Climate control system and associated methods

Abstract

A climate control system is described that can include a thermal battery ( 100 ) with a heating bed ( 110 ) and cooling bed ( 120 ) and a conditioned air manifold adapted to direct heat transfer fluid across at least one of the heating bed ( 110 ) and the cooling bed ( 120 ) to condition inlet air. A method of controlling climate in an enclosure can be provided by contemporaneously generating a heating effect and a cooling effect from a reversible thermo chemical reaction and selectively directing thermal flows from a reversible thermo chemical reaction to the enclosure.

1 . A climate control system comprising:
 a thermal battery including
 at least one heating bed including a compacted metal salt; 
 at least one cooling bed including a volatile polar compound, wherein the at least one heating bed and at least one cooling bed are fluidly connected to one another and the compacted metal salt and the volatile polar compound form a reversible thermochemical reaction system; and 
 a flow control mechanism adapted to selectively allow fluid to flow between the at least one heating bed and the at least one cooling bed to control reaction of the reversible thermochemical reaction system; and 
   a heat exchange module thermally associated with each of the at least one heating bed and the at least one cooling bed and adapted to condition an inlet air.   
     
     
         2 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the compacted metal salt is selected from the group consisting of MgCl 2 , CaCl 2 , NiCl 2 , FeCl 2 , SrBr 2 , CoCl 2 , and MnCl 2 , an ammonia complex thereof, and combinations thereof. 
     
     
         3 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the compacted metal salt has a porosity of from 0 to 40%. 
     
     
         4 . (canceled) 
     
     
         5 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the volatile polar compound is ammonia. 
     
     
         6 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the at least one cooling bed is a cooling enclosure which contains the volatile polar compound. 
     
     
         7 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the at least one heating bed is a heating enclosure which contains the compacted metal salt. 
     
     
         8 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the thermal battery further comprises at least one connecting conduit configured to connect the at least one heating bed to the at least one cooling bed. 
     
     
         9 . The system of  claim 8 , wherein the flow control mechanism comprises at least one conduit valve operably associated with the at least one connecting conduit, wherein the at least one conduit valve is selectively adjustable to control fluid flow rates between the at least one heating bed and the at least one cooling bed. 
     
     
         10 . (canceled) 
     
     
         11 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the heat exchange module further includes a conditioned air manifold adapted to direct conditioned air into an enclosure selected from the group consisting of an passenger compartment, a cargo container, a room, a building, a camping trailer, a tent, and combinations thereof. 
     
     
         12 . The system of  claim 11 , wherein the conditioned air manifold further comprises:
 at least one duct adapted to selectively adjust the inlet air to achieve a desired thermal effect; and   an outlet vent adapted to direct the conditioned air into the enclosure.   
     
     
         13 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the heat exchange module further comprises:
 a first heat exchanger adapted to transfer heat from the at least one heating bed via a first heat transfer fluid;   a second heat exchanger adapted to transfer heat from the at least one cooling bed via a second heat transfer fluid.   
     
     
         14 . The system of  claim 13 , wherein at least one of the first and second heat transfer fluid is a liquid mixture of diphenylethane and alkylated aromatics. 
     
     
         15 . The system of  claim 13 , wherein the first and second heat transfer fluids are each about 60% by volume ethylene glycol in water. 
     
     
         16 . The system of  claim 13 , wherein the first heat transfer fluid includes a terphenyl. 
     
     
         17 . The system of  claim 13 , wherein the second heat transfer fluid includes at least one of a pentafluoropropane, a tetrafluoroethane, and combinations thereof. 
     
     
         18 . The system of  claim 13 , wherein the heat exchange module further comprises a third heat exchanger adapted to transfer heat from an external heat source to the at least one cooling bed. 
     
     
         19 . The system of  claim 13 , further comprising a turbine operatively associated with at least one of the first and second heat exchangers to produce electricity and wherein the system further comprises a storage battery operatively connected to the turbine to store the produced electricity. 
     
     
         20 . (canceled) 
     
     
         21 . The system of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 a communication module adapted to receive communication from a remote device; and   a controller module operatively connected to at least one of the flow control mechanism and the conditioned air manifold and adapted to communicate with the communication module to control one or both of the reaction of the thermochemical reaction system and flow of the conditioned air.   
     
     
         22 . The system of  claim 21 , wherein the remote device is a hand-held device. 
     
     
         23 . (canceled) 
     
     
         24 . A method of controlling climate in an enclosure comprising:
 contemporaneously generating a heating effect and a cooling effect from a reversible thermochemical reaction having an endothermic reaction and a complimentary exothermic reaction which are thermally remote from one another and fluidly connected via a selectively controllable flow control; and   selectively directing thermal flows from the reversible thermochemical reaction to increase or decrease a temperature within the enclosure.   
     
     
         25 . The method of  claim 24 , wherein the endothermic reaction includes evaporation of a polar volatile compound. 
     
     
         26 . (canceled) 
     
     
         27 . (canceled) 
     
     
         28 . (canceled) 
     
     
         29 . (canceled) 
     
     
         30 . (canceled)