A chemical heat pump system is disclosed for use in heating and cooling structures such as residences or commercial buildings. The system is particularly adapted to utilizing solar energy, Chemical pumpsbut also increases the efficiency of other forms of thermal energy when solar energy is not available. When solar energy is not available for relatively short periods of time, the heat storage capacity of the chemical heat pump is utilized to heat the structure, as during nighttime hours. The design also permits home heating from solar energy when the sun is shining. The entire system may be conveniently rooftop located. In order to facilitate intallation on existing structures, Vacuum pumpsthe absorber and vaporizer portions of the system may each be designed as flat, thin wall, thin pan vessels which materially increase the surface area available for heat transfer. In addition, this thin, flat configuration of the absorber and its thin walled (and therefore relatively flexible) construction permits substantial expansion and contraction of the absorber material during vaporization and absorption without generating voids which would interfere with heat transfer. The containers housing the vapor absorptive chemical and the liquid to be vaporized are both critical in their construction, since each must be capable of very substantial heat transfer to the heat exchanger air spaces as well as very substantial vapor transfer from one container to another during use and regeneration and each must be made of inexpensive materials. A preferred embodiment of the present invention utilizes thin, large, flat pans for each of these containers, the pans including internal structural support members to support the external atmospheric load on the containers. The vapor absorptive chemical is preferably stored along one surface of the flat absorptive chemical container, this being the surface which is subjected to solar radiation. The chemical may be maintained against this surface by a corrugated or zig-zagged, vapor permeable partition, this zig-zagging substantially increasing the surface area for vapor flow. It has also been found that the surface of the vapor absorptive chemical container subjected to solar radiation may be identically corrugated or zig-zagged so that the heat transfer surface area, as well as the solar absorption surface area, may be increased. The overall effect of this corrugation has been to substantially increase the heat and vapor transfer characteristics of the system without requiring increased quantities of vapor absorptive chemical. However, in some cases this zig-zag structure is not needed.

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2012-02-01

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