Académique Documents
Professionnel Documents
Culture Documents
www.elsevier.com/locate/apthermeng
Abstract
Analytical and experimental studies were performed on a solar assisted heat pump water heating system,
where unglazed, at plate solar collectors acted as an evaporator for the refrigerant R-134a. The system was
designed and fabricated locally, and operated under meteorological conditions of Singapore. The results
obtained from simulation are used for the optimum design of the system and enable determination of
compressor work, solar fraction and auxiliary energy required for a particular application. To ensure
proper matching between the collector/evaporator load and compressor capacity, a variable speed com-
pressor was used. Due to high ambient temperature in Singapore, evaporator can be operated at a higher
temperature, without exceeding the desired design pressure limit of the compressor, resulting in an im-
proved thermal performance of the system. Results show that, when water temperature in the condenser
tank increases with time, the condensing temperature, also, increases, and the corresponding COP and
collector eciency values decline. Average values of COP ranged from about 4 to 9 and solar collector
eciency was found to vary between 40% and 75% for water temperatures in the condenser tank varying
between 30C and 50C. A simulation model has been developed to analyse the thermal performance of the
system. A series of numerical experiments have been performed to identify important variables. These
results are compared with experimental values and a good agreement between predicted and experimental
results has been found. Results indicate that the performance of the system is inuenced signicantly by
collector area, speed of the compressor, and solar irradiation. An economic analysis indicates a minimum
payback period of about two years for the system. 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Heat pump; Optimum design; Meteorological conditions; Performance; Solar fraction
*
Corresponding author. Tel.: +65-874-6411; fax: +65-779-1459.
E-mail address: mpehawla@nus.edu.sg (M.N.A. Hawlader).
1359-4311/01/$ - see front matter 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
PII: S 1 3 5 9 - 4 3 1 1 ( 0 0 ) 0 0 1 0 5 - 8
1050 M.N.A. Hawlader et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 21 (2001) 10491065
Nomenclature
1. Introduction
Among the alternative energy sources, solar energy is considered cheap, readily available, and
nonpolluting which can be used in domestic or industrial low temperature thermal applications.
Solar energy systems and heat pumps are, therefore, promising means of reducing the con-
sumption of nonrenewable energy sources. To increase the evaporation temperature, the unglazed
solar collectors can act as an evaporator to increase the thermal performance. Chaturvedi et al.
[1,2] found a variation of the evaporator temperature from 0C to 10C above the ambient
temperature under favourable solar conditions. Many authors [36] reported that, for the ambient
temperature of above 25C, the evaporator could be operated at an elevated temperature.
This paper represents an analysis of a solar assisted heat pump water heating system in which
unglazed at plate solar collectors act as an evaporator for the heat pump. Refrigerant 134a is
used as a working uid both in simulation and experiment. The simulation model can predict
thermal performance under various meteorological conditions and these results are compared
with those obtained from experiment. The inuence of various operating parameters on the
thermal performance has been examined and the important variables are identied.
A solar assisted heat pump water heating system was designed, as shown in Fig. 1, for the
meteorological conditions of Singapore. A photograph of the experimental set-up is shown in Fig.
2. Two serpentine solar collectors, which act as an evaporator, were connected in series. A copper
tube of 9.52 mm diameter was soldered at the back of the absorber plate. Adequate insulations
were provided at the back of the collector but no glass cover was used on the top surface i.e.
unglazed collector. There is a bypass line from the exit of the rst collector/evaporator to the exit
of second collector/evaporator, which remains closed or open depending on the solar irradiation
and speed of the compressor. The ambient air also acts as a heat source depending on the op-
erating temperature of the evaporator/collector.
A thermostatic expansion valve is used for the system, which maintains constant superheat at
the inlet of the compressor by regulating the mass ow rate of refrigerant with the help of a feeler
1052 M.N.A. Hawlader et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 21 (2001) 10491065
Fig. 1. Schematic diagram of a solar assisted heat pump water heating system.
bulb. Actually, the feeler bulb is a remote bulb of the thermostatic expansion device that controls
the degree of superheat by controlling the pressure [7,8]. An open type-reciprocating compressor
is used for the system, which is directly coupled to a three-phase induction motor. A frequency
inverter is used to control the speed of the motor. A pressure switch is used to protect the
compressor/motor from overloading. The condenser is installed inside a tank made of bre glass
to store water for heating purposes. The tank was insulated to prevent heat loss from the hot
water to the surroundings (Table 1).
