Discrete demand side control performance under dynamic building simulation: A heat pump application

This study presents the findings of applying a Discrete Demand Side Control (DDSC) approach to the space heating of two case study buildings. High and low tolerance scenarios are implemented on the space heating controller to assess the impact of DDSC upon buildings with different thermal capacitances, light-weight and heavy-weight construction. Space heating is provided by an electric heat pump powered from a wind turbine, with a back-up electrical network connection in the event of insufficient wind being available when a demand occurs. Findings highlight that thermal comfort is maintained within an acceptable range while the DDSC controller maintains the demand/supply balance. Whilst it is noted that energy demand increases slightly, as this is mostly supplied from the wind turbine, this is of little significance and hence a reduction in operating costs and carbon emissions is still attained.     

Effects of non-Newtonian fluid on centrifugal blood pump performance

A 2:1 scaled-up model of the Kyoto-NTN magnetically suspended impeller centrifugal blood pump developed by Kyoto University, Japan, is tested using aqueous Xanthan gum solution and water as working fluids, respectively. It is found that the pump head rise with the solution is lower than that with water at same flow rate when the pump operates at low rotor speeds; at high rotor speeds, however, the pump will generate a higher head for the solution than for water at the same flow rate, and a maximum difference of 7% is detected. Data comparison indicates that water does not accurately model the head vs. flow rate characteristics of the prototype pump, and aqueous Xanthan gum solution of 600 ppm produced results best simulating the performance of the prototype pump.     

Experimental investigation of the influence of lubricating oil on heat pump performance

Experimental results are presented which demonstrate the effect of lubricating oil on the COP and evaporator performance of refrigeration and heat pump systems. These are compared with the predictions of a simple theoretical analysis and it is shown that the agreement is satisfactory. It is demonstrated that evaporator heat extraction can be degraded by as much as 50 per cent and the COP by up to 30 per cent when compared to the performance indicated by the properties of pure refrigerants for systems containing up to 15 per cent oil. An interesting phenomenon is also demonstrated, wherein there is a clearly identifiable optimum setting for the evaporator superheat control, and the way in which this varies with oil concentration is indicated.     

Maximum profit performance of a three‐heat‐reservoir heat pump

The operation of a three‐heat‐reservoir heat pump is viewed as a production process with exergy as its output. The relations between the optimal profit and COP (coefficient of performance), and the COP bound at the maximum profit of the heat pump are derived based on a general heat transfer law. The results provide a theoretical basis for developing and utilizing a variety of heat pumps. The focus of this paper is to search the compromised optimization between economics (profit) and the utilization factor (COP) for finite‐time endoreversible thermodynamic cycles. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The discrepancy between heat pump field and test performance: A simulation study

A discrepancy is reported whereby laboratory measurements of the COP_h of air-to-water heat pumps yield performace data which are significantly inferior to seasonal values as measured in the field. A mechanism is proposed to account for this and example calculations show that improvements of up to 20 per cent can be expected over normal laboratory estimates.     

Performance of a low energy house in a mild cooling season. Part 2: Thermal performance of the heat pump

A low-energy house located in Halifax, Canada was monitored for a year using a computerized data acquisition system. Data on indoor and outdoor temperatures, relative humidities, and power consumption were collected for a whole year. The results of the analysis of the cooling season data from the heat pump system are presented in this paper. The analysis of the data indicated that a large part of the latent cooling done by the heat pump was subsequently converted to sensible cooling as a result of the evaporation of the condensate from the indoor coil. It was found that 25% of the total sensible cooling supplied to the house during the cooling season was as a result of the conversion of latent cooling to sensible cooling. This phenomenon has important implications in design, operation, and modelling of heat pumps and cooling systems with direct expansion coils. The seasonal EER of cooling was 1.95, and the total power consumption was 1194 kWh with a corresponding cost of Can $84. It was also found that temperature set-up during unoccupied periods did not result in any savings in the daily power consumption.     

