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Solar Energy 155 (2017) 1208–1215

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Solar Energy
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/solener

Experimental study of the performance of a double-source heat-pipe


composite vapour-compression heating unit
Zongwei Han ⇑, Xiaomei Ju, Lejian Qu, Jiangzhen Liu, Xiao Ma, Shuiwei Zhang
SEP Key Laboratory of Eco-Industry, School of Metallurgy, Northeastern University, Shenyang 110819, PR China

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: In order to make heat pump systems more stable with efficient and economical operation under heating
Received 15 May 2017 conditions in cold regions, a multi-source coupled heat pump system is proposed. The main core part of
Received in revised form 16 July 2017 the system is a double-source heat-pipe composite vapour-compression heating unit. An experimental
Accepted 21 July 2017
study on the performance of the unit under the operating conditions of a heat pipe and vapour compres-
Available online 31 July 2017
sion is carried out under different meteorological parameters and test conditions. The results show that
solar radiation significantly improves the performance of the unit. The average heat capacity and COP of
Keywords:
the unit can be increased by 27.61 and 27.85% respectively under the heat pipe operating condition and
Multi-source coupled heat pump
Heat-pipe composite vapour-compression
by 5.14 and 4.90% respectively under the vapour compression operating condition. Meanwhile, the effects
Operating condition of outdoor temperature and water inlet temperature on the performance are analysed. When the outdoor
Operating performance temperature increases from 23 to 28 °C, the COP of the heat pipe operating condition changes from 7.86
to 10.62. When the outdoor temperature drops from 2 to 16 °C, the COP of the two-stage compression
under the vapour injection heating condition changes from 2.50 to 2.12. It can be seen that the unit can
ensure continuous and efficient operation of the multi-source coupled heat pump system.
Ó 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction experimentally investigated by Yahya et al. (2016). The results


show that the average COP of the heat pump was 3.38. Wang and
Cold regions have become the top priority of energy-saving Zhang (2011) and Wang et al. (2011) tested the performance of a
reductions in building emissions because they have the largest solar composite heat pump system under different conditions in
energy consumption for heating and air conditioning. A combina- Tianjin. The performance of a novel direct-expansion solar-
tion of heat pump technology and renewable energy is considered assisted heat pump system was studied and analysed by
to be a fundamental way to solve this problem. However, there are Moreno-Rodríguez et al. (2012, 2013) and Facão and Carvalho
some limitations in the application of single-source heat pumps in (2014) and Chen and Yu (2017). The results show that the COP of
cold regions (Zhang et al., 2014; Hewitt and Huang, 2008; Ozyurt the system is greatly affected by solar radiation. The thermal per-
and Ekinci, 2011; Yan et al., 2011; Esen, 2000). The comprehensive formance of an integral-type solar assisted heat pump water heater
and complementary utilization of natural energy sources for win- was simulated and analysed by Chyng et al. (2003). The results
ter heating is a good solution and is a hot topic of recent show that the daily total COP is around 1.7–2.5 year round for
researches. the system, depending on season and weather conditions. The per-
In recent years, many scholars have performed researches on formance of a direct expansion solar-assisted heat pump system
composite heat pump systems, and in this area, solar–air compos- and ASHPS under different working conditions were compared
ite heat pump systems (SACHPSs) have received the most atten- and analysed by Sun et al. (2014, 2015). The results show that
tion. The performance of an SACHPS under low temperature was the performance of the direct expansion solar-assisted heat pump
studied by Zhou et al. (2010) and Liang et al. (2009, 2011). The system is obviously better than that of the ASHPS during sunny
results show that the heat capacity and COP of the system can be days, but at night, the heat transfer effect of the collector/evapora-
improved significantly compared with air source heat pump tor is poor and there is radiative heat loss, which causes the perfor-
systems (ASHPSs). The solar assisted heat pump system was mance of the system to decrease significantly. It can be seen that
although the SACHPS can improve the performance of the ASHPS
to some extent, under the conditions of low solar radiation and
⇑ Corresponding author. low temperature, it is still difficult to meet the heating demand
E-mail address: hanzongwei_neu@163.com (Z. Han).

