How it works

A building with this system stores and recovers waste heat to deliver heating and cooling. Instead of rejecting heat outside through cooling towers, waste heat is recovered and circulated to the building. This essentially taps into the energy the building already has – energy from the sun the previous day, as well as energy already purchased for lighting, appliances and cooling.

Think free cooling is free? Think again.

Most modern commercial buildings need some cooling all year. “Free cooling” economizers take in outside air and throw heat out, using new energy in fans. Trane Thermal Battery Heat Pump Systems store that heat by melting ice for cooling while using less fan energy. This makes the energy extracted from the building (while cooling) reusable as stored water in the tank. The next time the system needs heating, the heat pump runs with the tank as the energy source. In turn, the energy it extracted from the tank is available when the building next needs cooling. By balancing cooling and heating loads, not simultaneously in real time, but from one day to the next, the system eliminates the need to throw away excess energy.

Maximize Benefits by Season

This system’s “heat pump” capability allows you to optimize utility costs and energy use by season. In summer, waste heat in the building is rejected through cooling towers. During winter, the waste heat is stored and saved for morning warm-up. The system rejects or stores heat as need during spring and fall.  And Trane controls helps automate the variability based on our engineered algorithyms providing you the maximum benefit any time of year!