Experimental performance analysis on a direct-expansion solar-assisted heat pump water heater

A direct expansion solar assisted heat pump water heater (DX-SAHPWH) experimental set-up is introduced and analyzed. This DX-SAHPWH system mainly consists of 4.20 m² direct expansion type collector/evaporator, R-22 rotary-type hermetic compressor with rated input power 0.75 kW, 150 L water tank with immersed 60 m serpentine copper coil and external balance type thermostatic expansion valve. The experimental research under typical spring climate in Shanghai showed that the COP of the DX-SAHPWH system can reach 6.61 when the average temperature of 150 L water is heated from 13.4 °C to 50.5 °C in 94 min with average ambient temperature 20.6 °C and average solar radiation intensity 955 W/m². And the COP of the DX-SAHPWH system is 3.11 even if at a rainy night with average ambient temperature 17.1 °C. The seasonal average value of the COP and the collector efficiency was measured as 5.25 and 1.08, respectively. Through exergy analysis for each component of the DX-SAHPWH system, it can be calculated that the highest exergy loss occurs in the compressor, followed by collector/evaporator, condenser and expansion valve, respectively. Further more, some methods are suggested to improve the thermal performance of each component and the whole DX-SAHPWH system.     

Optimal performance characteristics of a solar-driven heat pump at maximum COP

The effect of the irreversibility of finite-rate heat transfer on the performance of a solar-driven heat pump is investigated by using the theory of finite time thermodynamics. Maximizing the COP of the system leads to some novel rules for the optimum choices of primary performance parameters, such as the operating temperatures of the solar collector and the working fluid in the heat exchangers and the heat transfer areas of the heat exchangers. These rules can guide the evaluation of existing real solar-driven heat pumps or influence the design of future solar-driven heat pumps.     

分液热泵空调系统的制热性能研究

随着热泵空调的普及,热泵空调的能耗占比不断增大,其节能问题成为了关注焦点。换热器对系统性能有着重要的影响,如何通过改进换热器来提升系统性能则成为了研究的热点。其中分液冷凝器作为一种新型的换热设备,能对系统制冷性能产生积极影响。但热泵空调系统在制热工况下,分液冷凝器变成气液分离式蒸发器,其系统制热性能尚未可知。通过实验研究,调整毛细管长度和制冷剂充注量,发现在国家标准工况下分液热泵空调系统的最大制热量比原系统高4.50%,C OP比原系统高7.93%,所对应的毛细管长度为700 mm,制冷剂充注量为700 g。且制冷剂过充注的情况下,分液热泵空调系统的制热性能比较稳定。     

Experiment and simulation investigations for effects of flow channel patterns on the PEMFC performance

Experiments and simulations are presented in this paper to investigate the effects of flow channel patterns on the performance of proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC). The experiments are conducted in the Fuel Cell Center of Yuan Ze University and the simulations are performed by way of a three‐dimensional full‐cell computational fluid dynamics model. The flow channel patterns adopted in this study include the parallel and serpentine flow channels with the single path of uniform depth and four paths of step‐wise depth, respectively. Experimental measurements show that the performance (i.e. cell voltage) of PEMFC with the serpentine flow channel is superior to that with the parallel flow channel, which is precisely captured by the present simulation model. For the parallel flow channel, different depth patterns of flow channel have a strong influence on the PEMFC performance. However, this effect is insignificant for the serpentine flow channel. In addition, the calculated results obtained by the present model show satisfactory agreement with the experimental data for the PEMFC performance under different flow channel patterns. These validations reveal that this simulation model can supplement the useful and localized information for the PEMFC with confidence, which cannot be obtained from the experimental data. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Thermal performance analysis of a direct-expansion solar-assisted heat pump water heater

A direct-expansion solar-assisted heat pump water heater (DX-SAHPWH) is described, which can supply hot water for domestic use during the whole year. The system mainly employs a bare flat-plate collector/evaporator with a surface area of 4.2 m², an electrical rotary-type hermetic compressor, a hot water tank with the volume of 150 L and a thermostatic expansion valve. R-22 is used as working fluid in the system. A simulation model based on lumped and distributed parameter approach is developed to predict the thermal performance of the system. Given the structure parameters, meteorological parameters, time step and final water temperature, the numerical model can output operational parameters, such as heat capacity, system COP and collector efficiency. Comparisons between the simulation results and the experimental measurements show that the model is able to give satisfactory predictions. The effect of various parameters, including solar radiation, ambient temperature, wind speed and compressor speed, has been analyzed on the thermal performance of the system.     

