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Abstract
This study developed a heat recovery air conditioner to supply on-demand air conditioning and reclaim waste heat dur-
ing operation. In addition to the conventional refrigerant pipe, a plate heat exchanger was designed and connected in
parallel to the condenser and evaporator. While refrigerant with high pressure and high temperature flows through the
plate heat exchanger, the refrigerant flow is cooled down and condensed by cooling water from a water tank, and con-
densation heat in the exchanger is absorbed by the cooling water and stored in the water tank. In this study, solenoid
valves were installed in the pipe to regulate the refrigerant volume in parallel connected pipes based on the tank water
temperature by duty control logic. This multi-function heat recovery air conditioner has various operation modes. In
summer, the air conditioner not only provides on-demand cooled air to air-conditioned rooms but also reclaims waste
condensation heat through the plate heat exchanger. In winter, the air conditioner supplies on-demand heated air to
indoor spaces and heats the water tank by simultaneously reclaiming waste condensation heat. According to an experi-
mental operation test, the value of average water heating efficiency (COPh) of this air conditioner can reach 3.77 in the
summer operating mode and 1.91 in the winter operating mode.
Keywords
Heat recovery, thermodynamics, heating, ventilating/ventilation, and air conditioning, energy conservation, refrigeration
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2 Advances in Mechanical Engineering
40%–100% through improving building energy sys- Liu et al.12,27 proposed an improvement to the con-
tems’ efficiency and conservation.3 Renewable energy ventional multi-functional heat pump system, in which
incurs high costs of investment and is difficult to gener- the system can operate in both heating and cooling
ate in large quantities, so there have been many other modes. This proposed system can provide significant
considerations to achieve this situation. The most energy savings in space heating and hot water supply.
appropriate way to solve problems of energy consump- In the heating mode, the system with air and water heat
tion currently is to reduce the use of fossil energy. sources in parallel exhibits the best performance in
China’s biggest amount of consumption comes from both the space-heating mode and the space-heating
space-heating and air-conditioning systems, which are plus hot water supply mode, compared to the system
20% of the total annual energy consumption.4 In the with other heat source combinations. However, there is
United States, water heating accounts for 18% of all no detailed analysis provided about the heat pump sys-
residential energy use, meaning it is the second largest tems in parallel adjustment.
user of energy in residential buildings.5 It is forecasted This article provides a detailed performance analysis
that energy consumption of building space heating, air about this adjustment, whereby the parallel arrange-
conditioning, and household sanitary water will con- ment in the multi-function heat pump systems can
tinue to increase with economic growth.6 Based on the recover a greater amount of heat from the plate heat
statistics, the residential sector can help bring about a exchanger to the water. Because the refrigerant flow
considerable amount of potential energy savings.7–9 is adjusted by valves based on the water temperature,
Most of the residential buildings are equipped with the system can generate hot water faster. At the same
conventional heaters generating heat by consuming fos- time, when the condenser and the plate heat exchan-
sil fuels or electricity, but a heat pump system as a heat- ger are connected in a series adjustment, the system
generating device can supply much more heat with the can only recover some portion of the condenser heat.
same amount of electric input used for a conventional Another issue that may arise is that the water tem-
heater.10 The rejected (sensible and condensation) heat perature affects the supply air temperature from the
from air-conditioning systems is a readily available indoor unit, but in this research, the temperature sup-
energy source that can be used to produce hot water.11 ply is kept steady when the parallel adjustment is
Since the 1950s, research has looked into heat pump applied.
water heaters for energy savings,12 with several studies
addressing heat pump performance developed in the
last two decades.13–21 However, the studies mainly Materials and methods
focus on ways to save energy when supplying hot water. Overview of system principles of multi-function
Conversely, a heat pump system can work with a vari-
parallel heat recovery air conditioner
ety of functions such as individual cooling, cooling and
heat recovery, individual domestic hot water produc- In this study, the parallel refrigerant pipe is used to
tion, individual heating, and heating and domestic hot recover the heat generated by a household air condi-
water production.22 In other words, energy savings can tioner. A set of plate heat exchangers are installed paral-
be extracted with a well-integrated system of air condi- lel to the outdoor unit condenser, and a water pump
tioning and hot water supply. circulates water to recover refrigerant condensation heat
Realizing the potential of air conditioners as a heat at the high-pressure side of the refrigerant pipe and store
source for generating hot water, some studies have com- waste heat in a water tank. Figure 1 shows the system
pared the performance of conventional heat pump sys- diagram of the refrigerant pipe in the new multi-function
tems with integrated air conditioning and hot water parallel heat recovery air conditioner. In this study, on
supply systems,23–25 and the results indicate that air- and off periods of electromagnetic valves are used to reg-
conditioning equipment contributes to a dramatic ulate the refrigerant volume through an air-cooled con-
decline in energy costs and thermal pollution to the denser and plate heat exchanger based on load. In
environment. Ji et al.26 developed a prototype system addition, a four-way refrigerant pipe valve from
and simulation program for a multi-function heat pump Saginomiya, Inc. in this study allows the system to simul-
system. In their research, the hot water and heat exchan- taneously operate in summer and cooling mode. Because
ger (as the source of hot water) are connected in series, of the parallel refrigerant pipe design, while the system is
and the heat exchanger area of the hot water heater is producing hot water, the cooling or heating temperature
not restricted. Thus, the system performance can be in the air-conditioned space will not be affected by the
enhanced in the function of cooling and heat recovery, thermal load in the water tank; in addition, the heat
as well as when using individual domestic hot water pro- recovery efficiency of the refrigerant on the high-pressure
duction. Despite that, even the complicated program side will be improved. Moreover, in the spring and sum-
cannot achieve heating and production of domestic hot mer seasons, the system can also produce only hot water.
