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Optimising heat exchangers for air‐to‐air space‐heating heat pumps in the United Kingdom
Author(s) -
Blundell C. J.
Publication year - 1977
Publication title -
international journal of energy research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.808
H-Index - 95
eISSN - 1099-114X
pISSN - 0363-907X
DOI - 10.1002/er.4440010108
Subject(s) - sizing , air source heat pumps , heat exchanger , heat pump , coefficient of performance , copper in heat exchangers , refrigerant , work (physics) , nuclear engineering , mechanical engineering , plate fin heat exchanger , hybrid heat , ntu method , heat transfer , condenser (optics) , environmental science , plate heat exchanger , engineering , process engineering , thermodynamics , chemistry , physics , light source , organic chemistry , optics
The paper deals with some of the major aspects of heat‐exchanger design for electric heat pumps. After a discussion of heat‐transfer theory, it describes a method that can be used in the design and sizing of air‐to‐refrigerant heat exchangers and in calculating temperature distributions. As an illustration, economically optimum sizes for exchanger coils are given for heat pumps of output 13.9 kW, 5.6 kW and 5 kW at 5°C outside the ambient temperature. At several stages, manufacturer's experimental data have been used, and the final results are compared with the design of heat exchangers used in commercially available models. Some temperature measurements made on a heat‐pump installation in an experimental house are also reported. At least doubling the size of presently used indoor coils is shown to be economically justifiable, increasing the seasonal coefficient of performance from about 2.4 to 2.8‐3.0. Reassessment of outdoor‐fan size is also shown to be necessary. Throughout the work it is assumed that the heat pump is required for heating only, as would be the case in the United Kingdom.