A geothermal heat pump system which may be installed in a building and operated as an air source heat pump system using an exterior heat exchanger as a heat source or heat source/sink, but which includes geothermal components including a geothermal heat exchanger. The geothermal heat exchanger may be isolated in initial operation of the system for heating and cooling but may be connected to a geothermal heat source/sink following initial installation of the heat pump system for use in heating and cooling as a heat source and a heat source/sink, respectively. In this manner, the heat pump system may be initially operated as a standard air source heat pump and optionally later converted into a geothermal heat pump system.

Convection-enhanced thermal insulation and central air conditioning capable of maintaining a comfortable indoor environment at reduced energy consumption is provided. A siding system comprises a first duct and an air passageway. The first duct has a first end thereof disposed in an underfloor space of a building, and a second end thereof disposed either on a ceiling or in a ceiling space of the building. The air passageway sends air from the underfloor space of the building to the ceiling or the ceiling space.

A heat pump is equipped with a plurality of sensors configured to measure various physical properties, including but not limited to: (gas/liquid) temperature, (gas/liquid) pressure, electrical current, and/or flow rate. A monitoring center is interposed between the heat pump and other elements of a Heating Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC) system, such as a building thermostat and a heat pump control board. The monitoring center receives the outputs from the sensors and communicates them to a user (e.g., via a wired or wireless interface) for inspection. The monitoring center may also process the sensor data to calculate and output desirable performance metrics such as efficiency and/or available capacity. Where the heat pump is part of a ground source heat pump (GSHP) system or a geothermal heat pump system, embodiments may be particularly useful to also receive and/or process additional sensor input(s) from a flow center component.

A method of operating a heating or cooling system, comprising (1) providing a heating or cooling apparatus comprising first and second heat exchangers, (2) providing a conduit module modularly coupled to the heating or cooling apparatus and adapted to be coupled to a plurality of fluid circuits for heating or cooling loads, and (3) operating a control system configured to operate the conduit module in a heating or cooling mode. The conduit module is positioned between the heating or cooling apparatus and the plurality of fluid circuits. The conduit module comprises first, second, and third supply conduits and first, second, and third return conduits, to convey first, second, and source fluids to and from respective first, second, and source fluid circuits. The conduit module comprises first, second, third, and fourth three-way valves to selectively regulate flow of the first, second, and source fluids.

An image processing method and apparatus, and a storage medium are provided. The method includes: obtaining a first feature map of an image to be processed (S101); determining a final weight vector of the first feature map (S102); determining a target normalization mode corresponding to the first feature map from a preset normalization set is determined according to the final weight vector (S103); and normalizing the first feature map by means of the target normalization mode to obtain a second feature map (S104).

A system, an arrangement and method for heating and cooling of several building spaces-or buildings includes two or more building spaces or buildings, and a secondary thermal network including a supply line and a return line. The arrangement further comprises two or more building connections arranged parallel to each other and between the supply line and provided in connection with the two or more building spaces or buildings, a ground hole and a geothermal heat exchanger provided to the ground hole and arranged in connection with the secondary thermal network.

An exemplary heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) system for a building includes a primary heat pump system having a primary heat pump system size, a secondary heat pump system having a secondary heat pump system size less than the primary heat pump system size, a thermal energy storage system, and a control system operable to control operation of the primary heat pump system and the secondary heat pump system. The control system may limit operation of the secondary heat pump system to a first time period, and operates the primary heat pump system according to demand of the building.

An indoor cooling system kit can include aluminum beverage cans, flexible hoses, a fan, and instructions for forming the indoor cooling system. Further kit materials can include containers, dehumidifying material, a filter, and further instructions. A method of cooling an indoor region can include cutting tops and bottoms away from aluminum beverage cans, coupling the cans together in series to form two elongated airflow passages, coupling a flexible hose to open ends of both airflow passages, adjusting the hose so that both airflow passages and hose form a U-shaped airflow passage, forming a hole in the ground beneath the indoor region, inserting the U-shaped airflow passage into the hole with its inlet and outlet elevated out of the hole into the indoor region, and operating a fan to force air through the inlet. The air is cooled geothermally as it travels through the overall U-shaped airflow passage.

The present invention relates to an electrically driven, vapour compression heat pump device. The heat pump device comprises a variable speed or variable capacity refrigerant compressor, a compression stage having a first condenser, an expansion stage having a first evaporator, a DC to AC variable speed compressor drive inverter unit, a grid AC to DC power supply unit and an electronic control unit. The control unit varies the thermal capacity, and the power consumed by the device, in response to an input from at least one of: a renewable electricity generation input, a premises net consumption monitor, a utility grid frequency monitor, and a third party control input.

A simple, cost effective system and method for flexibly managing heat pump source fluid is disclosed. The source fluid flow-manager significantly enhances heat pump efficiency by selectively coupling it to renewable energy resources via geothermal, solar, and ambient air thermal exchanges. The sophisticated interconnection of these thermal exchanges also reduces installation costs. A preferred embodiment of the source fluid flow-manager consists of three T-port valves, two pumps and a plurality of connection points, and operates in at least twelve modes. These modes selectively interconnect source fluid flow between fluid utilizing units, such as heat pumps, and a variety of thermal exchange and/or storage units, such as hot or cold underground thermal storage-and-exchange regions, dry coolers and solar thermal collectors. The valves and pumps are controlled by a programmed controller, guided by input from flow meters and thermometers. Operational modes are matched to thermal need, and to system and environmental status.