Claims
- 1. A heat recovery system for utilizing excess heat produced by an external heat source, said system comprising:
a hot water tank for storing a reservoir of hot water; a thermosyphon system for removing relatively cold water from a lower region of the hot water tank and introducing relatively hot water into an upper region of the hot water tank wherein the thermosyphon system is configured to utilize a coriolus effect to increase a flow rate of the water from the hot water tank through the thermosyphon system.
- 2. The system of claim 1 wherein the system further comprises a water heater and the thermosyphon system is incorporated within the outerskin of the water heater such that the water heater only has four external connections, said four external connections comprising:
a cold water inlet for receiving cold water from an external water source; a hot water outlet for providing hot water for external use; a heated fluid inlet for receiving heated fluid from the external heat source; and a cooled fluid outlet for returning cooled fluid to the external heat source.
- 3. The system of claim 2 wherein hot water is removed from the hot water tank from the same port that heated water is introduced from the heat transfer unit into the hot water tank.
- 4. The system of claim 1 wherein the relatively cold water is removed from the hot water tank through a sediment removal port located on the bottom of the hot water tank.
- 5. The system of claim 1 wherein the external heat source is an air conditioning unit, refrigeration unit or heat pump unit.
- 6. The system of claim 1 wherein the thermosyphon system further comprises a tube-on-tube heat exchange system and wherein a heated fluid is received from the external heat source in a first tube and relatively cold water from the water tank is received in a second tube and the first and second tubes are positioned to contact one another such that heat is transferred from the heated fluid to the relatively cold water and wherein the first and second tube are wrapped around the exterior of the hot water tank such that the coriolus effect increases a flow rate in the second tube.
- 7. A hot water heater, said hot water heater comprising:
a water tank for containing a reservoir of heated water; an external cold water inlet for receiving relatively cold water from an external water source; an external hot water outlet for providing a supply of hot water from the water tank to an external plumping system; an internal cold water outlet for removing relatively cold water from a lower region of the water tank; a hot fluid inlet for receiving a relatively hot fluid from an external heated fluid source; a heat transfer unit for receiving the relatively cold water from the internal cold water outlet and the relatively hot fluid from the hot fluid inlet and transferring heat from the relatively hot fluid to the relatively cold water; an internal hot water inlet for receiving heated water from the heat transfer unit and providing said heated water to an upper region of the water tank; and a cooled fluid outlet for receiving cooled fluid from the heat transfer unit and returning the cooled fluid to the external heated fluid source; wherein the heat transfer system is incorporated within an outer skin of the water heater.
- 8. The water heater of claim 7 wherein the heat transfer unit utilizes a thermosyphon effect to remove cold water from the water tank and introduce hot water into the water tank.
- 9. The water heater of claim 7 wherein the heat transfer unit utilizes a coriolus effect to increase a flow through rate of the heat transfer unit.
- 10. The water heater of claim 7 wherein the heat transfer unit further comprises a tube-on-tube heat exchanger that is wrapped around a lower region of the water tank such that a thermosyphon and a coriolus effect are utilized to remove cold water from the lower region of the water tank and reintroduce heated water into the upper region of the water tank.
- 11. The water heater of claim 7 wherein the internal cold water outlet is coupled to a sediment drain of the water heater.
- 12. The water heater of claim 7 wherein the internal hot water inlet is coupled to the external hot water outlet.
- 13. The water heater of claim 7 wherein the heat transfer unit further comprises a tube-in-tube heat exchanger having an external tube and an internal tube that is wrapped around the water tank such that a thermosyphon and a coriolus effect are utilized to move water through the heat transfer unit.
- 14. A method of recovering heat produced by an external heat source, said method comprising:
providing a heated fluid from the external heat source to a water heater having a hot water tank through a hot fluid inlet; removing relatively cold water from a lower region of the hot water tank from a tank outlet; transferring heat from the heated fluid to the relatively cold water with a heat transfer unit and thereby heating the relatively cold water; reintroducing the heated water to an upper region of the hot water tank through a heated water tank inlet; and returning the cooled fluid to the external heat source through a cooled fluid outlet; wherein a thermosyphon effect and a coriolus effect are utilized to remove the relatively cold water from the hot water tank and to reintroduce the heated water into the hot water tank.
- 15. The method of claim 14 further comprising configuring the water heater such that the heat transfer is accomplished within an outer skin of the water heater.
- 16. The method of claim 14 wherein the step of transferring the heat further comprises channeling the heated fluid through a first tube and channeling the relatively cold water through a second tube wherein the first tube and the second tune are positioned to be in contact such that heat is transferred from the heated fluid to the relatively cold water.
- 17. The method of claim 14 wherein the step of transferring the heat further comprises transferring heat from the heated fluid to the relatively cold water through a tube-in-tube heat exchanger.
- 18. The method of claim 16 further comprising the step of coiling the first tube and the second tube around the water tank in a manner that results in the coriolus effect increasing the flow rate of water through the tubes.
- 19. The method of claim 14 further comprising providing hot water from the water tank for external use through a hot water tank outlet wherein the hot water tank outlet is coupled to the heated water tank inlet.
- 20. The method of claim 14 wherein the step of removing relatively cold water from the water tank further comprises removing relatively cold water from the water tank from a tank sediment drain.
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] This application claims the benefit of provisional application No. 60/385,075, filed Jun. 1, 2002, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated herein.
Provisional Applications (1)
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Number |
Date |
Country |
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60385075 |
Jun 2002 |
US |