A heat pump system provides at least six modes of heating, cooling, and/or domestic water heating operation, where domestic water heating may occur concurrently with heating or cooling a space in a structure. The heat pump system comprises a desuperheater positioned downstream of the compressor and operable as a desuperheater, a condenser or an evaporator, a source heat exchanger operable as either a condenser or an evaporator, a load heat exchanger operable as either a condenser or an evaporator, a reversing valve positioned downstream of the desuperheater heat exchanger and configured to alternately direct refrigerant flow from the desuperheater heat exchanger to one of the load heat exchanger and the source heat exchanger and to alternately return refrigerant flow from the other of the load heat exchanger and the source heat exchanger to the compressor, and an expansion valve positioned between the load heat exchanger and the source heat exchanger.

A heat pump system provides at least six modes of heating, cooling, and/or domestic water heating operation, where domestic water heating may occur concurrently with heating or cooling a space in a structure. The heat pump system comprises a desuperheater positioned downstream of the compressor and operable as a desuperheater, a condenser or an evaporator, a source heat exchanger operable as either a condenser or an evaporator, a load heat exchanger operable as either a condenser or an evaporator, a reversing valve positioned downstream of the desuperheater heat exchanger and configured to alternately direct refrigerant flow from the desuperheater heat exchanger to one of the load heat exchanger and the source heat exchanger and to alternately return refrigerant flow from the other of the load heat exchanger and the source heat exchanger to the compressor, and an expansion valve positioned between the load heat exchanger and the source heat exchanger.

An HVAC system is disclosed, comprising: (a) a compressor, (b) a source heat exchanger for exchanging heat with a source fluid, (c) a first load heat exchanger operable for heating/cooling air in a space, (d) a second load heat exchanger for heating water, (e) first and second reversing valves, (f) first and second 3-way valves, (f) a bi-directional electronic expansion valve, (g) a first bi-directional valve, and (h) a second bi-directional valve to modulate exchange of heat in the first load heat exchanger when operating as an evaporator and to control flashing of the refrigerant entering the source heat exchanger when operating as an evaporator, (h) a source pump for circulating the source fluid through the first load heat exchanger, (i) a water pump for circulating water through the second load heat exchanger, and (j) a controller to control operation of the foregoing.

A dual reclaim coil with a smart control application is provided that allows the refrigerant inlet to the HVAC unit switch between the two sides of the condenser is aimed to use the high temperature and pressure of the condenser/gas cooler outlet while a CO.sub.2 refrigerant system is operating above critical point. This occurs in hot ambient conditions, when the need for heating in the space is not as great as in the wintertime and the available heat at the condenser/gas cooler's outlet is sufficient to satisfy the heating load. This also mitigates space overcooling, while increasing the CO.sub.2 transcritical system's efficiency by subcooling the refrigerant for applications involving dehumidification HVAC systems which often results in a phenomenon called “overcooling” during the dehumidification season.

A dual reclaim coil with a smart control application is provided that allows the refrigerant inlet to the HVAC unit switch between the two sides of the condenser is aimed to use the high temperature and pressure of the condenser/gas cooler outlet while a CO.sub.2 refrigerant system is operating above critical point. This occurs in hot ambient conditions, when the need for heating in the space is not as great as in the wintertime and the available heat at the condenser/gas cooler's outlet is sufficient to satisfy the heating load. This also mitigates space overcooling, while increasing the CO.sub.2 transcritical system's efficiency by subcooling the refrigerant for applications involving dehumidification HVAC systems which often results in a phenomenon called “overcooling” during the dehumidification season.

A refrigerant charging device and a refrigerant charging system include a refrigerant charging flour path having a refrigerant charging port connected to a refrigerant flow path of an air conditioner, a valve provided at the refrigerant charging flow path, and a control device configured to control the valve. The control device includes a discharging superheat calculator configured to calculate the discharging superheat degree from a refrigerant temperature and a refrigerant pressure at a discharge side of a compressor, and a valve controller configured to control the opening and closing state of the valve based on the calculated discharging superheat degree calculated by the discharge super-heat calculator.

A refrigerant charging device and a refrigerant charging system include a refrigerant charging flour path having a refrigerant charging port connected to a refrigerant flow path of an air conditioner, a valve provided at the refrigerant charging flow path, and a control device configured to control the valve. The control device includes a discharging superheat calculator configured to calculate the discharging superheat degree from a refrigerant temperature and a refrigerant pressure at a discharge side of a compressor, and a valve controller configured to control the opening and closing state of the valve based on the calculated discharging superheat degree calculated by the discharge super-heat calculator.

An HVAC system is disclosed, comprising: (a) a compressor, (b) a source heat exchanger for exchanging heat with a source fluid, (c) a first load heat exchanger operable for heating/cooling air in a space, (d) a second load heat exchanger for heating water, (e) first and second reversing valves, (f) first and second 3-way valves, (f) a bi-directional electronic expansion valve, (g) a first bi-directional valve, and (h) a second bi-directional valve to modulate exchange of heat in the first load heat exchanger when operating as an evaporator and to control flashing of the refrigerant entering the source heat exchanger when operating as an evaporator, (h) a source pump for circulating the source fluid through the first load heat exchanger, (i) a water pump for circulating water through the second load heat exchanger, and (j) a controller to control operation of the foregoing.

A water distribution apparatus and method including cold and hot water supplies, a fan coil (or chilled beam device), a control valve having cold and hot water inlets and outlets, cold and hot water outputs configured to supply cold and hot water to the fan coil, cold and hot water return inlets configured to receive from the fan coil the water supplied by the cold and/or water outputs and outputting the cold and/or hot water to the cold and hot water supply lines, respectively, via the cold and hot water outlets, respectively. Cold and hot water is supplied from the cold and/or hot water outputs to the fan coil and received into the cold and hot water return inlets, respectively, and the cold and hot water supplied by the cold and hot water outputs to the fan coil is output to the cold and hot water supply lines, respectively.

Methods, systems, and device for cycle enhancement are provided in accordance with various embodiments. Various embodiments generally pertain to refrigeration and heat pumping. Different embodiments may be applied to a variety of heat pump architectures. Some embodiments may integrate with vapor compression heat pumps in industrial, commercial, and/or residential applications. Some embodiments include a method that may include at least: removing a first heat from a vapor compression cycle; utilizing the first removed heat from the vapor compression cycle to drive a thermally driven heat pump; or removing a second heat from the vapor compression cycle utilizing the thermally driven heat pump to reduce a temperature of a refrigerant of the vapor compression cycle below an ambient temperature.