An air conditioner includes a housing having a first outlet and a second outlet, a first channel communicating with the first outlet, a second channel communicating with the second outlet, a sensible heat exchanger to exchange sensible heat between a first air flowing through the first channel and a second air flowing through the second channel, a first vaporization filter to cool the first air by latent heat of water and a second vaporization filter to cool the second air by latent heat of water. The first vaporization filter is disposed downstream of the sensible heat exchanger in a flow direction of the first air. The second vaporization filter is disposed upstream of the sensible heat exchanger in a flow direction of the second air.

The invention relates to a modular building structure (10) comprising: a framework (12) including a plurality of rods (14) and connectors (16) to interconnect the plurality of rods (14) together, the framework (12) comprising empty spaces bordered by corresponding rods (14) of said plurality of rods; a plurality of panels (20), wherein one panel (20) is mounted inside each empty space and connected to the framework (12) in order to create an interior (40), an air chamber layer (44) inside which air may circulate, said air chamber layer (44) forming at least a portion of an outer surface of said interior (40), at least one upper valve system (46a) mounted in the upper portion of the structure (10), and at least one lower valve system (46b) mounted in the lower portion of the structure (10). The at least one upper and lower valve systems (46a, 46b) are selectively operable to regulate the thermal conditions inside the interior (40) as a function of the meteorological conditions outside the modular building structure (10) and a desired temperature inside the interior (40). The invention also relates to a method for operating the at least one upper and lower valve systems (46a, 46b) of the modular building structure (10).

A heating, ventilation, or air conditioning (HVAC) system for a building includes airside HVAC equipment configured to provide heating or cooling to one or more building spaces and one or more controllers. The one or more controllers are configured to generate airside energy targets for the one or more building spaces using a heat transfer model that defines a relationship between the airside energy targets, a temperature of the one or more building spaces, and a thermal capacitance of the one or more building spaces. The one or more controllers are configured to control the airside HVAC equipment in accordance with the airside energy targets.

A heating, ventilation, and air conditioning system includes first and second fluids, a heat exchanger, a refrigerant sub-system, and at least one closed loop sub-system. The heat exchanger includes a membrane for channeling the first fluid through the heat exchanger and is disposed for heat transfer between the first fluid and the second fluid. The membrane defines an inlet having an inlet height relative to grade. The closed loop sub-system transfers heat from the heat exchanger to the refrigerant sub-system and includes an expansion tank containing the first fluid. A level of the first fluid within the expansion tank has a level height relative to grade. The expansion tank is positioned relative to the heat exchanger such that the inlet height is greater than the level height and the membrane is maintained in a collapsed configuration.

The disclosed technology includes devices and methods for optimizing refrigerant flow in a heat exchanger. The disclosed technology can include a heat exchanger unit that has a first heat exchanger coil that experiences a first airflow of air passing over the first heat exchanger coil and a second heat exchanger coil that experiences a second airflow of air passing over the second heat exchanger coil. The first airflow can be less than the second air flow. The disclosed technology can include distributor tubes in fluid communication with the heat exchanger coils to direct a flow of refrigerant from an expansion valve to the heat exchanger coils. The first distributor tube can reduce a flow rate of refrigerant to the first heat exchanger coil such that a greater amount of refrigerant is directed to the second heat exchanger coil and refrigerant exits each heat exchanger coil as a superheated vapor.

Disclosed are methods and functional elements for enhanced thermal management of predominantly enclosed spaces. In particular, the invention enables the construction of buildings with reduced power requirements for heating and/or air-conditioning systems since under certain conditions less energy for heating or cooling is required to maintain, within certain boundaries, desirable temperatures inside such buildings, habitats, or other enclosed spaces.

In some instances the invention is in part based on dynamically changing functional elements with variable properties, or effective properties, in terms of their electromagnetic radiative behavior and/or their thermal energy storage properties, or the spatial distribution of the stored thermal energy, which permits the application of methods and algorithms to control the overall thermal behavior of the entire structure in such a way that desired levels of inside temperature can be reached with reduced consumption of external energy (typically electricity, gas, oil, or coal).

In some instances no conventional heating of cooling is required at all, whereas in other instances the expenditure of external energy for conventional heating or cooling is reduced. In some instances the invention enables the reduction of the time to reach desired temperatures inside such buildings, habitats, or other predominantly enclosed spaces.

A heating, ventilation, and air conditioning system includes first and second fluids, a heat exchanger, a refrigerant sub-system, and at least one closed loop sub-system. The heat exchanger includes a membrane for channeling the first fluid through the heat exchanger and is disposed for heat transfer between the first fluid and the second fluid. The membrane defines an inlet having an inlet height relative to grade. The closed loop sub-system transfers heat from the heat exchanger to the refrigerant sub-system and includes an expansion tank containing the first fluid. A level of the first fluid within the expansion tank has a level height relative to grade. The expansion tank is positioned relative to the heat exchanger such that the inlet height is greater than the level height and the membrane is maintained in a collapsed configuration.

A temperature control system includes a first pump, a second pump, a temperature adjusting unit, a first flow passage, a second flow passage, a first valve disposed in the first flow passage, a second valve disposed in the second flow passage, a first bypass flow passage connecting the first flow passage to the second flow passage on the temperature adjusting unit side of the first and second valves, a second bypass flow passage connecting the first flow passage to the second flow passage on the flow passage side of the first and second valves, a third valve disposed in the first bypass flow passage, and a fourth valve disposed in the second bypass flow passage. At least one of a pair of the first valve and the second valve, and a pair of the third valve and the fourth valve is a pair of flow rate adjustable valves.

A system for allocating one or more resources including electrical energy across equipment that operate to satisfy a resource demand of a building. The system includes electrical energy storage including one or more batteries configured to store electrical energy purchased from a utility and to discharge the stored electrical energy. The system further includes a controller configured to determine an allocation of the one or more resources by performing an optimization of a value function. The value function includes a monetized cost of capacity loss for the electrical energy storage predicted to result from battery degradation due to a potential allocation of the one or more resources. The controller is further configured to use the allocation of the one or more resources to operate the electrical energy storage.

A heat exchange system includes a heat-absorbing substance such as Liquid Natural Gas (LNG), a heat dissipation apparatus, a water storage tank, a heat exchanger, and a heat exchanger. The heat exchanger is coupled between the LNG and the water storage tank. The heat exchanger is coupled between the heat dissipation apparatus and the water storage tank. The heat exchanger transfers heat of the heat dissipation apparatus to water of the water storage tank to lose heat to the heat exchanger, and the heat exchanger transfers heat of the water to the LNG