Heat Pump

The present invention relates to a heat pump of the type Heat pump comprising: a working circuit suitable for circulating a working fluid; a first heat exchanger and a second heat exchanger connected to the working circuit and suitable for exchanging heat of the working fluid, the first heat exchanger being suitable for exchanging heat with an external environment and comprising a finned structure, connected to the working circuit and ventilation means suitable for increasing the heat exchange of the external environment with the finned structure, a control unit of electronic type, configured to actuate and regulate the operation of the heat pump, a support structure suitable for supporting and containing at least part of the working circuit, the first heat exchanger and the control unit, the support structure comprising a first chamber, a second chamber and a third chamber, the chambers being reciprocally separated and being separated from the external environment by first partition walls, the finned structure and the ventilation means being contained in the first chamber, the first chamber comprising a first opening open to the external environment

The object of the present invention is a heat pump which is mainly applied in large commercial buildings and the like.

Installed heat pumps located outside the buildings are currently known. Heat pumps, used, for example, to vary indoor room temperatures and/or to produce domestic hot water, are devices that, either directly or via a carrier fluid, are capable of supplying thermal energy to a load so that the latter reaches a predetermined temperature value. They are typically placed near or on the roofs or exterior walls. In fact, heat pumps must be able to convey heat between indoor and outdoor environments.

Heat pumps require a refrigerant that performs the function of transporting heat, realizing the desired heat exchange between the outside and the inside, and carrying out the state transitions necessary to implement the refrigeration cycle. Said refrigerant is contained in an airtight refrigerant circuit.

The fluids chosen to play the role of heat transport must meet certain physical requirements so that they can efficiently perform the heat transport function.

Specifically, refrigerants must have a low boiling temperature, have the ability to liquefy at low pressures, have a low vapor volume, and possess a stable chemical structure. Fluids that meet these requirements can be propane, hydrofluorocarbons, halogenated hydrofluorocarbons, and halogenated hydrofluoroolefins. CFCs (chlorofluorocarbons) and HCFCs (halogenated hydrochloro fluorocarbons) also meet the requirements but are banned because of their polluting effects on the atmosphere.

Propane is among the most widely used natural refrigerants because of its reduced environmental impact compared to fluorinated refrigerants.

In temperature control devices, refrigerant is circulated within the circuit of a heat pump.

It is common in the known art to try to limit the presence of trigger sources or to render such sources harmless. Components known as ATEX, i.e., suitable for safe operation in potentially explosive environments, are commonly used for this task. Still, in other known solutions a physical separation impermeable to the flammable coolant is created around components that may be a source of ignition.

In a device such as a heat pump, said ignition sources are at least partly represented by sparkling components of electronic boards, power electronics elements that reach high temperatures, et similia. The known art described above has some significant drawbacks.

In particular, the use of flammable refrigerants such as propane can lead to the formation of fires and explosions if conditions of refrigerant concentration in an environment, such as due to a leak from the refrigerant circuit, and/or if the presence of ignition sources create a suitable environment.

Again, with regard to known-art solutions that involve physically separating, i.e., by means of physical walls impermeable to the coolant, the sparking components, this poses the risk of overheating since the environment around these components is also insulated at the same time. This type of solution of prior art is typically fitted with liquid cooling systems with dedicated circuits and costs for this purpose. Finally, the use of components suitable for working in hazardous environments, commonly referred to as ATEX, represents an additional cost to the company.

In this situation, the technical task underlying this invention is to devise a heat pump capable of substantially overcoming at least part of the aforementioned drawbacks. Within this technical task, it is an important aim of the invention to obtain a safer heat pump that can reduce hazardous situations.

The purpose of this invention is to reduce hazardous situations due to leakage of flammable refrigerant without employing ATEX components.

Again, one purpose of the present invention is to minimize the use of ATEX components for reduction of risk due to flammable refrigerant leakage.

Still, an important purpose of the present invention is to provide for a heat pump in which the provision for securing electronic components also allows for proper dissipation of the heat produced by said components.

The specified technical task and purposes are achieved by a heat pump comprising: a working circuit suitable for circulating a working fluid; a first heat exchanger and a second heat exchanger connected to the working circuit and suitable for exchanging heat of the working fluid, the first heat exchanger being suitable for exchanging heat with an external environment and comprising a finned structure, connected to the working circuit and ventilation means suitable for increasing the heat exchange of the external environment with the finned structure, a control unit of electronic type, configured to actuate and regulate the operation of the heat pump, a support structure suitable for supporting and containing at least part of the working circuit, the first heat exchanger and the control unit, the support structure comprising a first chamber, a second chamber and a third chamber, the chambers being reciprocally separated and being separated from the external environment by first partition walls, the finned structure and the ventilation means being contained in the first chamber, the first chamber comprising a first opening open to the external environment; the at least part of the working circuit is located in the third chamber, the third chamber includes at least one escape opening on the walls surrounding it so as to connect, in fluid passage connection, the chamber and the external environment, the escape opening being arranged in the lower part of the chamber, the second chamber comprises a first sub-chamber and a second sub-chamber, the sub-chambers being reciprocally separated by second partition walls, the first sub-chamber comprising the control unit, the second sub-chamber comprising at least a second opening on the external environment and a third opening on the first chamber so that the ventilation means force air to flow also between the second opening and the third opening through the second sub-chamber.

