Photovoltaic and solar thermal co-generation storage wall module and heat-pump system

Abstract

A wall module used to retrofit any existing building into solar building or construct new solar building is made of a hybrid photovoltaic and solar thermal plate, a heat pipe, a solid thermal energy storage, a glass cover, and a heat-pump system. When the incident sunlight penetrating through the transparent glass cover reaches to the cogeneration plate, portion of it is converted into electricity and the rest becomes into heat; then the heat is transferred back to the solid thermal storage; when it is needed for heating and cooling, the stored heat is retrieved and transported to its destination with heat pump system; during the transportation process, the temperature of the stored heat is boosted up. Any buildings, no matter existing building or new building, can be converted into a large scale solar power generation and storage station using the wall modules of present invention without changing their structures and functions. As the buildings share the insulation with the wall modules, the addition of the wall modules will significantly improve the encapsulation of the buildings. The wall modules change the whole body of building into large scale storage without occupying the interior space of the building.

Claims

1. An assembly is consists of a cogeneration plate, which is a metal plate laminated with solar cells, solid thermal energy storage media, heat pipe, circulation coils of heat-pump system, insulation layers and glass cover, where the heat pipe is welded on the metal plate of the cogeneration plate, the glass cover is installed in front of the cogeneration plate leaving a air space, the cogeneration plate is isolated with the thermal energy storage media by the front insulation layer of the storage, and the heat pipe penetrates through the front insulation layer into the storage, the storage is isolated with the outside by the back insulation layer of the storage, the circulation coil of the heat pump system is inserted into the thermal storage media and connected to the heat-pump system; wherein the incident sunlight penetrating through the glass cover and reaching to the cogeneration plate will be partially converted into electricity by the solar cells laminated on the metal plate and rest of it will be converted into heat and collected by the metal plate, then transferred into the thermal storage by the heat pipe welded on the metal plate, when needed, the stored heat will be retrieved by the heat pump system via the circulation coil, mean while, the temperature of the stored heat will be also boosted up.

2. The cogeneration plate and heat pipe combination of claim 1 could be encapsulated into a vacuum pipe and have the heat pipe penetrate through the front insulation into the storage of the claim 1 to avoid glass cover of the claim 1.

3. The circulation coil of heat pump system of the claim 1 could be directly welded on the metal plate of the cogeneration plate of the claim 1 to avoid the heat pipe and the cogeneration plate could directly touch to the thermal storage media of the claim 1 to avoid the front insulation of the thermal storage of the claim 1.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0019] The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate several embodiments of the invention and together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the invention.

[0020] FIG. 1 is the cross section of the photovoltaic and solar thermal cogeneration wall module with thermal storage and heat-pump heat transfer system, which shows the composition of the system and the structure of the apparatus.

[0021] FIG. 2 shows the connection of the wall module and the heat-pump system, where the heat-pump system transfers the stored heat to wherever it is needed and boosts the temperature to high level in the mean while.

[0022] FIG. 3 is the core component of the wall module photovoltaic and solar thermal cogeneration plate and the heat pipe for one direction heat transfer to the back thermal storage, where the solar cells are laminated on a metal plate and a heat pipe is welded on the backside of the plate.

[0023] FIG. 4 is the backside view of the assembly of the heat pipe array and the front insulation plate of the back thermal storage.

[0024] FIG. 5 is the overview of the wall module package.

[0025] FIG. 6 shows the heat exchanger of the heat-pump system buried in side of the back thermal storage.

[0026] FIG. 7 is the core component photovoltaic and thermal cogeneration vacuum pipe with heat pipe for the second embodiment of the present invention.

[0027] FIG. 8 is the cross section of the wall module of the second embodiment showing the composition and structure of the apparatus.

[0028] FIG. 9 is the overview of the wall module of the second embodiment.

[0029] FIG. 10 is the cross section of the wall module of the third embodiment showing the composition and structure of the apparatus.

[0030] FIG. 11 is the overview of the wall module of the third embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0031] Reference will now be made in detail to the present exemplary embodiments, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. Wherever possible, the same reference numbers will be used throughout the drawings to refer to the same or like parts.

[0032] Referring to FIG. 1, the first embodiment of the wall module of the present invention is consists of components, cogeneration plate 10, which is constructed by laminating solar cells on metal plate, heat pipe 20, which is welded on the backside of the metal plate, the front insulation of the back thermal storage 30, which isolates the cogeneration plate 10, and the solid thermal storage media 55, which is filled in the storage space, the back insulation of the back thermal storage 40, the circulation coil of the heat-pump system 50, which is buried into the solid thermal storage media 55, and the glass cover 60. When the wall module is in operating, the incident sunlight penetrating the glass cover reaches to the cogeneration plate 10, portion of it is converted into electricity and rest part becomes into heat, the heat is collected and transferred back into the storage media 55 by the heat pipe 20. When needed, the stored heat will be retrieved and transferred by the heat pump system through the circulation coil 55 to wherever it is needed, and during the transfer process the temperature of the stored heat is boosted up based on usage.

[0033] Referring to FIG. 2, the heat-pump system 70 is connected with the wall module and retrieves the stored heat to boost to high temperature and transfer to destinations of utilizations.

[0034] Referring to FIG. 3, the heat pipe 20 is welded on the backside of the cogeneration plate 10.

[0035] Referring to FIG. 4, the heat pipes 20 are assembled into an array and penetrate through the front insulation 30 into the back thermal storage.

[0036] FIG. 5 shows the overview of the packed wall module.

[0037] Referring to FIG. 6, the circulation coil 50 of the heat pump system is installed into the back storage filled with solid thermal storage media.

[0038] Referring to FIG. 7, in the second embodiment of the present invention, the cogeneration plate 90 and the heat pipe 80 are encapsulated into a vacuum pipe.

[0039] Referring to FIG. 8, the heat pip 80 penetrates through the front insulation into the back thermal storage. The heat generated in the vacuum pipe is transferred into the thermal storage via the heat pipe, and the heat transfer is one-direction, it only happen in the day time, no reverse heat transfer in night time.

[0040] FIG. 9 shows the overview of the packed wall module of the second embodiment of the invention.

[0041] Referring to the FIG. 10, in the third embodiment of the present invention, the circulation coil 120 of the heat pump system is directly welded on the cogeneration plate 110, the back storage space 130 is filled with solid thermal storage media, the glass cover 140 forms an air space in the front of the cogeneration plate. During the daytime, the heat generated on cogeneration plate is transferred into the thermal storage media and during the night time, the stored heat is retrieved by the heat-pump system via the circulation coil welded on the cogeneration plate.

[0042] FIG. 11 shows the overview of the wall module of the third embodiment of the present invention.

[0043] From the description above, a number of advantages of the wall module become evident. The wall module not only generates both electrical energy and thermal energy to dramatically increase the total conversion efficiency of solar system, but also stores the generated thermal energy, this enables the whole building built with the wall modules to be a large scale power generation and storage system. The storage of the wall modules not only make the building body into a large scale energy storage, but also significantly improve the encapsulation of the building as the building shares the two layers of the insulation of the storage with the wall modules. The wall module, in conjunction with the heat-pump system, separate the thermal energy collection and utilization processes, the collection process is a natural process, while the utilization process is an active process. Relative to the passive solar building, the heat collection and utilization are totally under control in the building built with the wall modules of the present invention.