Green Energy and Technology

Walter Grassi

Heat Pumps
Fundamentals and Applications
Green Energy and Technology
More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/8059
Walter Grassi

Heat Pumps
Fundamentals and Applications

123
Walter Grassi
Department of Energy, Systems, Territory
and Construction Engineering
University of Pisa
Pisa
Italy

ISSN 1865-3529 ISSN 1865-3537 (electronic)

Green Energy and Technology
ISBN 978-3-319-62198-2 ISBN 978-3-319-62199-9 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-62199-9
Library of Congress Control Number: 2017946625

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Preface

Heat pumps are a quite effective means to look forward to the enhancement of
energy efficiency and savings. It is a very broad subject, and therefore, it is almost
impossible to include all the related features in a unique volume. Far from being
exhaustive, this volume is aimed at providing a detailed overview of the main topics
that any professional needs to know, before either employing such machines in his
designs or evaluating their energy performances.
After a general description of the world market, the thermodynamic basic
principles of heat pumps are recalled, emphasizing the effects of the internal and
external irreversibilities on the heat pumps’ performances. The main components
are analyzed, also concerning their reciprocal interactions and those with the
thermal environment they are in contact with.
In fact, heat pumps are complex systems which, in turn, interact with other
complex systems constituted, on the one hand, by the indoor environment (internal
source) and, on the other, by the outdoor environment (external source).
Some details about the most used refrigerants are then provided, together with
their thermophysical data. This is done with regard to the fluids used both in the
compression and in the absorption heat pumps.
Hybrid systems and 2-pipe and 4-pipe multipurpose systems are discussed,
which constitute a very interesting technology for running thermal plant in an
optimal way.
The text tries to give an organic set of information and methods. Some numerical
examples are provided for each treated subject, together with links and videos to
help its understanding.
Besides, products existing on market are often mentioned to give the interested
reader a feel for the present status of technological application.
According to the long experience gained by the author, this book can be useful
to engineers involved in the field of building thermal installations and to students
approaching this matter in energy engineering courses.

Pisa, Italy Walter Grassi

v
Contents

1 The Fundamentals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.1 General Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.2 Working Principles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
2 Types of Compression Heat Pumps and Their Main
Components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
2.1 Main Components of Compression Heat Pumps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
2.2 Compressor. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
2.3 Expansion Valve. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
2.4 The Liquid Receiver . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
2.5 Evaporator and Condenser . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
2.6 Economizer and Vapor Injection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
2.7 The Four Way Reversing Valve . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
2.8 Engine Driven Heat Pumps (GHP) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
2.9 Carbon Dioxide Heat Pumps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
3 Absorption Heat Pumps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
3.1 The Operating Principle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
3.2 Some Features of Water–Ammonia Mixtures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
4 Operating Conditions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
4.1 Full Load and Partial Load Operation, the Balance Point . . . . . . . . 89
4.2 Comparison Among the Different Types of Heat Pump . . . . . . . . . 104
4.3 Further Features of Heat Pumps Operation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107

vii
viii Contents

5 The Refrigerants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113

5.1 Properties of Some Refrigerants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
5.2 Lubricating Oils . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
5.3 Table and Graphs of Some Refrigerants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
6 The External Sources: Water and Ground . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
6.1 Ground Water . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
6.2 Surface Water . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
6.3 Ground . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
6.4 The Ground Thermal Response . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154
7 The Hybrid and Multipurpose Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157
7.1 The Hybrid System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157
7.2 The Multipurpose System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166
8 Additional Thermodynamic Remarks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
8.1 Thermodynamic Cycle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
8.2 First and Second Principles of Thermodynamics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168
8.3 Phase Change of Pure Substances . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175
Chapter 1
The Fundamentals

Abstract This chapter, at first, provides a synthetic picture of the present spread of
heat pumps over the world market, also quoting some of the main producers. The
most common types are shortly described too. In addition the thermodynamic
fundamentals of their working principle are dealt with and the effect of irre-
versibilities on the heat pumps performances is stressed. The contribution of the
different components to these irreversibilities is shortly illustrated together with that
introduced by the unavoidable temperature difference between the evolving fluid
and the external sources.

1.1 General Features

Heat pumps are an effective means of energy production in several fields of modern
technology. To have an idea of the present situation we can refer to [1]. It reports a
European market increase of 3.5% in 2014 with respect to 2013. Even if some
countries recorded a decrease of the sold units, it was largely compensated by the
top 10 markets led by France, Spain and Finland. In particular France (leading
country) followed by Italy and Sweden reached more than hundred thousand units
sold per year, while Finland, Germany, Norway and Spain exceeded fifty thousand
of annual sold units.
A fast increase of using heat pumps for sanitary water production is taking place
both as stand alone units (heat pump and water storage tank in the same casing) or
as heat pumps with separate tanks.
Air has been and is the most diffused heat source so far, while larger heat pumps
are increasingly employed for industrial and commercial uses, and for district
heating. Air is still used, but also geothermal and hydrothermal sources are often
employed. In some cases heat is provided by waste waters. To have a short insight
on the more general state of the art in the world we can refer to [2].
It reports an increase of the world heat pump market of 7.2% by volume in 2013
with about two million units, jointly due to a recovery in Europe and to a strong
increase of heat pump heaters in the USA. In terms of value in 2013 there was a

