Heat Pumps

The new heat pumps use R-454B as a refrigerant and have a size ranging from 2 tons to 5 tons. Their coefficient of performance (COP) ranges between 3.24 and 3.40, according to the manufacturer.

The Japanese manufacturer said its new heat pump line features a modular approach to system design. The new products are available with capacities of 100 kW, 125 kW and 160 kW and can reportedly achieve a water output temperature of 60 C.

Researchers at Germany’s Frauhofer ISE have analyzed the performance of a residential heat pump connected to a rooftop PV system relying on battery storage and have found that this combination significantly improves the performance of the heat pump while also increasing considerably the solar array’s self-consumption rate.

A Slovenian research group has proposed using a heat pump booster instead of vapor compression technologies in low-temperature district-heating substations and has found that this combination may raise the supply-water temperature from around 32 C to 42 C. In the proposed system configuration ten single-stage Peltier modules were used, each with a maximum cooling power of 165 W and a maximum electric power of 289.2 W.

A German-Nigerian research group simulated the usage of mixtures of zeotropic fluids with varying boiling or condensing temperatures in industrial heat pumps. The best results were obtained with a mixture of cyclohexane and cyclopropane.

A Spanish research group has investigated how thermoelectric heat pumps may be used as power-to-heat technology to increase temperatures in thermal energy storage systems. It found the proposed system configuration may achieve an overall efficiency of 112.6% at at 135 C.

The Japanese manufacturer claims the new product has a seasonal energy efficiency ratio of up to 9.47 and a seasonal coefficient of performance of up to 5.20.

The Chinese manufacturer said its new heat pump has a coefficient of performance of up to 5.3 and a maximum heating capacity of 16 kW. It can reportedly achieve a topwater output temperature of 80 C.

The Chinese manufacturer said its new heat pump has a coefficient of performance of 4.2 at 7 C and a maximum heating capacity of 9.1 kW. It can reportedly achieve a topwater output temperature of 75 C.

The new products are intended for commercial applications and and multi-dwelling buidlings. They have a size of 20 kW to 30 kW and use R290 as the refrigerant.