M.N.A. Hawlader et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 21 (2001) 10491065 1053
Table 1
Components specication and characteristics of the system parameters
1. Collectors
a. Area Each collector, 1.5 m2 ; total, 3 m2
b. Absorber plate Material, copper; thickness, 1.0 mm
c. Surface treatment Black paint coating, absorptivity, 90%, emissivity, 0.9
d. Tube Material, copper; outer diameter, 9.52 mm; inner diameter, 8 mm; spacing, 100 mm
e. Insulation Material, polyurethane; thickness, 50 mm
f. Case material Aluminium sheet
2. Compressor Bore, 0.035 mm; stroke, 0.026 mm; number of cylinder, 1
3. Condenser/water tank
a. Size 250 l
b. Insulation Material, polyurethane; thickness, 50 mm
2.1. Instrumentation
The temperature and pressure of the refrigerant were measured at various locations of the
system. The ambient temperatures, incident solar radiation, plate temperature on each solar
collector at several locations were measured. Pressures were measured with pressure transducers.
A pyranometer was mounted near the collector to measure the instantaneous solar radiation. The
ow rate of refrigerant was also measured by means of magnetic ow meter. The power con-
sumption of the system was also measured by a Wattmeter. For the acquisition of the data, an
automatic data logging system was used. All quantities were monitored continuously and stored
at 5 min interval in the data logger.
3. Mathematical model
A mathematical model has been developed to predict the thermal performance of the system.
The model for each component has been described briey in this section.
For modelling the collector/evaporator, normal at plate collector equation was chosen. The
useful energy gain by the absorber is given by,
Qu Ac F 0 Isa Ul T f Ta 1
For an unglazed solar collector, the overall heat loss coecient Ul has a signicant importance
on the collector performance. It has two components.
Ul Ut Ub 2
Back loss coecient, Ub is assumed negligible, as it is properly insulated. Top loss coecient, Ut
is a function of radiation and convection heat loss coecient. Convective heat loss coecient is
dened by the following equation (Due and Beckman [9]):
1054 M.N.A. Hawlader et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 21 (2001) 10491065
hc 2:8 3:0Vw 3
Radiation heat loss coecient can be written as,
r Tp4 Tsky
4
hr ep 4
Tp Ta
An empirical equation has been developed by Swinbank in Ref. [9], which relates, Tsky to
ambient temperature, Ta , as shown below:
Tsky 0:0552Ta1:5 5
where, Tsky and Ta are both in degree Kelvin. For the evaluation of plate temperature, Tp , the plate
between two tubes can be treated as a n. By taking a small element on this n and, after energy
balance, it gives,
d 2 T p UL S
Tp T a 6
dX 2 kd Ul
For the determination of the collector eciency factor, F 0 , the following expression developed
by HottelWhilliar Bliss in Ref. [9] is used.
1
0 UL
F h i 7
1
W Ul W DF D
pD1i hfi C1b
The pressure drop inside the collector tube is determined by treating the two-phase mixture as
homogeneous and applying a mass, momentum and energy balance [2,10]. The equation, after
simplication, is expressed in the following form,
2fG2
dp vf xvfg G2 vfg dZ
dx
n D h io 8
dZ dv
1 G2 x dpg 1 x dv f
dp
and
dx 1
m_ WF 0 I sa UL T f Ta 9
dZ hfg
The length of the collector tube at which single-phase vapour region starts is given by the
following expression,
T1 Ta US
ln T 0 Ta S mC
L
_ pv
1 UL
Z0 L 10
WF 0 UL
Mean density of the two-phase mixture is given by,
1 x 1 x
11
qm qg qf
M.N.A. Hawlader et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 21 (2001) 10491065 1055
The properties of the refrigerant vf , vfg , hg , hfg can be expressed as a function of saturation
temperature in the collector, i.e.
vf ; vfg ; hg ; hfg f Tsat 12
Heat received by the refrigerant in the evaporator is given by,
_
Qeva mDh 13
Heat dissipated to the cooling medium at the condenser includes energy gain at the evaporator
and the energy consumed by the compressor, as shown by the following equation:
Q c Q u Wc 17
For modelling the condenser, it is assumed that the temperature of water within the tank is
uniform at any instance of time, a mix tank model. From this tank, hot water is supplied to the
load when it is necessary. The mixed tank model, which represents temperature variation within
the tank, is given by,
dTw
MCpw Qc Ult Ast Tw Ta Ql 18
dt
Condensing temperature, Tc is calculated by a empirical equation obtained from manufacturer
of condenser, as shown
h i
2
Qc a0 a1 Tc Tw a2 Tc Tw 1000 19
1056 M.N.A. Hawlader et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 21 (2001) 10491065
To determine the thermal performance of the system, a simulation program has been devel-
oped. This program is run with the meteorological data of Singapore [12] for a given load. Fig. 3
shows the ow chart of the simulation program.