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.solener.2017.07.062
0038-092X/Ó 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Z. Han et al. / Solar Energy 155 (2017) 1208–1215 1209

in cold regions. At the same time, many scholars have found that a
combination of solar seasonal soil thermal storage and a ground-
coupled heat pump has a good operation effect. The performance
of solar-assisted ground source heat pump systems (SAGSHPSs)
in severely cold regions was studied by Emmi et al. (2015a,
2015b). The results show that the system can effectively reduce
the heat taken from the soil, while reducing the heat exchanger
length, providing a certain economy and energy saving property.
The performance of the SAGSHPSs through the method of experi-
ment and simulation were carried out by Esen et al. (2017). The
heating performance of the hybrid solar-ground source heat pump
system (SGSHPS) was studied by Bakirci et al. (2011). The experi-
mental results show that during the heating period, the COP of
the heat pump changes between 3.0 and 3.4 and the COP of the sys-
tem varies between 2.7 and 3.0. The thermal performance of bio-
gas, solar and a ground source heat pump greenhouse heating
system was studied during the winter period by Esen and Yuksel
Fig. 1. Experimental physical photograph of the DHCVHU.
(2013). The results show that solar energy can be stored under
ground to raise soil temperature. The performance of an SAGSHPS
was simulated and analysed by Yu et al. (2015, 2016). The results ditioning, heat pumps and other fields in China, but the high GWP
show that compared with the ground source heat pump system, value of R134a will exacerbate the greenhouse effect, so it is
the COP of the system is improved by 9.3%. However, because of defined as greenhouse effect gas by the Kyoto Protocol. Some coun-
the low density of solar energy in cold regions, an SAGSHPS needs tries, notably the European Union, have proposed a comprehensive
a larger collector area, and the cost is high, which reduces the ban on the use of R134a in commercial air conditioners and freez-
application value of the system. ers in 2022 (Mota-Babiloni et al., 2017).
Through the above analysis, it can be seen that the present com- The system can be divided into three parts: the experimental
posite heat pump systems have tackled the limitations of single- system, the temperature control system, and the test system. The
source heat pump systems to some extent, but there are still some system composition and the related parameters are shown in
problems to be solved. Therefore, in order to make the heat pump Table 1. The collector/evaporator is the core component of the sys-
system more stable, with efficient and economical operation under tem, which differs from the common evaporator. The heat exchan-
heating conditions in cold regions, a multi-source coupled heat ger pipes and fins of the heat exchanger are coated with selective
pump system (MSCHPS) is proposed by Han et al. (2017). The sys- absorbent coating, which can absorb heat from outdoor ambient
tem consists of four main parts: a double-source heat-pipe com- air and solar radiation at the same time. The heat exchanger can
posite vapour-compression heating unit (DHCVHU), the air- realize the simultaneous utilization of two kinds of heat sources.
conditioning terminal units, the ground-source heat pump units, In order to study the effect of solar radiation on the heating perfor-
and a ground heat exchanger. The system realizes the complemen- mance of the system, a common evaporator with the same geomet-
tary advantages of various renewable energy sources: compared rical parameters is made. The temperature of the circulating
with an SACHPS, the ground source heat pump can improve the cooling water is controlled by an air-cooled chiller and a fan coil
isotropic distribution of the solar and air energy, and compared unit. The operating condition of the heat pipe adopts the air-
with an SGSHPS, due to the addition of a new collector/evaporator, cooled chiller while the steam compression heating condition
the initial investment in the system is reduced and the heat trans- adopts the fan coil unit. The change rules of the main internal
fer from the soil can be further reduced. The preliminary study parameters (temperature, pressure, flow) and the macroscopic
shows that the system has good economy and energy saving prop- operating performance (heat capacity, COP, etc.) of the system
erties. The DHCVHU is the core part of the system, and it can run are tested and analysed under different experimental conditions.
under two operating conditions: the vapour compression heating In order to reduce the influence of convective heat loss between
condition and the heat pipe condition. The unit has achieved full heat pipe and outdoor temperature on the performance of the sys-
annual efficiency of solar and air energy, and its performance has tem and improve the measurement accuracy, asbestos material is
direct influence on the whole system. Besides, the unit is a com- selected to provide good heat preservation for the pipeline system.
pletely new heating system, no system similar to this unit has been
found, so it is necessary to study the performance of the unit under 2.1. Operating condition
different working conditions. For this purpose, an experimental
set-up is constructed in this paper. The performance of the unit The DHCVHU can run under two operating conditions: the
under the operating conditions of the heat pipe and vapour vapour compression heating condition and the heat pipe condition
compression are investigated separately, which can provide the (case 1). The vapour compression heating condition can be divided
theoretical basis and technical support for the application of the into a single-stage compression cycle (case 2), a two-stage com-
system in cold regions. pression cycle (case 3), and a two-stage compression cycle with
vapour injection (case 4). The unit can be switched between the
operating conditions, as shown in Table 2. During the non-
2. Experimental installation heating period, when the outdoor temperature is high or when
the outdoor temperature is not high but the solar radiation is
The physical photograph and system diagram of the experimen- strong, the unit can run in the heat pipe condition, and the heat
tal installation of the DHCVHU are shown in Figs. 1 and 2, respec- produced can be put into the soil, which can effectively improve
tively. The refrigerant R134a is adopted as working fluids in the soil thermal imbalance (Han et al., 2017). During the heating
experimental unit, which has the advantages of stable chemical period, when the outdoor temperature is high or the outdoor tem-
property and good heat transfer performance. As an alternative perature is low but the solar radiation intensity is high, the unit
to refrigerant R22, it has been widely used in refrigeration, air con- can run in the vapour compression heating condition.
1210 Z. Han et al. / Solar Energy 155 (2017) 1208–1215

