A heat pump operation method includes: obtaining, on a per time unit basis, generated power, load power, surplus power, and an impact magnitude; and controlling operation of the heat pump to cause the heat pump to consume an amount of power for generating heat adjusted to follow the surplus power obtained on a per unit time basis. In the controlling, when the impact magnitude is greater than a predetermined first threshold value, the operation of the heat pump is controlled to permit consumption of the power supplied from an energy supplier and approximate a reverse flow of the surplus power to zero, and when the impact magnitude is less than or equal to a predetermined second threshold value, the operation of the heat pump is controlled to permit the reverse flow of the surplus power and approximate the consumption of power supplied from the energy supplier to zero.

The integrated solar absorption heat pump system includes an absorption heat pump assembly (AHPA) having a generator, a condenser in fluid communication with the generator, an evaporator/absorber in fluid communication with the condenser and the generator, and a heat exchanger in communicating relation with the evaporator/absorber; a solar collector in fluid communication with the generator of the AHPA; a photovoltaic thermal collector in communicating relation with the evaporator/absorber of the AHPA; a plurality of pumps configured for pumping a fluid throughout the system to provide the desired heating or cooling; a power storage source, e.g., a solar battery, in communicating relation with the photovoltaic thermal collector; and a coil unit in communicating relation to the evaporator/absorber for receiving an air-stream. The absorption heat pump assembly can include an absorber and a solution heat exchanger.

This invention refers to an improved solar fluid heater with respect to the one submitted in patent application MX/a/2010/005129, which main improvement consist of a protective elastic membrane in the solar collector, allowing for the heating of any kind of liquid besides water, in which the solar collector design allows for the reception of solar radiation in its surface both, vertical and horizontal, wherein the horizontal surface heat is conveyed to the fluid through a central tubular axle with ribs, in which the air in the gap between the solar collector and the transparent cover has been replaced by argon, wherein the check valves have been designed with an anti-clogging system, that the cold and hot water supply system have been optimized and wherein the overpressure system is now powered by a photovoltaic panel built-in the solar heater object this invention. The purpose of this invention is to simplify and improve the design submitted in patent application MX/a/2010/005129, allowing for its commercialization at a more affordable price to the consumer than the current solar fluid heaters.

A heat pump hot-water supply system includes a heat pump hot-water supply device, an electricity storage device, and a control device. The control device determines an operating time zone of the heat pump hot-water supply device based on power conversion efficiency of the electricity storage device, coefficients of performance of the heat pump hot-water supply device of a current day and a next day, and an electricity rate structure of a commercial power system.

A thermoregulation apparatus for a solar thermal energy capture system comprising a piping infrastructure in fluid communication with a fluid storage tank and one or more solar thermal energy collectors. The thermoregulation apparatus comprises: (i) a thermostatically actuated valve interposed the piping infrastructure downstream from the one or more solar energy collectors and upstream from the fluid storage tank, and (ii) piping for interconnecting the thermostatically actuated valve with the piping infrastructure, and the fluid storage tank. The thermostatically actuated valve can be configured for diverting the flow of working fluid away from the fluid storage tank when the temperature of the working fluid is below a selected set point for actuating the valve, and for diverting the flow of working fluid to the fluid storage tank when the temperature of the working fluid is about or greater than the selected set point.

The invention relates to a solar water heating system which comprises: (a) a photovoltaic array for converting sun radiation to DC voltage; (b) a water tank which comprises a single heating element; and (c) a connection box receiving a first input from said photovoltaic array, and a second input from an AC residential supply, and outputting a combined voltage to said single heating element at the water tank, wherein said combined output voltage is a combination of one or more of(i) a full rectified signal resulting from said AC residential supply passing through a full rectification semi-conductor element; and (ii) a DC voltage resulting from said DC voltage from the photo voltaic array passing through a unidirectional semi-conductor element.

A solar photovoltaic (PV) water heating system includes a tank including at least a first heating unit having at least first and second heating elements, at least one of which is switchable; a PV solar collector; an inverter adapted to convert the output from the PV collector to an alternating power supply; a modulator to modulate the alternating power supply from the inverter; a controller adapted to control the modulator and the switching of the or each switchable heating element; wherein the controller is adapted to control the modulator and the switchable heating elements to maximize the energy drawn from the PV collector.

A solar powered heater system includes a water heater located within an insulated closet or container along with a heater located internal to the closet that is configured to regulate an elevated air temperature around the water tank. The system includes a solar panel to generate the energy to power the heater. A controller is used to regulate the energy and optimize performance of the heater in the closet near the water heater. The system is used to heat the air around the water heater to minimize losses and inefficiencies found within water heaters and to allow the system to simply operate with any style water heater.

A fluid-based system for use in heating and/or cooling. In particular, the system may have a fluid heating device, which may be a solar fluid heating device, configured to heat a fluid. Heat from the heated fluid may be transferred to one or more cooling subsystems or heating subsystems. A cooling subsystem may be an absorption cooling subsystem, for example, wherein heat may cause phase change of a refrigerant. A heating subsystem may include a storage tank through which heated fluid may be circulated to heat the storage tank. A system of the present disclosure may include multiple cooling and/or heating subsystems for cooling and or heating a variety of different environments, objects, or materials.

The present invention relates to an energy management system for a building, comprising at least one heat pump, at least one first thermal energy storage device for providing domestic hot water, at least one second thermal energy storage device for providing space heating, at least one renewable energy generation device, at least one first state of charge analyser for determining the state of charge of the at least one first thermal energy storage device, at least one second state of charge analyser for determining the state of charge of the at least one second thermal energy storage device, and a controller configured to control the at least one heat pump, the at least one first thermal energy storage device, the at least one second thermal energy storage device, and the at least one renewable energy generation device. The controller is configured to control, in dependence on at least the state of charge of the at least one first thermal energy storage device and/or the state of charge of the at least one second thermal energy storage device, whether one of and which of the at least one first thermal energy storage device and the at least one second thermal energy storage device is charged with energy provided by (a heat pump operation of) the at least one heat pump and/or energy provided by the at least one renewable energy generation device. Furthermore, the present invention relates to a method of using the energy management system.