Abstract: A system for space heating for a building employing structural elements of the building as heating conduits. Girder pairs are employed as manifold conduits and joist pairs are employed as distribution conduits for the present system. The crawl space of the building is used for the return air and becomes a plenum therefor.

Abstract: Conditioned air (i.e. cooled or heated air) is supplied to spaces in a building structure via guides and air mains. The conditioned air is guided into the spaces directly from the guides, or via plenum chambers and transfer openings, or via both routes simultaneously. Circulation of conditioned air through the plenum chambers cools/heats the building structure. During a subsequent period when cooled/heated air is demanded for the spaces, air from the spaces is circulated through the plenum chambers via air return openings. Such circulated air is cooled/heated by contact with the building structure and is re-introduced as conditioned air. The building structure thus acts as a reservoir of heat to augment the conditioning effort of the air conditioning means during periods of peak demand.

Abstract: A heat exchange apparatus is mountable in an exterior building wall structure having an exterior wall panel and interior wall panel. The apparatus includes a frame, a pivotal panel member and a cover door. The frame is attached to the wall structure proximate an opening in the exterior wall panel. The cover is detachably attached to the frame and the panel member pivots from a closed to an open position. The panel member is hingedly attached to the frame. A heat exchange system, such as an air conditioning or a heat pump system, or both, is mounted on the panel member so that when the cover door is removed, the panel member may be swung open, providing easy access to the heat exchange system for maintenance. The panel member, when in the closed position, divides the interior of the housing into interior and exterior air flow sections.

Abstract: The system is composed of an aggregate mass through which air can be blown, film sheeting enveloping the mass, and apparatus for directing a flow of air from the interior of a home or other building structure through the aggregate mass and back into the interior. The slab or floor of the home rests on and is supported in part by the enveloped mass. The aggregate mass is a relatively poor conductor of heat and thus heat transfer occurs mainly between the air flowing through the mass and the slab or floor above the mass, and between the air flowing through the mass and the ground below the mass. Preferably, the air from the interior of the building structure is blown into the aggregate mass at an interior location thereof, collected around the perimeter of the enveloped aggregate mass and transferred to the interior of the building structure at peripheral locations in its interior space above but in proximity to the slab or floor. Apparatus for recovering waste heat within the home is also described.

Abstract: A method of prestressing a tubular apparatus having coaxial inner and outer metal tubes which are connected to each other at axially spaced locations. After the inner and outer tubes are connected to each other so that the tubular apparatus may be heat-treated or otherwise processed before it is prestressed, the diameter of at least a portion of the inner tube is increased so that it is shortened to thereby establish a prestressed condition between the inner and outer tubes with the inner tube under tension and the outer tube under compression.

Abstract: An improved heat transfer and air circulation system for homes and like constructions wherein heat is removed from the home or like construction and stored for later utilization. The system utilizes a blower with a non-conductive aggregate structural circulation medium supporting the home and transmits circulating air from the home to the area adjacent the underlying soil mass thereby providing an effective and workable heat transfer thermal cap system for use under the floor or slab portion of a home to be heated or cooled.

Abstract: A metal collector panel for use in a solar heating assembly of generally flat rectangular shape with a plurality of parallel channel members which run from the long edges of the panel and which act as baffles when the panel is enclosed between side and end frame members and having a transparent front face through which solar rays pass for absorption by the baffle members. The baffle members each having openings for air flow through the panel from the assembly inlet at one end to the outlet at the other end of the assembly. The studs and rafters of the buildings can serve as side frame members for the panel assembly.

Abstract: A building having rooms to be heated is supported at least in part on a cylindrical double wall concrete tank, the inner wall of which receives a heating fluid preferably heated by a solar collector while the outer wall includes a coil through which the heated fluid can be circulated to radiate heat into the rooms of the building.

Abstract: A building structure is constructed from a plurality of sheathed, foam cored structural panels which are adapted to receive solar energy conversion or heat storage devices and are adapted to be connected in an air flow loop to provide integral heating and/or cooling systems for the building structure.

Abstract: A device for controlling the temperature of rooms in a building comprising curtain walls having a skeleton made up of columns and horizontal members to which facade elements and, if required, window surfaces are secured so as to be substantially free from heat bridges, comprising a temperature-control facility substantially in the form of a pipeline system in which a heat transfer fluid flows, said pipeline system being constructed and arranged to dispose inside the room and adjacent the skeleton of columns and horizontal members and relative to the skeleton so as to produce a thermal coupling between the skeleton and the temperature control facility. In certain applications the temperature control facility is disposed at a relatively short distance from and in facing relation to the skeleton in an arrangement producing a close radiation coupling between the skeleton and the temperature control facility.

Abstract: A combined rolling shutter and ventilating box comprises a housing holding the rolling shutter. A ventilating box has horizontal and vertical air duct sections divided into a first duct section part receiving warm air to be exhausted from an interior room and a second duct section part receiving fresh air from the atmosphere. A ventilator exhausts the warm air through the first duct section part and the exhausted warm air is vented to the atmosphere. A fresh air inlet communicates with the second duct section and a ventilator draws the fresh air therethrough. A heat exchanger in the air duct sections extends transversely through the air flow through the first and second duct parts.

Abstract: A system for drying humid air to be used for ventilating a space defined by an enclosing covering, wherein said covering contains a first conduit system for circulating a cooling fluid, and a second conduit system for circulating humid air to be dried. At least part of said first system is in heat exchanging contact with said second system so as to cause condensation of water vapor contained in the humid air flowing in said second conduit system. Means are preferably provided for collecting the condensed water.

Abstract: Process and equipment for the exchange of heat between flows of a medium flowing in and out of a building, and facade assemblies in which the process is implemented.

Abstract: A G.R.P. roofing panel is stiffened by longitudinal beams on its underside and is designed to span one pitch of a pitched roof from eaves to ridge. It has an outer skin and an inner impervious liner spaced therefrom and supported on the stiffening beams so as to form a tunnel open at both ends and extending from the vicinity of the eaves to the line of the roof ridge, where vents to atmosphere are provided in the outer skin. Air is convected upwards through the tunnel due to the heating of the outer skin by radiation from the sun, and a damper controls this flow of air. It can be arranged to operate differentially on air flowing in from outside the building and air flowing in from the roof space through a port in the liner. At the line of the ridge the liner meets and is sealed to the corresponding liner of a counterpart panel on the opposite pitch of the roof so as to maintain the integrity of the convection air circuit in each section of the roof.

Abstract: A uni-directional valve arrangement placed in a predetermined location between a habitable enclosure and a heating or cooling system which is exposed to outdoor temperatures prevents air of undesirable temperature in the system from passing into the enclosure by gravity flow.

Abstract: The invention relates to a sound-absorbing radiating screen. One side of the screen is coated with a heat-insulating material, whereas on the other side perforations of optional shape are formed. The entire curve, or a part thereof, formed by the edge limiting the rims of the openings lay outside the unperforated surface of the plate of the screen.The sound-absorbing capacity of the radiating screen is increased and at the same time, the punching and perforation does not impede or interrupt the heat flow in the screen.