Fig. 2. System diagram of the DHCVHU. a – Water-cooled condenser, b – high pressure compressor, c – low pressure compressor, d – economizer, e – gas–liquid separator, f –
evaporator, g – collector/evaporator, h – fan-coil unit, i – air-cooled chiller, j – four-way reversing valve, k – water tank, l – one-step throttle valve, m – two-step throttle valve,
n-circulating pump, V1–V15 – switch valves.

Table 1
Experimental instruments and their related parameters.

System composition Model Parameter


Experimental system High pressure compressor ZR34K3 Power rating: 2970 W
Low pressure compressor ZR24K3 Power rating: 1840 W
Water-cooled condenser 118HD040 Heat transfer area: 0.984 m2, heat exchange: 9.8 kW
Thermal expansion valve NRF3HW100 Nominal capacity: 10.56 kW
Collector/evaporator Made Pipe diameter: 14 mm, wall thickness: 0.5 mm,
Length of single tube: 1800 mm, fan: 0.115 mm
Temperature control system Fan-coil unit 4NES-20Y-40P Rated air flow: 3000 m3/h
Air-cooled chiller MAC035CR Nominal heat capacity: 9.5 kW
Electric heating tube DN40 Power rating: 6 kW
Test system Pressure transmitter MIK-P300 Measuring accuracy: 0.1%FS
Turbine flow meter LWYC Measuring accuracy: ±0.1%R, 0.5%
Clamp power meter PW3360-30 Measuring accuracy: <0.5%
Solar radiometer Survey200 Measuring accuracy: ±(5% +5 digits)/±1 °C
Thermocouple T Measuring accuracy: ±0.1 °C

Table 2
Valve control strategy of the experimental system.

Case Switch valves V1–V15 One-step throttle valve Two-step throttle valve
Open Closed
1 3,4,7,10,13 1,2,5,6,8,9,11,12,14,15 Closed Open
2 3,4,5,12,14,15 1,2,6–11,13 Closed Open
3 3,4,5,6,11,14,15 1,2,7–10,12 Closed Open
4 3,4,5,6,9,11,14,15 1,2,7,8,10,12,13 Open Open
*
Note: when it is necessary to switch to the common evaporator for the experimental study, valves V1 and V2 are opened and, V3 and V4 are closed.
Z. Han et al. / Solar Energy 155 (2017) 1208–1215 1211

3. Experimental procedure and data processing 1.00


Evaporation pressure of common evaporator
In order to investigate the operating characteristics of the two 0.95 Condensation pressure of common evaporator
Evaporation pressure of collector/evaporator
kinds of operating conditions, the typical climatic conditions are
Condensation pressure of collector/evaporator
selected to study the influence of different operating conditions 0.90
on the micro thermal parameters (pressure distribution, etc.) and

