A solar heating system including a flat plate solar collector having a heat absorber woven basket fashion across a riser grid system containing suitable flow medium for being heated by the solar radiation. A heat exchange column is coupled to the riser grid system for extracting the heat from the flow medium to provide it to heating, hot water, and the like. The heat exchange column includes a number of continuous coils placed within a tank and having a circulating loop pass a liquid from the bottom of the tank to the top of the tank where it will flow over all of the coils transferring heat from one coil to the other. The flow is controlled by means of the load demand and the available supply of heat. Excess heat is stored in a heat storage system having a plurality of blocks of Glauber salt containing matrix material through which pass pipes containing the heated liquid. One of the riser grid systems can be utilized as part of an absorption cycle air conditioning system by passing the heated fluid medium into a regenerator placed adjacent to the collector to effectively form a distillation process. In place of the liquid solar collector, an air heating solar collector is also provided.

Solar heating system

Desiccant-coated substrates, regeneratable rotary dehumidification wheels and other devices for gas (e.g., air) treatment using those substrates, and processes for making them are disclosed. The substrates may have coatings in thicknesses of from about 2 to about 10 mils containing particles of one or more adsorbent desiccants and an organic water-based binder. The desiccant particles retain a high fraction of their original adsorption capacity because the pores of the desiccant particles contain a pore-clearing agent prior to the binder setting and the pore-clearing agent leaves the pores during the manufacturing process to prevent the binder from blocking the pores. In preferred embodiments a mixture of different desiccants is used and a particle suspending agent keeps the particles well-mixed so that the desiccant particles in the coated substrate will be as well-mixed as possible. The suspending agent may also function as the pore-clearing agent. A pH-adjusting agent may be used to control the pH of the coating if the binder or another constituent of the coating is pH-sensitive.

Desiccant-coated substrate and method of manufacture

A thermal energy storage and conversion system that captures thermal energy from solar collectors, stores thermal energy in a first heated medium, converts a portion of stored thermal energy to mechanical energy by utilization of a heat engine, converts a second portion of stored thermal energy to a thermal energy sink by utilization of a refrigeration device, and stores a portion of thermal energy sink for use later. While the sun is shining, energy is collected and stored in first heated medium. Both during day and night, a portion of stored energy in first heated storage medium is transferred to first refrigerant that vaporizes and provides mechanical energy to heat engine. A second portion of stored thermal energy in first heated medium is transferred, as needed, to second refrigerant which vaporizes and removes from second fluid medium a quantity of heat including second fluid medium's heat of fusion, thereby freezing the second medium. Solidified second medium then provides, during both day and night, a low temperature heat sink to help drive heat engine, a low temperature source of refrigeration for cooling an enclosed space, and an efficient, compact, and user friendly energy storage device.

Apparatus and method for converting thermal energy to mechanical energy

In an absorption refrigeration system comprising a generator, a condenser, an evaporator, an absorber and a heat exchanger, a compressor is provided to improve generator output and performance. The compressor is operative between the evaporator and the absorber or between the generator and condenser to improve the output of the absorption cycle and is valved and connected to provide a vapor compression cycle using the condenser and evaporator of the absorption refrigeration system. An oiled compressor, such as a piston compressor, is used with oil separation means and a bleed line. A refrigerant solution miscible in compressor oil and separable by evaporation from the oil is used. A compressor may also be used with a second condenser and a second evaporator to heat or cool the generator or evaporator, respectively, of the absorption refrigeration system.

Compressor assisted absorption refrigeration system

An all-year heating and cooling system incorporates an absorption refrigeration machine using solar energy as a primary heat source and a compression cycle system for boosting the temperature of the heating medium supplied to the absorption machine generator. During the heating mode, the solar collector, may be replaced by the compression cycle system if insufficient solar energy is available to satisfy the demand for heating.

Heat pump assisted solar powered absorption system

An air conditioning apparatus and method are disclosed. The apparatus includes a chemical dehumidifier which employs an aqueous hygroscopic solution of glycol and a solar energy collector for use in regenerating the solution. Air to be conditioned is circulated through a contactor of the chemical dehumidifier, in contact with cooled glycol solution. Concentrated hygroscopic glycol solution is circulated from a regenerator to the contactor, while dilute solution is circulated from the contactor to the regenerator. Energy from the solar collector is transferred to facilitate concentration thereof. In one disclosed embodiment energy from the solar collector is also transferred to the generator of heat-powered refrigeration apparatus, e.g., absorption or rankine engine driven refrigeration apparatus. The condenser of the refrigeration apparatus may operate to heat the glycol solution in the regenerator of the dehumidifier and the evaporator may cool the concentrated glycol solution in the contactor and/or may supply chilled fluid to a heat exchanger for cooling the dehumidified air. In a modified embodiment, a diesel engine drives the refrigeration apparatus. Waste heat from the diesel engine either augments the solar energy for regenerating the glycol solution or regenerates desiccant from a second stage of dehumidification.

Gershon Meckler

Papers

Air conditioning apparatus utilizing solar energy and method