BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. The Field of the Invention

The present invention is directed generally to a tankless water heating system applicable to a wide variety of applications including high rise buildings or any applications where pressure drop is a critical issue. More specifically, the present invention is directed to a water heating system configured to overcome not only pressure drop but also pressure rise associated with tankless water heating systems.

2. Background Art

High rise buildings are traditionally serviced using tank water heating systems or boiler and tank water heating systems instead of tankless water heating systems due to the pressure required to send water to great elevations. Such tank systems are energy inefficient as a large amount of water is prepared ahead of time, prior to the existence of a demand, to anticipate such a demand. While in storage, the thermal energy stored in the heated water is wasted to the tank surroundings even with tank insulation. Previous attempts have been made in the water heating industry to use energy efficient water heating systems to service high rise buildings and other venues requiring increased pump pressure but they have not been successful. Introducing a water heater with a large pressure drop causes the difference in pressure between the hot and cold side to be larger than desired and may cause building water distribution systems to not work properly. However, no previous attempts have been successful in keeping pressure drop low while avoiding the effects of negative pressure while heating water on demand. Further, no previous attempts have been successful in creating a zero pressure drop condition where users of a tankless water heating system does not experience inadvertent pressure drop and/or pressure rise conditions arising from the tankless water heating system.

Thus, there is a need for a zero pressure drop water heating system that does not include a tank water heating system.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In accordance with the present invention, there is provided a zero pressure drop water heating system including a cold side conductor including a receiving end and a closed end; a hot side conductor including an exit end and a closed end; a pump; a bypass conductor including a first end, a second end and a bypass valve disposed between the first end and the second end of the bypass conductor, wherein the first end of the bypass conductor is adapted to the receiving end of the cold side conductor and the second end of the bypass conductor is adapted to the exit end of the hot side conductor; at least one heat exchanger including a flow valve; an inlet temperature sensor disposed on an inlet of the at least one heat exchanger; an outlet temperature sensor disposed on an outlet of the at least one heat exchanger closest to the exit end of the hot side conductor; a system outlet temperature sensor disposed on the exit end of the hot side conductor; and a system inlet temperature sensor disposed on the receiving end of the cold side conductor, wherein the receiving end of the cold side conductor is configured to be connected to a cold water supply manifold, the exit end of the hot side conductor is configured to be connected to a hot water supply manifold, the pump is configured to generate a flow through each of the at least one heat exchanger and whereby when a temperature indicated by the inlet temperature sensor exceeds a temperature indicated by the system inlet temperature sensor, the flow valve of the at least one heat exchanger is configured to be restricted to enable an increased flow from the receiving end of the cold side conductor to the exit end of the hot side conductor through the bypass conductor to temper a flow exiting the exit end of the hot side conductor, when a temperature indicated by the system outlet temperature sensor falls below a temperature indicated by the inlet temperature sensor, the flow valve of the at least one heat exchanger is configured to be enlarged to enable an increased flow from the cold side conductor to the exit end of the hot side conductor through the at least one heat exchanger to increase the temperature of the flow exiting the exit end of the hot side conductor and at least one of the bypass valve, the flow valve and the pump is used for controlling flow through the zero pressure drop water heating system to result in a pressure drop of zero at the exit end of the hot side conductor.

In one embodiment, the bypass conductor further includes an exhaust disposed on the second end of the bypass conductor, the exhaust including at least one opening configured for allowing effluents of the at least one opening to be pointed in a direction from the exit end of the hot side conductor to the closed end of the hot side conductor.

In one embodiment, the bypass conductor further includes an exhaust disposed on the second end of the bypass conductor and the hot side conductor further includes an upper half and a lower half and the exhaust is configured to be disposed on the upper half of the hot side conductor.

In one embodiment, the bypass conductor further includes an exhaust disposed on the second end of the bypass conductor and the hot side conductor further includes an upper half and a lower half and the exhaust is an inverted J-shaped exhaust including at least one opening disposed on the upper half of the hot side conductor.

In one embodiment, the bypass conductor further includes an exhaust disposed on the second end of the bypass conductor, the exhaust further includes at least one opening configured for allowing effluents of the at least one opening to be pointed in a direction perpendicular to a direction from the exit end of the hot side conductor to the closed end of the hot side conductor.

In one embodiment, the hot side conductor further includes a volume of from about 0.5 to about 2 gallons and the bypass conductor includes a tubing of size of from about 0.5 to about 1.5 inches.

In one embodiment, the bypass valve is an on-off valve. In another embodiment, the bypass valve is a modulating valve.

An object of the present invention is to provide an on-demand water heating system capable of servicing customers at significant elevations without significant ill effects due to pressure drop and positive pressure.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an on-demand water heating system to buildings traditionally serviced only using tank water heating systems due to the inability of previously available tankless water heating systems in countering the ill effects of positive pressure.

Whereas there may be many embodiments of the present invention, each embodiment may meet one or more of the foregoing recited objects in any combination. It is not intended that each embodiment will necessarily meet each objective. Thus, having broadly outlined the more important features of the present invention in order that the detailed description thereof may be better understood, and that the present contribution to the art may be better appreciated, there are, of course, additional features of the present invention that will be described herein and will form a part of the subject matter of this specification.