A series of experiments were conducted under the meteorological conditions of Singapore and
these results are presented in this section. The simulation model enabled parametric study and
identication of important variables. For the purpose of validation of the simulation model, a
comparison between experimental and simulated results was made. It is important to note that,
due to climatic constraints, few experiments were performed for 4 h in July and comparison or
analysis has been shown below.
In Fig. 4, predicted collector eciency and COP for the month of July were plotted against
time. It shows that predicted COP is always close to experimental COP and predicted collector
eciency has a reasonably good agreement with experimental values. As seen from Fig. 4, COP
shows a declining trend with time, as condensing temperature increases, resulting in an increase of
the compressor work.
In Fig. 5, the predicted and experimental values of water temperature were plotted as a function
of time. Here, compressor was operated at 1080 rpm and the ambient temperature varied between
28C and 36C. The predicted water temperature deviates no more than 0.9C from the experi-
mental values of water temperature during the course of the experiment.
M.N.A. Hawlader et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 21 (2001) 10491065 1057
Fig. 6 shows collector eciency as a function of time for dierent speeds of the compressor
considering solar radiation 800 W m 2 . If the speed of the compressor increases, the eciency
of the collector/evaporator increases. It can be attributed to the fact that, if the speed of the
1058 M.N.A. Hawlader et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 21 (2001) 10491065
Fig. 4. Comparison between predicted and experimental COP and collector eciency.
Table 2
Useful parameters for the system
Latitude 1220 N
Collector azimuth 0
Collector tilt angle 10
Ambient temperature 32C
Initial water temperature in the tank 30C
Specic heat of water 4130 J kg 1 K 1
Wind speed 3 ms 1
Time step 5, 60 min
Heat loss coecient of the tank 0.36 W m 2 K 1
Coecients a0 0:2225, a1 0:4838, a2 0:024
Fig. 8. Variation of COP with time for dierent speed of the compressor (solar radiation 600 W m 2 ).
Fig. 10. Variation of collector eciency and collector uid temperature with compressor speed.
M.N.A. Hawlader et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 21 (2001) 10491065 1061
temperature. For a particular size of the collector/evaporator, an increase in speed of the com-
pressor causes a higher mass ow rate through the collector/evaporator resulting in a lower
temperature of the collector uid, leading to a lower heat loss from the collector and increase in
collector eciency. But for a particular speed of the compressor, higher collector area increases
the uid temperature in the collector and lowers the collector eciency. This mismatch has been
overcome by using a variable speed compressor for a range of climatic conditions.
Fig. 11 shows the variation of energy output, condensing and evaporating temperature of the
refrigerant, water temperature at the condenser/storage tank as a function of storage volume. As
seen from this gure, if storage size increases condensing temperature decreases leading to a slight
decrease in evaporating temperature causing an increased energy gain by the collector. A decrease
in condensing temperature, but relatively smaller decrease in evaporating temperature causes a
reduction in compression work leading to a higher performance of the system.
Fig. 12 shows the thermal performance of the system with solar irradiation for dierent col-
lector area. As seen from gure, for a particular collector area, if solar radiation increases, COP
Fig. 11. Eect of storage volume on thermal energy output by the collector and condenser.
Fig. 12. Variation of COP with solar radiation for dierent collector area.
1062 M.N.A. Hawlader et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 21 (2001) 10491065
increases. It may happen as uid temperature in the collector increases due to high solar radiation
and reduces the compressor work. Again, for the same reason, for a particular size of the com-
pressor and specic solar radiation, COP of the system increases with increasing collector area.
Figs. 13 and 14 show the variation of collector eciency and COP with time for dierent sizes
of the storage volume. In cases, collector area, solar irradiation, wind speed, ambient temperature
were chosen 3 m2 , 800 W m 2 , 3 m s 1 and 26C, respectively, and the compressor was operated at
a speed of 900 rpm. It is important to note that, here, condenser tank itself acts as a storage tank
for the hot water. If the size of the storage volume increases, both collector eciency and COP
increases. It can be attributed to the fact that, for a particular size of the collector/evaporator and
compressor, if storage size increases condensing temperature decreases with corresponding de-
crease in uid temperature in the collector causing a lower heat loss from the absorber and higher
collector eciency and COP. But increase in size after a certain range of storage volume (ap-
Fig. 13. Variation of collector eciency with time for dierent storage volume.
Fig. 14. Variation of COP with time for dierent storage volume.
M.N.A. Hawlader et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 21 (2001) 10491065 1063
proximately 100 l m 2 ) both collector eciency and COP do not change so rapidly, although, it
lowers the water temperature in the storage, which is shown in Fig. 10.
