Experimental and numerical study of the dynamic behavior of an air to water heat pump

Abstract

This work is focused on studying the dynamic behavior of an air to water heat pump both experimentally and numerically. The system consists of a conventional heat pump cycle (compressor, condenser, capillary tube and evaporator) which transfers heat from the surrounding air into a storage tank with water. The transient heating process of the water has been analyzed under different external conditions (ambient temperature), operational settings (refrigerant mass charge) and geometric characteristics (capillary tube length). A numerical model has been used to predict the system response under all the aforementioned conditions using a pseudo-transient approach. The model has been validated with measurements obtained from a fully instrumented experimental facility. The results show relatively good agreement against measurements.