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A new air source heat pump developed by researchers at the University of Glasgow can work more efficiently in cold environments.
About 40% of carbon emissions come from fossil fuel heating. Heat pumps have lower carbon emissions when powered by renewable electricity, but cold weather can affect their heating output and energy efficiency.
Although the government has set a goal of installing 600,000 heat pumps a year by 2028, their high capital and operating costs and relatively low heating temperatures are limiting their growth in the UK.
In a new paper published in the journal Communications Engineering, the researchers describe how “flexible heat pump technology” can solve the problem of existing heat pumps by integrating a heat store – a small reservoir and a loop of copper tubes.
The water tank recovers some of the excess heat generated during pump operation and stores it as an additional heat source for future heat pump operation.
The recovered heat is much warmer than the outside air as the heat source and can be reused as a temporary heat source. The researchers claim that this “significantly” reduces the energy consumption of the pump.
In the case of an air source heat pump, the recovered heat stored in the water also allows the flexible heat pump to operate continuously during defrosting. Current generation heat pumps interrupt the heat supply during defrost while continuing to consume electricity.
The researchers built a working prototype of the new heat pump using off-the-shelf components. Tests show that the design is approximately 3.7% more efficient than the existing design at a relatively low heating temperature (35°C).
They predict that once optimized, it can be up to 10% more efficient than existing products when heated to 65°C.
Yu Zhibin, professor of thermal energy at the James Watt School of Engineering at the University of Glasgow, led the development of the flexible heat pump.
He said: “We are at a critical juncture in the global journey to zero emissions and we need to start expanding our low-carbon infrastructure quickly and efficiently. This sense of urgency is especially acute at a time when energy prices are rising and many households are facing rapidly rising bills. .
“The benefits of flexible heat pumps over current heat pump offerings are similar to those of condensing boilers over non-condensing boilers – both allow excess heat to be recovered, greatly improving efficiency.
“Our flexible heat pump solves many of the problems of current generation heat pumps, allowing them to deliver higher performance with less energy consumption. The cost of storing heat in a small reservoir is negligible, but the energy savings are significant. It can be widely used in a variety of heat pump applications. We believe this will help drive the adoption of heat pump technology in households across the UK.”
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