Evaluation of the performance of a centralized ground-water heat pump system in cold climate region

The aim of this study is to evaluate the performance of a centralized open-loop ground-water heat pump (GWHP) system for climate conditioning in Beijing with a cold climate in China. Thus, a long-time test was conducted on a running GWHP system for the heating season from December 2011 to March 2012. The analysis of the testing data indicates that the average heat-pump coefficient of performance (COP) and the COP of the system (COPs) are 4.27 and 2.59. The low value and large fluctuation in the range of COP are found to be caused by the heat transfixion in the aquifer and the bypass in the circulation loop. Therefore, some suggestions are proposed to improve the performance for GWHPs in the cold climate region in China.     

Heat pump dryer Part 3: experimental verification of the simulation

Heat pump dryer (HPD) performance described by computer simulation results in Parts 1 and 2 of this series of papers is here verified by experiments. An HPD designed to be operated in four configurations—two open systems and two partially closed systems—has been built. The variables in the experiments are the air flow rate, the dryer load, the ambient condition (day and night) and, for the partially closed systems, the recirculation air ratio and the evaporator bypass air ratio. The parameters used for the verification are the compressor power, the properties of air entering the dryer, the coefficient of performance, the moisture extraction rate and the specific moisture extraction rate. It is found that the experimental results agree with the simulation results within an acceptable error tolerance. In order to predict the HPD performance accurately, a fine tuning of the compressor model and the pressure drop in two-phase flow of the refrigerant are recommended. © 1997 by John Wiley & sons, Ltd.     

Seasonal cooling performance of a ground-coupled heat pump system in a hot and arid climate

The goal of the present study is to validate the cooling performance of a ground-coupled heat pump system established in Fırat University, Elazığ (38.41°N, 39.14°E), Turkey. The cooling load of the test room was 3.1 kW at design conditions. The experimental results were obtained from June to September in cooling season of 2003. The ground heat exchanger was used, and it was buried with in 2 m depth trench. The average cooling performance coefficient of the system (COP_overall) was obtained to be 2.01. The results obtained from experimental measurement showed that these systems could be used safely, reliably and efficiently at the lowest possible cost for Elazığ, Turkey climatic conditions. Especially, the seasonal energy efficiency ratio (SEER) of this system is moderate at longer-term testing.     

Assessment of a domestic heat pump 2: Component and frosting analysis

The performance of the heat exchangers of an unsophisticated air-air heat pump are examined with particular emphasis on the evaporator frosting characteristics. The data relate to an operating domestic heat pump in Dunedin. Evaporator frosting reduces the seasonal COP by only a small amount (less than 1.7%) in this example but the defrost rate is shown to be very sensitive to small changes in the evaporator capacity. Thus frost formation generally has an important influence on the evaporator optimization calculation. The effectiveness of the expansion valve and of the defrost thermostat is also analysed, and particular opportunities for improving the system are identified.     

传热规律、热漏和内不可逆性对吸收式热泵循环性能的影响

建立了考虑泵热空间到环境热源的热漏、工质循环的内部不可逆性以及工质与热源之间传热Q∝△(T^a)服从传热规律时的不可逆四热源吸收式热泵循环模型,导出了循环泵热率和泵热系数的一般关系;并导出了线性唯象传热定律时循环泵热率和泵热系数的基本优化关系、性能极值、循环中工质的最佳工作温度和换热器传热面积的最佳分配关系;通过数值耸例分析了传热规律、热漏和内不可逆性对循环性能的影响规律,比较了传热面积最优分配前后循环的最优性能。     

Mass transfer and cell performance of a unitized regenerative fuel cell with nonuniform depth channel in oxygen‐side flow field