Pressure / MPa
the macro performance parameters (heat capacity, COP, etc.) of 0.85
the unit. The heat capacity and COP of the unit can be calculated
by formulas (1) and (2). During the experiment, the solar radiation 0.80
intensity and the ambient temperature are measured after the
stable operation of the unit. At the same time, the data acquisition 0.75
system is used to measure the micro thermal parameters of the
unit, including the distribution of temperature and pressure, the
0.70
flow rate of the working fluid, and so on. Due to the limitation of
the shielding and experimental conditions, the time period during
0.65
which the collector/evaporator can receive solar radiation is from 500 550 600 650 700 750 800
9:00 to 17:00 h in summer and from 9:00 to 16:00 h in winter. 2
Radiation intensity W/m
Multiple operating conditions are tested according to different
meteorological conditions, and each condition is measured many Fig. 3a. Change of evaporation pressure and condensing pressure with radiation
times. In order to ensure that the test results are accurate and intensity.
reliable, the measurement data are processed and the respective
arithmetic mean values are selected for analysis. The relative 9.0 12
errors of heat capacity and the COP of the unit are calculated and Heat capacity of collector/evaporator
are found to be less than 3.7 and 4.2%, respectively. 8.5 Heat capacity ofcommon evaporator
The formula for calculating the heat capacity Q of the COP of collector/evaporator
DHCVHU is: COP of common evaporator
8.0
10
Heat capacity/ kW

Q ¼ qf  cf  v f  ðto  t i Þ ð1Þ
7.5
where Q is the heat capacity of the DHCVHU (W), qf is the density of

COP
circulating cooling water (kg/m3), cf is the specific heat of circulat- 7.0
ing cooling water (J/(kg °C)), tf is the volume flow of circulating
8
cooling water (m3/s), to is the cooling water outlet temperature of 6.5
the condenser (°C), and ti is the cooling water inlet temperature
of the condenser (°C). 6.0
The formula for calculating the COP is:
Q Q 6
COP ¼ ¼ ð2Þ 5.5
W1 þ W2 þ W3 W 500 550 600 650 700 750 800
2
Radiation intensity W/m
where W1 is the compressor power (W), W2 is the circulating pump
power (W), and W3 is the outdoor fan power (W). Fig. 3b. Change of heat capacity and COP with radiation intensity.

4. Results and discussion of the common evaporator. This is mainly because the heat transfer
effect of the collector/evaporator is enhanced by the increase of
4.1. The performance under heat pipe operating condition solar radiation intensity. During the daytime, when the solar radi-
ation intensity is stronger, the solar altitude angle is higher. More-
4.1.1. The effect of solar radiation intensity on the performance of the over, with the increase of solar radiation intensity, the absorption
unit area of the collector/evaporator will also increase, which con-
In order to measure the effect of solar radiation intensity on the tribute to the enhancement of the evaporation pressure. Fig. 3b
heating performance of the heat pump units, two operating condi- shows the changes in heat capacity and COP. It can be seen that
tions are selected, namely the collector/evaporator and the evapo- they basically remain unchanged with the increase of solar radia-
rator. The outdoor temperature selected for the experiment is tion intensity under the condition of the common evaporator, but
27 °C. Because the heat pipe condition of the unit usually works under the condition of the collector/evaporator, because the
in the non-heating period to heat the soil, the soil water outlet increase in pressure difference enhances the unit’s cycle driving
temperature is usually low, so the water inlet temperature is con- force, the mass flow rate of the refrigerant increases, thus increas-
trolled at 11 °C and the water flow rate is 10.8 m3/h in the exper- ing the heat capacity of the unit. Because the collector/evaporator,
imental process. fan, and circulating pump are the only parts of the unit that con-
Fig. 3a shows the changes of evaporation pressure and conden- sume power under the condition of the heat pipe, the effect of
sation pressure with radiation intensity under the conditions of the the COP is mainly controlled by the heat capacity. When the heat
collector/evaporator and common evaporator, respectively. It can capacity increases, the COP increases too. Compared with the com-
be seen from the figure that under the collector/evaporator condi- mon evaporator, the average heat capacity and COP of the collec-
tion, the evaporation pressure and condensing pressure both grad- tor/evaporator are increased by 27.61 and 27.85%, respectively.
ually increase with increasing solar radiation intensity. When the
solar radiation intensity increases from 500 to 800 W/m2, the 4.1.2. The effect of water inlet temperature on the performance of the
evaporation pressure and condensation pressure increase by 5.24 unit
and 4.74% respectively, and the pressure difference increases by The outdoor temperature selected in the experiment is 27 °C, the
8.19%, but they basically remain unchanged under the condition solar radiation intensity is 600 W/m2, and the water flow rate is
1212 Z. Han et al. / Solar Energy 155 (2017) 1208–1215

