Disclosed is a solar powered heat pump functional for any heating building place and for offering refrigeration. The device functions on a chemical result intermittent heat pump cycle in which the moderately high temperature heat given by insolation is applied to drive the desorber. The device makes inherent thermal storage, can be factory made, sealed, and tested, can be electronically controlled for totally automatic process, and includes a built-in back-up heater which obviates the need for installation of a separate back-up heating system. It can be fabricated from low-cost materials such as glass, and implodes instead than explodes on failure.
A favorite embodiment of the device is planned as a regular unit which can promptly be mixed with others of same design to create a solar powered battery panel for heating and cooling. This embodiment rather contains a tubular enclosure defining a pair of chambers separated by a valve. A first chamber is packed with silicon gel (or an equivalent adsorbent material) placed such that mass and heat change through the gel take place quickly and in comparable time periods.
The first chamber is surrounded by a wide diameter, solar radiation clear housing and the annular space between the chamber and housing is evacuated. The enclosure is mounted together with a diffuse light reflector which focuse sunlight toward the first chamber. Heat exchangers provide thermal communication between several chambers and a pair of duct portions modified for connection to a building heat distribution system.
