop and capable of acting as a heat source or a heat sink, and a control system adapted to provide to the primary circuit loop a positive or negative thermal input from the energy centre as a balancing thermal input to compensate for net thermal energy lost to or gained from the at least two thermal loads by the primary circuit loop.

A heat pump assembly (100) is presented. The heat pump assembly (100) comprises a heat pump (110) having a primary side inlet (122) and a primary side outlet (124); a primary side inlet valve assembly (126) comprising: a primary side inlet connection (126a) connected to the primary side inlet (122), a primary side inlet valve first conduit connection (126b) configured to be connected to a first conduit (12) of a thermal energy grid (10), and a primary side inlet valve second conduit connection (126c) configured to be connected to a second conduit (14) of the thermal energy grid (10); a first conduit temperature determining device (105a) configured to measure a local temperature, t.sub.1, of heat transfer liquid of the first conduit (12); a second conduit temperature determining device (105b) configured to measure a local temperature, t.sub.2, of heat transfer liquid of the second conduit (14); and a controller (108). The controller is configured to: receive hand t.sub.2 from the first and second conduit temperature determining devices (105a; 105b), receive information pertaining to whether the heat pump (110) is a heating mode heat pump or a cooling mode heat pump. The controller is configured to upon the heat pump (110) is the heating mode heat pump and upon t.sub.2>t.sub.1 set the primary side inlet valve assembly (126) to fluidly connect the primary side inlet valve first conduit connection (126b) and the primary side inlet connection (126a), primary side inlet valve assembly (126) to fluidly connect the primary side inlet valve or upon the heat pump (110) is the heating mode heat pump and upon t.sub.1>t.sub.2, set the second conduit connection (126c) and the primary side inlet connection (126a). The controller is configured to upon the heat pump (110) is the cooling mode heat pump and upon t.sub.1>t.sub.2, set the primary side inlet valve assembly (126) to fluidly connect the primary side inlet valve second conduit connection (126c) and the primary side inlet connection (126a), or upon the heat pump (110) is the cooling mode heat pump and upon t.sub.2>t.sub.1, set the primary side inlet valve assembly (126) to fluidly connect the primary side inlet valve first conduit connection (126b) and the primary side inlet connection (126a).

A baseboard radiator (10) for use in perimeter heating has a heating coil (11), a chassis (25) and a cover (23). The heating coil (11) has at least one fin (12), defining a front edge (13), a rear edge (14), an upper edge (15) and a lower edge (16) of the heating coil (11). The lower edge (16) has front (21) and rear (22) notches formed therein. The chassis (25) engages with the rear notch (22) and extends from the lower edge (16) over the rear edge (14) and the upper edge (15). The chassis (25) is further adapted for mounting the radiator (10) on a wall (28). The cover (23) engages with the front notch (21) and extends from the lower edge (16) over the front edge (13) and the upper edge (15) to engage between the chassis (25) and the wall (28).

The invention provides a system for energy distribution that uses liquid carbon dioxide as a working fluid. Evaporation of the carbon dioxide provides cooling, and compression of the carbon dioxide gas back to the liquid state provides heat. The amount of heat transferred at both stages is sufficient to provide environmental heating and cooling. Waste thermal energy from a power plant, in the form of hot water, is fed into the system and used to drive the overall process. An underground thermal energy storage system is used to store energy flowing into the system that is in excess of the current demand.

A reversible heat pump assembly (100) is disclosed. The heat pump assembly (100) comprises a heat pump (110) having a first side (120) and a second side (130), the heat pump (110) being configured to transfer heat from the first side (120) to the second side (130) or vice versa; a first side inlet valve assembly (126) having a heat pump connection (126a) connected to the first side (120), and hot and cold conduit connections (126b; 126c) arranged to be connected to a thermal energy grid (10) comprising hot and cold conduits (12; 14); a second side outlet valve assembly (136) having a heat pump connection (136a) connected to the second side (130), and heating and cooling circuit connections (136b; 136c) arranged to be connected to heating and cooling circuits (130; 140), respectively. The reversible heat pump assembly (100) is configured to be selectively set in either a heating mode or a cooling mode. In the heating mode the heat pump (110) is configured to transfer heat from the first side (120) to the second side (130), the first side inlet valve assembly (126) is configured to fluidly connect the hot conduit connection (126b) and the heat pump connection (126a), and the second side outlet valve assembly (136) is configured to fluidly connect the heat pump connection (136a) and the heating circuit connection (136b). In the cooling mode the heat pump (110) is configured to transfer heat from the second side (130) to the first side (120), the first side inlet valve assembly (126) is configured to fluidly connect the cold conduit connection (126c) and the heat pump connection (126a), and the second side outlet valve assembly (136) is configured to fluidly connect the heat pump connection (136a) and the cooling circuit connection (136c). Also a district thermal energy distribution system comprising a plurality of reversible heat pump assemblies (100) is disclosed.