12 rate is 10.8 m3/h. The changes in evaporation pressure, condensa-


8
tion pressure, heating capacity, and COP with outdoor temperature
are shown in Fig. 5. As can be seen from the figure, with the
increase of outdoor temperature, the evaporation pressure and
condensation pressure of the unit both increase. When the outdoor
Heat capacity / kW

7 10
temperature increases from 23 to 28 °C, the evaporation pressure
increases from 0.83 to 0.85 MPa, the condensing pressure increases

COP
6 from 0.71 to 0.73 MPa, and the pressure difference between them
increases by 2.42%.
8
At the same time, the heat capacity and COP also increase with
5 the increase of outdoor temperature, the former from 5.89 to
Heat capacity
COP 7.96 kW, an increase of 35.14%, and the latter from 7.86 to 10.62,
an increase of 35.11%. This is because under the heat pipe condi-
4 6 tion, more heat can be absorbed with the increase of outdoor tem-
9 10 11 12 13
perature. The temperature difference between evaporation
Water inlet temperature temperature and condensation temperature increases, which
raises the pressure difference between the evaporator and con-
Fig. 4. Changes in heat capacity and COP of the unit under different water inlet
temperatures. denser side. Finally, the cycle-driving force of the unit is enhanced.

10.8 m3/h. Fig. 4 shows the changes in heat capacity and COP of the 4.2. Performance under the vapour compression working condition
unit under different water inlet temperatures. As can be seen from
the figure, the heat capacity and COP all decrease with the increase 4.2.1. Effect of solar radiation intensity on the performance of the unit
of water inlet temperature. When the water inlet temperature The outdoor temperature selected for the experiment is 3 °C,
increases from 9 to 13 °C, the heat capacity of the unit decreases the water inlet temperature is controlled at 40 °C, and the water
from 8.12 to 5.44 kW, representing a decrease of 33.01%, and the flow rate is 15 L/min.
COP decreases from 10.82 to 7.22, a decrease of 33.27%. This is Fig. 6a shows the changes in evaporation temperature and com-
mainly because the heat source temperature (23–35 °C) of the pressor exhaust temperature with radiation intensity under the
evaporator is higher than the heat source temperature (6–13 °C) collector/evaporator and common evaporator conditions. With
of the condenser in summer, and the evaporation pressure is higher the increase of solar radiation intensity, the evaporation tempera-
than the condensing pressure due to the lack of the pressure effect ture of the collector/evaporator operating condition increases
of the compressor. With the increase of the water inlet tempera- gradually and the compressor exhaust temperature decreases
ture, the condensing temperature increases, so the condensing gradually. When the solar radiation intensity changes between
pressure also increases while the evaporation pressure remains 300 and 700 W/m2, compared with the common evaporator oper-
basically unchanged. Finally, the pressure difference is reduced ating condition, the average evaporation temperature of the collec-
and the mass flow rate of the refrigerant decreases, so the heat tor/evaporator can be increased by 14.91% and the average
transfer of the cooling water and refrigerant decrease. compressor exhaust temperature can be reduced by 3.01%. On
the whole, the evaporation temperature of the collector/evaporator
4.1.3. The effect of outdoor temperature on the performance of the unit operating condition is higher than that of the common evaporator
The solar radiation intensity selected for the experiment is and the exhaust temperature is always lower than the exhaust
600 W/m2, the water inlet temperature is 11 °C, and the water flow temperature of the common evaporator. This is because the

Fig. 5. Changes of evaporation pressure, condensation pressure, heat capacity, and COP with outdoor temperature.
Z. Han et al. / Solar Energy 155 (2017) 1208–1215 1213

86 6.6 2.7
-3 Heat capacity of common evaporator
Heat capacity of collector/evaporator
COP of common evaporator
84 6.4 COP of collector/evaporator
-4