In this document, the measurements, values, shapes, and geometric references (such as perpendicularity and parallelism), when associated with words like “about” or other similar terms such as “approximately” or “substantially”, should be understood as allowing for measurement errors or inaccuracies due to production and/or manufacturing errors and, especially, minor deviations from the value, size, shape, or geometric reference with which they are associated. For example, such terms, when associated with a value, preferably indicate a deviation not exceeding 10% of the value itself.

Moreover, terms such as “first”, “second”, “upper”, “lower”, “main”, and “secondary” when used do not necessarily identify an order, priority of relation, or relative position but may simply be used to more clearly distinguish different components from one another.

Unless otherwise specified, as inferred from the following discussions, terms such as “processing”, “computing”, “determining”, “computation”, or similar should be understood as referring to the action and/or processes of a computer or similar electronic computation device that manipulates and/or transforms data represented as physical quantities, such as electronic magnitudes of records of a computing system and/or memories, into other data similarly represented as physical quantities within computer systems, records, or other information storage, transmission, or display devices.

Unless otherwise indicated, the measurements and data reported in this text are to be considered as performed in International Standard Atmosphere ICAO (ISO 2533:1975).

With reference to the Figures, the heat pump according to the invention is generally denoted by reference number. It may be, for example, a heat pump used for domestic utilities or for buildings such as warehouses or in general, buildings for industrial activities.

Heat pumpincludes a working circuit. It is suitable for circulating a working fluid. In fact, the working circuitmay include piping that allows the working fluid to circulate so that it can carry out heat exchanges and convey heat between different rooms.

In particular, working fluidpreferably includes propane. It is a working fluid particularly suitable for enabling heat exchange; in fact, it is typically used as a refrigerant fluid. It possesses characteristics such as a low boiling temperature, is able to liquefy at low pressures, has a low vapor volume and a stable chemical structure.

Alternatively, working fluidmay include one of your choice of hydrofluorocarbons, halogenated hydrofluorocarbons, and halogenated hydrofluoro olefins. In particular, the solution according to the present invention is advantageous in any case of using refrigerant fluid with any flammability characteristic such as A2L, A2, A3, B2L, B2, B3 and the like.

Heat pumpone a first heat exchangerand a second heat exchanger. They are connected to the working circuit. Therefore, the working fluidcirculates at both the first exchangerand the second exchanger. Exchangers,are designed to allow heat exchanges of the working fluid. It can evaporate within one of the exchangers by absorbing heat and condense in the other exchanger by transfering heat. For example, the first exchangercan function as a condenser, then as an exchanger in which the working fluidcondenses transferring heat, and the second exchangeras an evaporator, then as an exchanger in which the working fluidevaporates absorbing heat.

In this regard, working circuitpreferably includes a lamination valve. In this way, a pressure drop of the working fluidin the liquid state at the outlet of the condenser, its evaporation and a consequent decrease in the temperature of the working fluidwhen it flows into the inlet of the evaporator can be realized.

In addition, working circuitpreferably includes a compressor. It allows increasing the pressure and temperature of the working fluidin the gaseous state at the evaporator outlet and condenser inlet.

In detail, the first exchangeris capable of exchanging heat with an external environment. It can be an outdoor environment, or a large environment within a large structure or building.

The first exchangerincludes a finned structure. They are connected to the working circuit. In fact, the finned structureperforms the function of promoting heat exchange between the working circuitand the external environmentby promoting the passage of air. In addition, the finned structurecan perform a protection function for the portion of the working circuitconnected to the first exchanger.

The first exchangerincludes a finned structure ventilation means. They are designed to increase the heat exchange of the external environmentwith the finned structure. In fact, ventilation meansrealize a flow of air that promotes heat exchange. For example, ventilation meanscan be fans.

Heat pumpincludes a control unit. It may be electronic in nature. In particular, control unitis advantageously configured to operate and regulate the operation of heat pump. It may consist of electronic boards operationally connected to the heat pump components, so as to control their operation and monitor parameters that enable the heat pump's operating status to be evaluated. It may also include electrical components such as a transformer and/or inverter or other.

Heat pumpincludes a support structure. It is designed to support and contain at least part of the working circuit, the first heat exchangerand the control unit. Support structurepreferably includes a first chamber. It mainly performs a support function for part of the working circuitand the first exchanger. In fact, the finned structureand ventilation meansare contained in the first chamber.

