IHT™ from ICAX suits new buildings

IHT™ from ICAX is most efficient when incorporated into new buildings at the planning stage. It works on buildings of every scale, especially those designed to have high thermal mass and efficient insulation.

Where is it currently used? – Toddington Services, Howe Dell School, Hiroshima, HM Garth Prison, Merton Intergenerational Centre, Tesco Greenfield Supermarket and Suffolk One Sixth Form College.

ICAX Limited is pleased to have provided Interseasonal Heat Transfer to Howe Dell School, Hatfield, to enable the school to be heated in the winter with heat captured by the school playground in the previous summer.

This revolutionary patented technology has been developed over ten years by ICAX Limited to provide on-site renewable energy to heat buildings in winter without burning fossil fuels.

IHT allows gas-free buildings to be designed. This saves the cost of funding a gas supply to a new site, as well as greatly reducing the annual cost of heating, cooling and maintenance.

Elements of IHT™

The essence of IHT is that solar heat can be collected from dark surfaces (like roads, car parks or playgrounds) by an array of pipes embedded beneath the surface in an asphalt solar collector. The heat is stored in an insulated ThermalBank beneath the insulated foundation in the ground and retrieved using a ground source heat pump to heat buildings in winter.

Using smart control technology, the system enhances the performance of Ground Source Heat Pumps. A standard GSHP extracts warmth from the ground and separates this into heat (used to heat a building) and cold (which is returned to the ground). The heat pump, which can yield four kilowatts of heat at a cost of one kilowatt of electricity, is deemed to have a Coefficient of Performance ("CoP") of 4. However, a GSHP needs to pump harder as the ground gets colder as heat is extracted and therefore the CoP of the Heat Pump is likely to fall over the winter season as a whole. Heat is “borrowed” from the ground and creates a thermal “overdraft” in the ground. A GSHP relies on heat gradually migrating back into the thermal overdraft created.

Heat Banking

An IHT system differs from a standard GSHP system in that heat is actively “deposited” in the Thermal Bank in advance of the winter season. This greatly reduces the work required of the heat pump to provide heat to the building the following winter. In engineering terms the seasonal Coefficient of Performance of the heat pump is increased from around 2.6 times to around 5.2 times. This transforms the economics of using a Heat Pump.

IHT™ can save over 70% of carbon emissions compared to using a gas boiler for heating.

Heat Balancing

IHT can also balance heating and cooling demands within a building: ICAX can extract heat from a south facing room in summer and use the heat to warm a swimming pool. ICAX can take "waste heat" from chillers and use it to heat hot water, or store the heat in the ground for space heating in winter. ICAX can collect surplus heat from a tennis court and transfer the heat to a swimming pool.

This radical new thermal storage technology is ready to help you address the issue of global warming in a practical, efficient and proven way. Please email us for further details before you embark on constructing new buildings.

IHT™ from ICAX also suits some refurbishment projects

The principles underlying IHT™ can be used on some refurbishments. There are some circumstances where IHT can recover "waste heat" from air conditioning plant, store the heat in vertical boreholes and recover and recycle the heat in the heating season. A well balanced design can reduce the running cost of air conditioning in summer and heating costs in winter (as well as earning BREEAM points). Please email us with your plans at an early stage so see how ICAX can help.

IHT™ from ICAX can also save energy in older buildings

The principles underlying IHT™ can also be used on older buildings. Older buildings tend to need more heat so there is a larger problem to be addressed and larger potential savings. Older buildings often need more heat because of lack of insulation: there are techniques that can be used to improve the insulation of older buildings without altering their appearance which we address as part of an installation of Interseasonal Heat Transfer.

See also: Corporate Social Responsibility and opportunities to reduce carbon emissions from existing buildings.

See also: Renewable Heat

See also: Banking on IHT