water simultaneously in winter with unused hot water. In addition, a special controller in the cooling and
Luo et al. 3
2. In winter, the system can provide indoor heating Dedicated cooling and heating mode of the
and simultaneously produce hot water and store multi-function air conditioner
it in a hot water tank.
3. The parallel heat recovery mode can achieve Figure 2(a) shows the refrigerant circulation diagram
high heat recovery efficiency and a rapid under the dedicated cooling mode. Under the air-
increase in hot water temperature. Even after a cooled cooling mode, high-temperature and high-
large volume of hot water is consumed and a pressure gaseous refrigerant flows into the outdoor
large volume of cold water is replenished in the heat exchanger via electromagnetic valve SV2 (solenoid
water tank, rapid heating can be achieved. valve); after heat exchange with the low-temperature
4. The heat recovery mode of the most multi- outdoor air, gaseous refrigerant is condensed into
function air-conditioning products is based on a liquid refrigerant, and heat is dissipated via outdoor air
series tank heat exchanger and an outdoor unit, into the outdoor environment. Liquid refrigerant flows
whose heating speed is relatively low. When a into the expansion valve via the check valve and under-
large volume of hot water is consumed and a goes throttle cooling. Then, electromagnetic valve SV4
large volume of cold water is replenished in the imports refrigerant to the indoor heat exchanger. After
water tank, the water temperature increase will heat exchange with the indoor air, the refrigerant is
be slow. evaporated and turned into gaseous refrigerant; simul-
taneously, the refrigerant absorbs heat from the indoor
The equipment specifications of this system are as air passing by, cools the indoor air and sends low-
follows: temperature air to the air-conditioned indoor environ-
ment. Evaporated liquid refrigerant is sent back to the
1. Water pump. Output: 0.18 kW, voltage: 220 V, compressor for the next circulation and to complete the
rated capacity: 9 L/min. cooling function, as shown in Figure 2(a).
2. Water tank. Rated capacity: 30 L. Figure 2(b) and Table 1 show the refrigerant circula-
3. Indoor unit. Capacity: 2.9 kW, energy consump- tion diagram and the corresponding electromagnetic
tion: 26 W, size: 800 3 295 3 230. valve action under the dedicated heating mode. Under
4. Outdoor unit. Capacity: 1.120 kW, power: AC this operation mode, four-way valve SV and electro-
220 V 60 Hz, energy consumption: 967 W, refrig- magnetic valves SV2 and SV3 are turned on. High-tem-
erant: R-22, size: 770 3 530 3 200. perature and high-pressure gaseous refrigerant enters
5. Measurement equipment. Thermocouple type K: the indoor unit heat exchanger via electromagnetic
nickel–chromium or nickel–aluminum alloy, tem- valve SV2 and four-way valve RV (reverse valve); after
perature range from 2200°C to + 1200°C, mag- heat exchange with the low-temperature indoor air, the
netic, sensitivity of 41 mV/°C, accuracy 6 2.2°C. gaseous refrigerant is condensed to liquid refrigerant,
the indoor air is heated, and the high-temperature air is
The sanitary water heating load, Qw , of the air- sent to the air-conditioned indoor environment. After
source heat pump system is heat dissipation, the refrigerant is imported by a check
valve to the expansion valve and undergoes throttle
Qw = c msw ðTswo Tswi Þ ð1Þ cooling. Then, electromagnetic valve SV3 imports
where msw is the sanitary water flow rate, c is the spe- refrigerant to the outdoor unit heat exchanger. After
cific heat of water, and Tswo and Tswi are the outlet and heat exchange with the outdoor air, the refrigerant is
inlet water temperature of plate heat exchanger, respec- evaporated and turned into gaseous refrigerant; simul-
tively. The heating COPh (coefficient of performance) taneously, the refrigerant absorbs heat from the out-
of the system at any time instant (t) can be defined as door air passing by, heats the outdoor air, and cools
down. Then, low-temperature air is sent to the outdoor
Qw (t) environment. After the gaseous refrigerant absorbs
COPh, t = ð2Þ
W(t) heat, it is sent back to the compressor for the next circu-
lation and to complete the heating function, as shown
where Qw (t) is the heat exchange rate in the plate heat
in Figure 2(b).