Heat capacity / kW
2.6

Discharge temperature
Evaporation temperature

82 6.2

COP
-5

-6 80 6.0 2.5

Evaporation temperature of common evaporator


-7 78
Evaporation temperature of collector/evaporator 5.8
Discharge temperature of collector/evaporator
Discharge temperature of common evaporator 2.4
300 400 500 600 700
-8 76
2
300 400 500 600 700 Radiation intensity W/m
2
Radiation intensity W/m
Fig. 6c. Changes of heat capacity and COP with radiation intensity.
Fig. 6a. Changes of evaporation temperature and exhaust temperature with
radiation intensity.
84

82
5.0
80
Mass flow of common evaporator
0.0875
Mass flow of collector/evaporator Discharge temperature 78
Compression ratio of common evaporator 4.8
Compression ratio of collector/evaporator 76

0.0870
Compression ratio

74
Mass flow kg/s

4.6
72

0.0865 70
4.4
68

0.0860 66
4.2
64
33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40

0.0855 4.0 Water inlet temperature


300 400 500 600 700
2
Radiation intensity W/m Fig. 7a. Change of exhaust temperature with water inlet temperature.

Fig. 6b. Changes of mass flow rate and compression ratio with radiation intensity.

0.093 5.0
enhancement of the heat radiation effect leads to an increase in the
0.092
evaporation temperature of the collector/evaporator operating
condition, so the evaporation pressure increases too, which causes 0.091 4.5
a decrease in the compressor suction volume. Finally, the refriger- Compression ratio
ant flow rate increases and the exhaust temperature decreases 0.090
Mass flowkg/s

gradually, as shown in Fig. 6b. Fig. 6c shows the changes in heat


0.089
capacity and COP. The heat capacity and COP of the collector/evap- 4.0
orator operating conditions are gradually increased. However, 0.088
under the condition of the common evaporator, the heating capac-
ity and COP remain unchanged and are lower than those in the col- 0.087
3.5
lector/evaporator condition. Compared with the common 0.086 Mass flow Compression ratio
evaporator operating condition, the average heat capacity and
COP of the unit under the condition of the collector/evaporator 0.085
can be increased by 5.14 and 4.90%, respectively. 3.0
33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40
Water inlet temperature
4.2.2. The effect of water inlet temperature on the performance of the
unit Fig. 7b. Changes of mass flow rate and compression ratio with water inlet
temperature.
The water flow rate selected for the experiment is 15 L/min, the
outdoor temperature is 3 °C, and the solar radiation intensity is
400 W/m2.The change in each parameter is shown in Figs. 7 and When the water inlet temperature increases from 33 to 40 °C,
8. Similarly to the case described in Section 4.1.2, with the increase the compressor exhaust temperature is increased by 25.71%. At
in the water inlet temperature, the condensation temperature the same time, the increase in condensing temperature will cause
increases and the compressor exhaust temperature also rises. the condensing pressure to rise and the volumetric efficiency of the
1214 Z. Han et al. / Solar Energy 155 (2017) 1208–1215

7.2 3.0 3.0


8
7.0 2.9
7
6.8 2.8 2.5

Heat capacity/kW
6.6 6
Heat capacity/kW

2.7

6.4 5

COP
2.6

COP
2.0
6.2
2.5 4

6.0
Heat capacity 2.4 3 1.5
Heat capacity of case 2 COP of case 2
5.8 COP Heat capacity of case 3 COP of case 3
2.3 2
5.6
Heat capacity of case 4 COP of case 4
2.2
33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 1 1.0
-15 -10 -5 0 5
Water inlet temperature Outdoor temperature
Fig. 8. Changes of heat capacity and COP with water inlet temperature. Fig. 9b. Changes of heat capacity and COP with outdoor temperature.