Fig. 15 shows variation of the SF as a function of storage volume for dierent collector area. In
this case, load is considered continuous for 24 h a day at a temperature of 60C, but system is
operated 6 h a day and condenser tank is considered as a storage sub-system for hot water. For a
particular value of the collector area, if the size of the storage tank increases, SF increases rapidly
at the beginning and slowly after certain range of the storage volume. But, for a xed size of the
storage volume, if the collector area increases, the SF increases due to collection of more energy at
the absorber plate. As seen from Figs. 13 and 14, it can be concluded that, for a storage volume
greater than 100 l m 2 , there is no signicant change of the thermal performance of the system.
For a particular value of solar irradiation, Fig. 16 shows the eect of the dierence between
uid temperature in the collector/evaporator and ambient temperature on the eciency of the
Fig. 16. Eect of collector uid temperature on the performance of the system.
1064 M.N.A. Hawlader et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 21 (2001) 10491065
collector. If dierence between the uid temperature and ambient temperature increases collector
eciency decreases due to large amount of heat loss from the collector/evaporator. For a par-
ticular range of operating condition, an increase in ambient temperature makes a small dierence
between uid and ambient temperature causing a lower heat loss and higher collector eciency.
This is advantageous for the meteorological condition of Singapore, as ambient tempera-
ture during the day in Singapore is always higher and more than 23C, which lowers this dif-
ference.
Table 3
Economical parameters
Fuel escalation rate 3%
Discount rate 7%
General ination rate 2.5%
Fuel cost $0:03711/MJ
Life cycle 20 years
Fig. 17. Variation of payback period as a function of collector area for dierent ination rate (fuel price escalation
rate 0:03).
M.N.A. Hawlader et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 21 (2001) 10491065 1065
6. Conclusions
A simulation model has been developed to study the thermal performance of a solar assisted
heat pump water heating system. To validate the model, experiments were conducted under the
meteorological conditions of Singapore. It is found that the thermal performance of the system is
aected signicantly by speed of the compressor, solar irradiation, collector area and storage
volume. It is also important to ensure proper matching between the collector/evaporator load and
speed of the compressor. For a particular solar irradiation, if compressor speed is higher, it leads
to a lower temperature of the refrigerant in the collector/evaporator resulting in lower COP and
higher collector eciency. To minimize this conicting trend, the system was designed in such a
way that, for a particular range of solar radiation, the compressor would run at a particular speed
and improved thermal performance could be found. The values of COP as high as about 9 and
average collector eciency of 75% was obtained. It is also found that storage volume of 100 l m 2
gives an optimum performance for such a system and, for the meteorological condition of Singa-
pore. From the economical analysis, a minimum payback period of about two years was found.
References
[1] S.K. Chaturvedi, J.Y. Shen, Thermal performance of a direct expansion solar assisted heat pump, Solar Energy 33
(2) (1984) 155162.
[2] S.K. Chaturvedi, Y.F. Chiang, A.S. Roberts, Analysis of two phase ow collectors with application to heat pumps,
Transactions of the ASME 104 (1982) 358365.
[3] E.A. Kush, Performance of heat pumps at elevated evaporating temperatures with application to solar input,
Journal of Solar Energy Engineering 102 (1980) 203210.
[4] R.G. Morgan, Solar assisted heat pump, Solar Energy 28 (2) (1982) 129135.
[5] G.L. Morrison, D. Gilliaert, Unglazed solar collector performance characteristics, Journal of Solar Energy
Engineering 114 (1992) 194200.
[6] M.P. ODell, J.W. Mitchell, W.A. Beckman, Design method and performance of heat pumps with refrigerant lled
collectors, Transactions of the ASHRAE 89 (1) (1983) 519525.
[7] W.F. Stoecker, J.W. Jones, Refrigeration and Air-conditioning, second ed., McGraw-Hill, New York, 1982, pp.
205280.
[8] P.L. Balleny, Refrigeration and Airconditioning, 1997, pp. 417429.
[9] J.A. Due, W.A. Beckman, Solar Engineering of Thermal Processes, 1980, pp. 28143.
[10] G.B. Wallis, One Dimensional Two-phase Flow, McGraw-Hill, New York, 1969, pp. 1742.
[11] A.C. Cleland, Polynomial curve t for refrigerant thermodynamic properties: extension to include R134a,
International Journal of Refrigeration 17 (4) (1994) 245249.
[12] M.N.A. Hawlader, T.Y. Bong, W. Mahmood, Some frequently used meteorological data for Singapore,
International Journal of Solar Energy 8 (1990) 111.