Yu, Z. , McKeown, A., Hajabdollahi Ouderji, Z. and Essadik, M. (2022) A flexible heat pump cycle for heat recovery. Communications Engineering, 1, 17. (doi: 10.1038/s44172-022-00018-3)
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Abstract
Heat pumps will play a key role in transitioning domestic heating to fossil-free sources. However, improvement in energy efficiency and cost reduction are still needed. Current vapour-compression heat pumps are built upon the Evans-Perkins cycle which was originally designed for refrigeration applications. Once hot liquid refrigerant has transferred energy to the central heating system, it leaves the condenser with sensible heat which can be utilized. Here we report a modified and flexible Evans-Perkins heat pump cycle integrating heat recovery and storage which is then used as an ancillary heat source for the heat pump’s operation. It operates in a quasi-two-stage mode to theoretically save up to 20% in compressor power consumption compared with single-stage cycles. We build a prototype with off-the-shelf parts and demonstrate a practical 3.7% power saving at a heat production temperature of 35 °C. Power saving will further increase with heat supply temperature. We also qualitatively show that hot refrigerant exiting the condenser can be directly used for defrosting the evaporator, providing additional energy saving.
| Item Type: | Articles |
|---|---|
| Additional Information: | This work was mainly supported by EPSRC in the UK through the grant EP/V042033/1 and EP/V030515/1, but also benefited from other EPSRC grants EP/T022701/1, EP/P028829/1, EP/N020472/1, EP/R003122/1, and EP/N005228/1. |
| Keywords: | Flexible heat pump, heat storage, defrosting, air source heat pump, heat recovery. |
| Status: | Published |
| Refereed: | Yes |
| Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: | McKeown, Mr Andrew and Hajabdollahi Ouderji, Dr Zahra and Essadik, Miryam and Yu, Professor Zhibin |
| Authors: | Yu, Z., McKeown, A., Hajabdollahi Ouderji, Z., and Essadik, M. |
| College/School: | College of Science and Engineering > School of Engineering > Systems Power and Energy |
| Journal Name: | Communications Engineering |
| Publisher: | Nature Research |
| ISSN: | 2731-3395 |
| ISSN (Online): | 2731-3395 |
| Copyright Holders: | Copyright © 2022 The Authors |
| First Published: | First published in Communications Engineering 1:17 |
| Publisher Policy: | Reproduced under a Creative Commons License |
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