unit will decrease. Finally, the compression ratio will increase and the decrease of outdoor temperature, which makes the suction vol-
the mass flow rate of refrigerant will decrease, leading to decreases ume increase. According to the pressure enthalpy diagram of the
in the heat capacity and COP of 12.59 and 12.68%, respectively. refrigeration cycle, the exhaust temperature of the compressor will
be increased.
4.2.3. The effect of outdoor temperature on the performance of the unit Fig. 9b shows the changes in heat capacity and COP of the unit.
The water inlet temperature selected for the experiment is As can be seen from the figure, when the outdoor temperature is
40 °C, the solar radiation intensity is 400 W/m2, and the water flow higher, the performance of the single-stage compression unit is
rate is 15 L/min. Fig. 9a shows the change in the exhaust tempera- better, but with the decrease of outdoor temperature, the operat-
ture with outdoor temperature in three kinds of cycle conditions: a ing performance of the unit is obviously decreased. The heating
single-stage compression cycle (case 2), a two-stage compression capacity and COP of the two-stage compression unit are obviously
cycle (case 3), and a two-stage compression cycle with vapour superior to those of the single-stage compression unit. When the
injection (case 4). As can be seen from the figure, the exhaust tem- outdoor temperature decreases from 2 to 16 °C, the heat capac-
perature of the three conditions is gradually increased with the ity of the two-stage compression unit without vapour injection
decrease of the outdoor temperature. It can be seen that the trend decreases from 7.60 to 6.32 kW and the COP decreases from 2.32
of the single-stage compressor unit shows the most obvious to 1.98. However, the heat capacity of the two-stage compression
increase. When the outdoor temperature is reduced from 6 to unit with vapour injection decreases from 8.26 to 6.87 kW and
10 °C, the exhaust temperature can be increased from 73.15 to the COP decreases from 2.50 to 2.12, and the heat capacity and
101.58 °C. For the two-stage compression unit, when the outdoor COP are always higher than those without the vapour injection
temperature is reduced from 2 to 16 °C, the exhaust tempera- unit. This is because the added vapour injection system can curb
ture of two-stage compression without vapour injection is the excessive attenuation of heat capacity.
increased from 77.57 to 87.98 °C, an increase of 13.42%, and the
exhaust temperature of two-stage compression with vapour injec- 5. Conclusion
tion is increased from 74.30 to 85.46 °C, an increase of 15.02%. This
is because the evaporation temperature of the unit decreases with In this paper, the double-source heat-pipe composite vapour-
compression heating unit, which is the key component of a
MSCHPS, is studied experimentally, and the operating performance
105 of the unit under two different heating conditions is tested.
According to the experimental results, several conclusions can be
100
drawn as follows:
95
(1) Under the operating condition of the heat pipe, which is
90 affected by solar radiation, the heat capacity and COP of
Discharge temperature

the collector/evaporator operating conditions are obviously


85 higher than those of the common evaporator. With the
increase in the solar radiation intensity, the heat capacity
80
and COP of the unit are greatly improved. Compared with
75 the common evaporator, the average heat capacity and
COP of the collector/evaporator are increased by 27.61 and
70
Discharge temperature of case 2 27.85%, respectively. The heat capacity and COP of the unit
Discharge temperature of case 3 decrease gradually with the increase of water inlet temper-
65
Discharge temperature of case 4 ature, falling by 12.59 and 12.68% respectively when the
60
water inlet temperature increases from 9 to 13 °C. With
-15 -10 -5 0 5 the increase of the outdoor temperature, the collector/evap-
Outdoor temperature orator can absorb more heat. When the outdoor temperature
increases from 23 to 28 °C, the heat capacity and COP of the
Fig. 9a. Change of exhaust temperature with outdoor temperature. unit increase by 33.01 and 33.27%, respectively.
Z. Han et al. / Solar Energy 155 (2017) 1208–1215 1215

(2) Under the heating condition of vapour compression, with Esen, M., 2000. Thermal performance of a solar-aided latent heat store used for
space heating by heat pump. Sol. Energy 69 (1), 15–25.
the increase of the radiation intensity, the exhaust tempera-
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Acknowledgements direct expansion solar-assisted heat pump and conventional air source heat
pump for domestic hot water. Energy Proc. 70, 394–401.
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The authors gratefully acknowledge the support from the Natu- heat pump system for suburban residence. In: International Conference on
ral Science Foundation of China (grant No. 51406030) and the Fun- Electric Technology and Civil Engineering, April 22–24, 2011, pp. 1529–1532.
Wang, Y., You, Y., Zhang, Z., 2011. Experimental investigations on a conventional
damental Research Funds for the Central Universities (grant No.
air- conditioner working as air-water heat pump. Proc. Eng. 23 (5), 493–497.
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solar-assisted heat pump dryer for cassava. Sol. Energy 136, 606–613.
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