In this study, the cell performance of nonuniform depth and conventional straight channel in a unitized regenerative fuel cell (URFC) is compared. Various shapes of oxygen‐side channel cases are also proposed. Several parameters, such as the distribution of reactants and products and current density and powers in fuel cell (FC) and electrolytic cell (EC) modes, are investigated. A steady‐state model of two‐dimensional, two‐phase, nonisothermal, and coupled electrochemical reaction is developed. Five oxygen‐side channel shapes are also designed, in which the depth along the flow direction is narrowed. Result shows that narrowing the average channel depth can promote and guide the reactant transfer to the catalyst layer and avoid the blocking of the production. Thus, in comparison with the conventional channel, the cell performances of nonuniform depth and shallow straight channel cases are improved in both modes. In addition, with the decrease of average channel depth, the temperature uniformity gets better, which is also conductive to the improvement of cell performance. Furthermore, in FC mode at low voltage and EC mode, the cell net power basically increases with the decrease of the average channel depth ratio. And when the average channel depth is the same, the net power of straight channel is always lower than nonuniform depth case. This study introduces the round‐trip energy efficiency as an evaluation indicator of URFC. This efficiency can be increased by improving the cell performance of both modes, especially at high current density.     

Exergetic performance assessment of a ground‐source heat pump drying system

In evaluating the efficiency of heat pump (HP) systems, the most commonly used measure is the energy (or first law) efficiency, which is modified to a coefficient of performance (COP) for HP systems. However, for indicating the possibilities for thermodynamic improvement, energy analysis is inadequate and exergy analysis is needed. This study presents an exergetic assessment of a ground‐source (or geothermal) HP (GSHP) drying system. This system was designed, constructed and tested in the Solar Energy Institute of Ege University, Izmir, Turkey. The exergy destructions in each of the components of the overall system are determined for average values of experimentally measured parameters. Exergy efficiencies of the system components are determined to assess their performances and to elucidate potentials for improvement. COP values for the GSHP unit and overall GSHP drying system are found to range between 1.63–2.88 and 1.45–2.65, respectively, while corresponding exergy efficiency values on a product/fuel basis are found to be 21.1 and 15.5% at a dead state temperature of 27°C, respectively. Specific moisture extraction rate (SMER) on the system basis is obtained to be 0.122 kg kW^?1 h^?1. For drying systems, the so‐called specific moisture exergetic rate (SMExR), which is defined as the ratio of the moisture removed in kg to the exergy input in kW h, is also proposed by the authors. The SMExR of the whole GSHP drying system is found to be 5.11 kg kW^?1 h^?1. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Simulation of the thermal performance of a hybrid solar-assisted ground-source heat pump system in a school building

A hybrid solar-assisted ground-source heat pump (SAGSHP) system was designed, in the frame of an energy upgrade study, to serve as a heating system in a school building in Greece. The main scope of this study was to examine techniques to reduce the capacity of the heating equipment and to keep the primary energy consumption low. Simulations of the thermal performance of both the building and of five different heating system configurations were performed by using the TRNSYS software. The results are presented in this work and show that the hybrid SAGSHP system displays the lower primary energy consumption among the systems examined. A conventional ground-source heat pump system has the same primary energy consumption, while the heat pump’s capacity is double and the ground heat exchanger 2.5 times longer. This work also highlights the contribution of simulation tools to the design of complex heating systems with renewable energy sources.     

Exergetic performance assessment of a pilot‐scale heat pump belt conveyor dryer

In this study, olive leaves were dried in a pilot‐scale heat pump (HP) belt conveyor dryer as a thin layer. Drying experiments were carried out at the drying air temperature range of 45–55°C with the drying air velocity range of 0.5–1.5 m s⁻¹. The performance of the system and the process was evaluated using exergy analysis method. The exergy loss and flow diagram (the so‐called Grassmann diagram) of the dryer system was presented to give quantitative information regarding the proportion of the exergy input that is dissipated in the various system components. Effects of the drying air temperature and the velocity on the performance of the drying process were discussed. The actual coefficient of performance values were obtained to be 2.37 for the HP unit and 2.31 for the overall system, respectively. The most important component of the system for improving the efficiency was determined to be the compressor. Exergetic efficiencies of the drying of olive leaves were in the range of 67.45–81.95%. It was obtained that they increased as the drying air temperature decreased and the drying air velocity increased. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.