Self contained heat pump - has refrigerant vapour-driven turbine which supplies auxiliary power for fans and pumps

摘要

The heat pump utilises heat from an external source such as solar energy, geothermal heat or heat from industrial effluent etc. The boiler heats the refrigerant to produce a high pressure vapour. A proportion of the vapour is fed to the condenser giving up heat to an external air or water circuit. The cooled vapour is then expanded through the valve to the evaporator producing a refrigeration effect. The hot vapour is then passed to an absorber giving up heat to the external air or water circuit. The vapour is condensed in the absorber (5). The machine is self contained since a proportion of high pressure vapour is taken from the boiler to drive a turbine which in turn provides auxiliary power for fan, pumps and controllers of the system.