In addition, the first chamberpreferably includes a first opening. It is open to the external environment. The first openingperforms the function of facilitating heat exchanges between the working circuitand the external environment. In some heat pumpconfigurations, there may be two or more first openings. Ventilation meansmay preferably be placed near the first openings.

Support structureincludes a second chamber. In particular, control unitis located in the second chamber. The first chamberand the second chambercan be mutually separated and separated from the external environmentby first partition walls. For example, the first chamberand the second chambercan be arranged next to each other and separated by a single first partition wall.

Advantageously, the second chamberincludes at least a second openingon the external environment. It can then be placed in a first partition wallseparating the second chamberfrom the external environment. In addition, the second chamberadvantageously includes a third openingon the first chamber. The third openingcan be placed in a first partition wallseparating the first chamberfrom the second chamber.

This placement of the second openingand the third openingcauses the ventilation meansto force air flow also between the second openingand the third openingthrough the second chamber.

Therefore, the air flow realized by means of the ventilation meansin the vicinity of the first openingsmeans that, in addition to facilitating the heat exchange between the working circuitand the external environment, it can also realize an air flow entering the second openingfrom the external environment, passing inside the second chamberand exiting from the third opening, passing through the first chamberand exiting the first chamberby means of at least the first openinglocated near the second chamber.

Again, alternatively, in case said chamberincluded at least two ventilation means, said third openingis in fluid passage connection with only one of said at least two ventilation means. Advantageously, this feature makes it possible to adjust the airflow between openings,independently of the air flow through battery.

In this way, the control unitcan exchange heat with the external environmentefficiently by means of an air flow.

In this regard, the control unitpreferably includes a first heat sink. It can be an element of high thermal conductivity, such as a finned element, preferably made of aluminum or copper. In particular, it performs the function of making heat exchanges with the surrounding environment more efficient. Therefore, passing an air flow near the first heat sinkcauses a rapid heat exchange to take place between the heat sink and the air flow inside the second chamberso as to cool the control unit. More specifically and advantageously, the second chamberincludes a first sub-chamberand a second sub-chamber. Sub-chambersandcan be mutually separated by second partition walls. In particular, the first sub-chambermay include control unit. The second sub-chambermay include the first heat sink, the second opening, and the third opening. Therefore, the incoming air flow in the second openingpasses inside the second sub-chamber, hitting the first heat sink, and then exits through the third opening. In this way, heat exchanges from control unittake place by means of the first heat sink, the latter being located in the second sub-chamber. Heat exchange in control unitoccurs only by means of the first heat sink. In this configuration of heat pump, therefore, control unitis, in the event of a refrigerant leakage, advantageously not directly affected by a flow of air and refrigerant.

Preferably, second openingand third openingcan be placed in a pair of parallel first partition walls, respectively. Therefore, the input direction into the second sub-chamberand the output direction from the second sub-chamberare parallel. In detail, the second openingand the third openingare preferably misaligned. In this way, the flow of air passing inside the second sub-chamberis diverted by passing near the first heat sinkand then diverts again to exit through the third opening.

Consequently, preferably, the air reaching the heat sink is outside air, not processed by batteries.

In addition, preferably, the second sub-chamberforms a channel having essentially an L-shape, and the two sub-chambersandare separated by a pair of second partition wallsarranged so as to be non-parallel and preferably substantially perpendicular to each other. The first heat sink can be placed along the second of the two second partition wallsthat the air flow encounters as it passes inside the second sub-chamber. The air flow, in this way, will be optimized to more efficiently invest the first heat sink. In addition, air flow is advantageously established by taking advantage of the movement of the ventilation meanspresent in the first chamber, without having to insert additional ventilation means to achieve flow.

Preferably the first chamberhas a tower shape, preferably trapezoidal, and the second chamberis a longitudinal extension of the first chamber.

Support structureincludes a third chamber. It is separated from the second chamberby first partition walls. In particular, the second chamberand the third chambercan be separated by a first partition wall. In addition, the third chamberis separated from the external environmentby first partition walls. In fact, at least part of the working circuitis located in the third chamber.

The third chamberis also preferably below the first and/or second chambersand.

Also preferably according to the latter embodiment, within support structure, along a vertical direction starting from the bottom the components are arranged in the following order: third chamber, openingand second chamber. Advantageously, this arrangement allows any propane leaks from the third chamberto be drawn in through said opening, and then through said second sub-chamber, before they can come into contact with the electronic components contained in the first sub-chamber

First partition wallsmay preferably define at least a first impermeable wall. It is designed to separate the second chamberfrom the third chamber. In addition, the first impermeable wallis impermeable to gases. In this way, safety conditions can be further improved by preventing any leaks of working fluidgas from reaching the control unit.

Preferably, compressoris placed inside the third chamber.