exchanger and W(t) is the power of the compressor;
within an operating period of duration t, the average
COPh is defined as Outdoor heat absorption and hot water production
Ðt mode
Qh (t)dt
COPh = 0
ð3Þ Figure 3 and Table 1 show the refrigerant circulation
Ðt diagram and the corresponding electromagnetic valve
W(t)dt
0 action under the outdoor heat absorption and hot
Luo et al. 5
Function State
RV four-way valve SV1 for plate SV2 for pipe SV3 for SV4 for
heater outdoor pipe indoor pipe
Cooling ON ON
Heating ON ON ON
Hot water (indoor heating) ON ON
Hot water (outdoor heating) ON ON ON
Cooling + hot water T1\TS, ON T1 . TS, ON ON
Heating + hot water ON T1 . TS, D-C ON ON
RV: reverse valve; SV: solenoid valve; T1: hot water tank outflow temperature; TS: hot water tank predefined temperature; D-C: duty control.
Table 2. Heating capacity and average COPh at different water tank outflow temperature under the hot water production and
cooling mode size.
10°C. In other words, the indoor unit air supply tem- can reach as high as 80°C. However, because the hot
perature of this system will not be affected by the water water temperature is 55°C, the pressure at the high-
tank temperature and high-pressure side gaseous refrig- pressure side of the gaseous refrigerant from the com-
erant diversion control. pressor outlet is already 24 kg/cm2 (gauge pressure). To
Table 2 shows the corresponding system heating ensure long-term operation of the machine, the hot
capacity and average heating COPh data at different water temperature is set to 45°C. Because this tempera-
water tank outflow temperatures for the AC/HP system ture is higher than comfortable bathing temperature,
under the hot water production and cooling multi- there is no need to further increase this number. Future
function operation mode. The table shows that when applications in larger equipment may set this value dif-
the water tank outflow temperature is relatively low, ferently according to the application requirements.
the high-pressure side refrigerant has relatively low
pressure; therefore, the compressor also consumes a rel-
atively low level of electric current and electric power. Performance analysis for different hot water supply
However, at this moment, the water tank outflow tem- loads under the hot water production and cooling
perature is relatively low and the high-pressure side operation mode
refrigerant condensation heat can easily be carried away
Figure 9 shows the water tank outflow temperature dis-
by circulating water. Therefore, the system momentary
tribution curve of the AC/HP system with different hot
heating capacity is also relatively high. When the water
tank outflow temperature is at 25°C, the average system water supply loads under the hot water production and
COPh can reach 4.766. With the gradual rise in water cooling operation mode. After the water tank hot water
tank outflow temperature, the compressor also con- temperature has reached 45°C, it is assumed that
sumes an increasing level of electric current and electric normal bathing takes 10 min. During these 10 min, a
power. However, at this moment, because the water certain volume of hot water is supplied and an identi-
tank outflow temperature increases, it is more difficult cal volume of 22.7°C cold water is replenished.
for the high-pressure side refrigerant condensation heat Simultaneously, the system maintains its operation.
to be carried away by circulating water; therefore, the The outflow temperature variation curve is obtained
system momentary heating capacity also gradually via a temperature sensor at the water tank outlet. The
decreases. After 825 s of heating, the water tank outflow
temperature reaches 45°C and the system average
COPh at that moment drops to 3.122.
Table 3. System heating capacity and average heating COPh data at different water tank outflow temperatures.
Table 4. System heating capacity and average heating COPh data at different water tank outflow temperatures when the water
stored in the water tank is electrically heated from 22.7°C to 60°C.
high-pressure side refrigerant condensation heat can be the indoor outlet, the cooling of each flow is accelerated.
easily carried away by the circulating water, and the However, heat recovery warms up the water, offloads
system momentary heating capacity is relatively high. the large amount of energy consumed by an electric
When the water tank outflow temperature is 25°C, the water heater to heat water from room temperature to
system average COPh can reach 3.461. Compared to the intended range, and reduces the heating period of an
the system under the hot water production and cooling electric water heater.
multi-function operation mode in Table 2, in the hot Table 4 shows the corresponding system heating
water production and heating operation mode, the heat capacity and average heating COPh data at different
acquired from the outdoor unit air heat source is simul- water tank outflow temperatures when the water stored
taneously supplied to heat the circulating water in the in the water tank is electrically heated from 22.7°C to
water tank and indoor heating; therefore, the water 60°C. The table shows that, regardless of the water tem-
heating capacity by comparison is relatively low. perature in the water tank, the electric current, electric
Similarly, with the gradual increase in the water tank power, and heating capacity are all fairly stable, while the
outflow temperature, the compressor consumes an system average operation COPh only slightly decreases.
increasing level of electric current and electric power; Compared to the operation modes in Tables 2 and 3,
the system momentary heating capacity decreases gra- under the hot water production and cooling or heating
dually. After 35.67 min of heating, the water tank out- operation mode, in the temperature range of hot water
flow temperature reaches 45°C, and the system average for domestic use, this system has higher operation effi-
COPh at that moment drops to 1.208. ciency than the conventional electric heating method.