Determination of heat transfer characteristics of solar thermal collectors as heat source for a residential heat pump

Maarten G. Sourbron, Nesrin Ozalp

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contribution

Abstract

One of the best ways of making efficient use of energy in residential units is to use heat pump. Heat pump performance can be further enhanced by integrating a solar thermal unit to provide hot water and subsidize space heating. This paper presents numerically examined energy feasibility study of a solar driven heat pump system for a low energy residence, where a flat plate solar collector served as the sole low temperature heat source. A parametric study on the ambient-tosolar fluid heat transfer coefficient has been conducted to determine the required solar collector heat transfer characteristics in this system. Solar collector area and storage tank volume were varied to investigate their impact on the system performance. A new performance indicator availability was defined to assess the contribution of the solar collector as low temperature energy source of the heat pump. Results showed that the use of a solar collector as low temperature heat source was feasible if its heat transfer rate (UA-value) was 200 W/K or higher. Achievement of this value with a realistic solar collector area (A-value) required an increase of the overall ambient-to-solar fluid heat transfer coefficient (U-value) with a factor of 6 to 8 compared to the base case with only natural convection heat exchange between solar collector cover and ambient.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Title of host publicationEnergy
PublisherAmerican Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME)
ISBN (Electronic)9780791857441
DOIs
StatePublished - 2015
EventASME 2015 International Mechanical Engineering Congress and Exposition, IMECE 2015 - Houston, United States
Duration: Nov 13 2015Nov 19 2015

Publication series

NameASME International Mechanical Engineering Congress and Exposition, Proceedings (IMECE)
Volume6B-2015

Conference

ConferenceASME 2015 International Mechanical Engineering Congress and Exposition, IMECE 2015
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CityHouston
Period11/13/1511/19/15

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
This research was conducted in the framework of the IWT-TETRA project 'SolarHeat'. The authors greatly acknowledge the financial support of IWT, the Flemish government agency for Innovation by Science and Technology, and of the collaborating companies of this research project (list is available at http://zon-warm.lessius.eu).

Funding Information:
This research was conducted in the framework of the IWT-TETRA project ‘SolarHeat’. The authors greatly acknowledge the financial support of IWT, the Flemish government agency for Innovation by Science and Technology, and of the collaborating companies of this research project (list is available at http://zon-warm.lessius.eu).

Publisher Copyright:
Copyright © 2015 by ASME.

Keywords

  • Heat pump
  • Low temperature heat source
  • Solar collector

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