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Heat Pump Heat Resources

Air

Outdoor air is a universal heat-source and heat-sink medium for heat pumps and is widely used in residential and light commercial systems. Extended-surface, forced-convection heat transfer coils transfer heat between the air and the refrigerant. Typically, the surface area of outdoor coils is 50 to 100% larger than that of indoor coils. The volume of outdoor air handled is also greater than the volume of indoor air handled by about the same percentage. During heating, the temperature of the evaporating refrigerant is generally 10 to 20°F less than the outdoor air temperature.

When selecting or designing an air-source heat pump, two factors in particular must be considered: (1) the outdoor air temperature in the given locality and (2) frost formation.

As the outdoor temperature decreases, the heating capacity of an air-source heat pump decreases. This makes equipment selection for a given outdoor heating design temperature more critical for an air- source heat pump than for a fuel-fired system. The equipment must be sized for as low a balance point as is practical for heating without having excessive and unnecessary cooling capacity during the summer. A procedure for finding this balance point, which is defined as the outdoor temperature at which heat pump capacity matches heating requirements, is discussed in Chapter 45.

When the surface temperature of an outdoor air coil is 32°F or less, with a corresponding outside air dry-bulb temperature 4 to 10°F higher, frost may form on the coil surface. If allowed to accumulate, the frost inhibits heat transfer; therefore, the outdoor coil must be defrosted periodically. The number of defrosting operations is influenced by the climate, air-coil design, and the hours of operation. Experience shows that, generally, little defrosting is required when outdoor air conditions are below 17°F and 60% rh.. However, under very humid conditions, when small suspended water droplets are present in the air, the rate of frost deposit may be about three times as great as predicted from psychrometric theory. Then, the heat pump may require defrosting after as little as 20 min of operation. The loss of available heating capacity due to frosting should be taken into account when sizing an air source heat pump.

Following commercial refrigeration practice, early designs of air-source heat pumps had relatively wide fin spacing of 4 to 5 fins/in., based on the theory that this would minimize the frequency of defrosting. However, experience has proven that effective hot gas defrosting permits much closer fin spacing and reduced size and bulk of the system. In current practice, fin spacings of 10 to 20 fins/in. are widely used.

WATER
Water can be a satisfactory heat source,. City water is seldom used because of cost and municipal restrictions. Groundwater (well water) is particularly attractive as a heat source because of its relatively high and nearly constant temperature. The water temperature is a function of source
depth and climate, but, in the United States, generally ranges from 40°F in northern areas to 70°F in southern areas. Frequently, sufficient water is available from wells for which the water can be reinjected into the aquifer. The use is nonconsumptive and, with proper design, only the water temperature changes. The water quality should be analyzed, and the possibility of scale formation and corrosion should be considered. In some instances, it may be necessary to separate the well fluid from the equipment with an additional heat exchanger. Special consideration must also be given to filtering and settling ponds for specific fluids. Other considerations are the costs of drilling, piping, pumping, and a means for disposal of used water. Information on well water availability, temperature, and chemical and physical analysis is available from U.S. Geological Survey offices in many major cities.

Heat exchangers may also be submerged in open ponds, lakes, or streams. When surface or stream water is used as a source, the temperature drop across the evaporator in winter may need to be limited to prevent freeze-up.

In industrial applications, waste process water (e.g., spent warm water in laundries, plant effluent, and warm condenser water) may be a heat source for heat pump operation.

Sewage, which often has temperatures higher than that of surface or groundwater, may be an acceptable heat source. Secondary effluent (treated sewage) is usually preferred, but untreated sewage may used successfully with proper heat exchanger design.

Use of water during cooling follows the conventional practice for water-cooled condensers.

Water-to-refrigerant heat exchangers are generally direct-expansion or flooded water coolers, usually of the shell-and-coil or shell and-tube type. Brazed plate heat exchangers may also be used. In large applied heat pumps, the water is usually reversed instead of the refrigerant.


GROUND

The ground is used extensively as a heat source and sink, with heat transfer through buried coils. Soil composition, which varies widely from wet clay to sandy soil, has a predominant effect on thermal properties and expected overall performance. The heat transfer process in soil depends on transient heat flow. Thermal diffusivity is a dominant factor and is difficult to determine without local soil data. Thermal diffusivity is the ratio of thermal conductivity to the product of density and specific heat. The soil moisture content influences its thermal conductivity.

There are three primary types of ground-source heat pumps: (1) groundwater, which is discussed in the previous section; (2) direct expansion, in which the ground-to-refrigerant heat exchanger is buried underground; and (3) ground-coupled (also called closed loop ground-source), in which a secondary loop with a brine con nects the ground-to-water and water-to-refrigerant heat exchangers

Ground loops are can be placed either horizontally or vertically. A horizontal system consists of single, or multiple, serpentine heat exchanger pipes buried 3 to 6 ft apart in a horizontal plane at a depth 3 to 6 ft below grade. Pipes may be buried deeper, but excavation costs and temperature must be considered. Horizontal systems that use coiled loops referred to as slinky coils are also used. A vertical system uses a concentric tube or U-tube heat exchanger.

SOLAR ENERGY
Solar energy may be used either as the primary heat source or in combination with other sources. Air, surface water, shallow groundwater, and shallow ground-source systems all use solar energy indirectly. The principal advantage of using solar energy directly as a heat source for heat pumps is that, when available, it provides heat at a higher temperature than the indirect sources, resulting in an increase in the heating coefficient of performance. Compared to solar heating without a heat pump, the collector efficiency and capacity are increased because a lower collector temperature is required.

Research and development of solar-source heat pumps has been concerned with two basic types of systems—direct and indirect. The direct system places refrigerant evaporator tubes in a solar collector, usually a flat-plate type. Research shows that a collector without glass cover plates can also extract heat from the outdoor air. The same surface may then serve as a condenser using outdoor air as a heat sink for cooling.

An indirect system circulates either water or air through the solar collector. When air is used, the collector may be controlled in such a way that

(1) the collector can serve as an outdoor air preheater,

(2) the outdoor air loop can be closed so that all source heat is derived from the sun, or (3) the collector can be disconnected from the outdoor air serving as the source or sink.

 

 

 
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