Controllable variable inertia fluid heating and storage system

Abstract

Controllable variable inertia water storage system for heating and/or cooling, comprising: a plurality of water storage volumes for storing and heating water, these being either a vessel comprising sub-volumes or independent multiple vessels, said volumes being interconnected in series; a water inlet and outlet connect to the interconnected volumes; an independent water heater and/or cooler for each volume. Method for operating said system comprising: defining target sub-temperatures for each volume, wherein said target sub-temperatures are sequentially higher for each volume, in the direction of the water flow from inlet to outlet; increasing the target sub-temperatures in periods of forecasted higher demand, and, inversely, decreasing the target sub-temperatures in periods of forecasted lower demand; heating the volumes up to the target sub-temperatures, when the user indicates so or when a source of heat is available.

1 . A controllable variable inertia water storage system for heating and/or cooling, comprising:
 a. a plurality of water storage volumes for storing and heating water, these being either a vessel comprising sub-volumes or independent multiple vessels, said volumes being interconnected in series;   b. a water inlet and outlet connect to the interconnected volumes;   c. an independent water heater and/or cooler for each volume;   d. a control module configured to operate the method of any of the  claims 18 - 22 .   
       wherein the control module comprises data connections, local or remote:
 a. for providing information on the system status and for receiving user configurations; and/or 
 b. for exchanging heat availability with heat source devices; 
 
       wherein the data connections are one or more of domotics data connection, machine-to-machine—M2M—data connection, service providers' data connection, and/or energy providers' data connection. 
     
     
         2 . The system according to  claim 1 , wherein said independent water heater and/or cooler for a volume is a heat exchanger for exchanging heat with a fluid fed by a heat or cool source. 
     
     
         3 . The system according to  claim 2 , wherein two or more of said volumes comprise, as said independent water heater and/or cooler, heat exchangers for exchanging heat with fluid fed by the same source of heat or cool. 
     
     
         4 . The system according to  claim 1 , wherein said source of heat or cool is a boiler, thermal solar panel, electric heater, combined heat and power cogeneration unit. 
     
     
         5 . The system according to  claim 1  comprising further volumes which are not interconnected with said interconnected volumes, said further volumes comprising independent water inlet and outlet connections. 
     
     
         6 . The system according to  claim 1 , wherein said further volumes each comprises a water heater and/or cooler that is independent from the water heaters and/or coolers of said interconnected volumes. 
     
     
         7 . The system according to  claim 1 , wherein said volumes are thermally insulated, in particular between said volumes. 
     
     
         8 . The system according to  claim 1 , wherein the volumes are arranged linearly or radially, in particular concentrically. 
     
     
         9 . The system according to  claim 1  further comprising one or more additional independent water heaters and/or coolers for each volume. 
     
     
         10 . The system according to  claim 1 , wherein the serial interconnections between volumes are arranged such that water stratification by temperature is promoted. 
     
     
         11 . The system according to  claim 1 , wherein the serial interconnections between volumes comprise flow deflectors such that the disruption of water stratification by temperature is minimized. 
     
     
         12 . The system according to  claim 1 , wherein the control system can interact with services facilitated by other entities, namely “cloud based services” or other proprietary services and networks, such that when integrated in a domotics system, the vessel can communicate with other equipments such as outside meteorological devices as well as work together with other house heating devices and other/appliances. 
     
     
         13 . The system according to  claim 1  adapted for connection to the Internet so that the system can take advantage of “cloud-based” M2M Machine-to-Machine service, in particular usage data collection for service providers and end-users, firmware upgrades, integration with intelligent grid management systems. 
     
     
         14 . The system according to  claim 1 , wherein the control system is an integrated part of the vessel or as an external add-on to the vessel. 
     
     
         15 . The system according to  claim 1 , wherein the control system is configured to determine which sub-volume to heat, or cool, and with which energy source, by relying on instantaneous as well as provisional computed data based on the history of energy consumption, energy availability and other data pertinent for its operation, in particular for example, meteorological forecasts, user or external agents needs and preferences. 
     
     
         16 . The system according to  claim 1 , wherein the control system is configured to determine energy source to use based on availability, demand and user, or agent preferences, wherein the availability and demand are accessed by the sensor groups and the user, or agent, preferences are known from the user interface as well as from the communication connection described. 
     
     
         17 . The system according to  claim 1 , wherein the control system is configured to:
 a. by interacting with other devices inside the house, extend the reach of the vessel energy monitoring and control, optimizing its operation; also to control and monitor the vessel by using other domotics integrated components from the house;   b. by communicating with a domotics network, collect data such as inside and outside house temperature, occupancy, and other occupants habits and adjusting the behavior of the vessel accordingly, i.e. adjusting to weather, occupancy;   c. by communicating with other energy systems, cooperate in energy management in such a way to decide which is the best energy source and/or system to use to heat the vessel;   d. connect with a communication network, for example the internet e.g. world wide web (WWW), to allow access to information, exterior to the vessel and the house where it is installed, in particular actual and provisional meteorology;   e. integrate with an external communication network allowing the vessel to interact with a centralized system that can retrieve history energy consumption patterns, diagnose malfunctions and perform maintenance procedures remotely as well as interact and condition the operating procedure of the vessel by interacting with the control system;   f. interact with energy production equipments to complement the characteristics of the vessel, in particular to reduce transients in the operation of micro-CHP (combined heat and power boilers) and/or other energy producing equipment.   g. use the electrical energy produced by co-generation boilers and micro cogeneration boilers, photo-voltaic cells, and/or other electricity producing systems to further heat the water in the vessel.   
     
     
         18 . A method for heating and/or cooling water utilizing the system of  claim 1  comprising the steps of:
 a. defining target sub-temperatures for each volume, wherein said target sub-temperatures are sequentially higher for each volume, in the direction of the water flow from inlet to outlet; and wherein the target sub-temperature of the volume connected to the outlet is the target temperature of the water to be supplied; 
 b. increasing, the target sub-temperatures in predefined periods or periods of forecasted higher demand, and, inversely, decreasing the target sub-temperatures in other predefined periods or periods of forecasted lower demand; 
 c. heating the volumes up to the target sub-temperatures, when the system user indicates so or when a predefined source of heat is available. 
 
     
     
         19 . The method according to  claim 18  further comprising limiting the water temperature of each volume by controlling the heating with user-defined minimum and maximum temperature limits for each volume. 
     
     
         20 . The method according to  claim 18 , wherein the step b) of heating the volumes comprises first heating up to a predefined number of volumes that are closest to the water outlet; and sequentially heating up to a predefined number of other volumes that are next closest to the outlet, until all volumes reach the target sub-temperatures. 
     
     
         21 . The method according to the previous  claim 20 , wherein the step b) of heating the volumes comprises first heating the volume that is closest to the water outlet; and sequentially heating the other volumes, one by one, that are next closest to the outlet, until all volumes reach the target sub-temperatures. 
     
     
         22 . The method according to  claim 18 , wherein the step b) of heating the volumes comprises first heating a predefined number of volumes that have the larger differences between current temperature and target sub-temperature; and sequentially heating predefined number of volumes that then have the larger differences between current temperature and target sub-temperatures, until all volumes reach the target sub-temperatures.