© Springer International Publishing AG 2018 1

W. Grassi, Heat Pumps, Green Energy and Technology,
DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-62199-9_1
2 1 The Fundamentals

decrease of 6.5% with respect to 2012, mainly due to an increasing competition

among providers and a sale decrease of large power units. In 2013 heat pump
heaters had a large diffusion with a market growth of 26.5%. Anyway this growth
mainly occurred outside Europe, where air—water heat pumps and split systems
dominated the market with small capacity machines, at the expenses of monobloc
systems (sale decreased by 2%). Just the opposite occurred in China where these
latter’s sales grew by around 14% and the worldwide increase is about 5%.
Geothermal heat pumps performed poorly in 2013. High initial investment costs
and lack of appropriate political support act as the major drawbacks. Despite of this
they recorded a 5% increase in China and in the USA, while decreased by 1% in
Europe. On the other hand, exhaust air heat pumps with heat recovery for energy
saving in buildings are an emerging technology, in particular in Scandinavia, and is
expected to expand at least in Northern Europe. Furthermore it is the case to stress
how CO2 heat pumps had a significant rise in commercial and residential appli-
cations due to their environmental friendly features.
At present, the major segments of market [3] are located in seven main regions:
North America, South America, Eastern Europe, Western Europe, Asia Pacific,
Japan and Middle East and Africa. Asia Pacific market is the fastest growing, while
Europe holds the largest share at present. Reference [3] also pinpoints some of the
major global market players in: Viessmann Group, Danfoss Group Global, Carrier
Corporation, the Glen Dimplex Group, StiebelEltron, Bosch Thermotechnik
GmbH, Panasonic Corporation, Mitsubishi Electric, NIBE energy systems,
Geothermal International Ltd (GI), DeLonghi-Climaveneta, Airwell Group, and
Enertech Group.
Heat Pumps are classified according to several characteristic features. A first one
consists in the type of their thermodynamic cycle and therefore in nature of fluids
they use. On the basis of this we talk about vapor compression and absorption heat
pumps. The former follow a traditional inverse thermodynamic cycle and use a
compressor driven either by an electric motor or an engine. The used refrigerants
have to be (at least should be) environment friendly, inert, chemically stable, neither
flammable nor toxic, with low freezing temperatures and compatible with lubri-
cating oils.
Absorption heat pumps do not have a mechanical compressor. They use a
mixture of two fluids with a different vapor pressure. The more volatile one
evaporates and, then, recombines with the less volatile. The most common mixtures
are water and lithium-bromide and water and ammonia.
We can further differentiate heat pumps according to the type of source they heat
exchangers interact with. The final fluid to be heated or cooled is the indoor air in
most of the residential uses. The fluid flowing in heating, or cooling, devices can be
the refrigerant itself (generally in case of short circuits) and we speak of direct
expansion systems. Otherwise water is used to this aim, exchanging heat with the
refrigerant in the heat pump heat exchangers.
The most common outdoor heat source is air, but also surface water (rivers, lakes
and sea), ground water and even the ground itself.
1.1 General Features 3

Lastly heat pumps can be used for sanitary water production only or to both
heating and sanitary water production. Often they are used in combination with a
backup device (boiler for winter heating). In this case we speak of hybrid systems.

1.2 Working Principles

First of all let us define a physical quantity useful to easily identify the thermo-
dynamic performances of any thermodynamic cycle: the equivalent heat exchange
average temperature, Tm,eq (K). Consider any transformation taking a system from
point A to point B, as in Fig. 1.1a. The above temperature is equal to the ratio
between the exchanged heat (subtended area by curve AB) and the entropy dif-
ference between B and A:
RB
Tds
Tm;eq ¼ A
sB  sA

Doing so, it is possible to reduce a transformation to an isotherm where the actual

heat exchange takes place. If now we refer to Fig. 1.1b and consider path AB we
can see how segment A1 contributes with a lower Tm,eq than 12 and segment 2B
contributes with a higher value of the same temperature. Therefore a thermody-
namic cycle can be divided into equivalent Carnot sub-cycles at least for a pre-
liminary estimation of its performances. This is one more reason to refer to this
theoretical cycle in order to supply basic elements to enhance the understanding of
some fundamental concepts concerning heat pumps.1
In the simplest configuration for residential uses a heat pump consists of an
outdoor unit, containing compressor and a heat exchanger working as an evaporator
in winter and a condenser in summer, and an indoor unit with another heat
exchanger complementary to the previous one (condenser in winter and evaporator
in summer). If subscripts C and F respectively indicate the hot and cold sources, the
following relations hold (Figs. 1.2 and 1.3)2:

First Principle of Thermodynamics

QC þ QF ¼ L ðQC \0; L\0Þ
Second Principle of Thermodynamics
QC QF
þ þ Sg ¼ 0
TC TF

1
Bear in mind we have referred to reversible transformations, while real transformations are not
such. In particular lamination is absolutely irreversible, so that we can only say (if adiabatic) its
final enthalpy is equal to its initial one and not isenthalpic.
2
Q > 0 if it is supplied to the system following the cycle and <0 if it exits from the system. Work L
is always negative in inverse cycles as it is supplied to the system.
4 1 The Fundamentals

Fig. 1.1 On top the (a) θ

equivalent heat exchange
average temperature. At the B
bottom the contributions to
this temperature of different θm,eq
segment of a transformation
A

SA SB S

B
(b) θ
1 2

SA SB S

Q is the heat exchanged with thermal sources, T their thermodynamic temperature

(K) and Sg the amount of produced entropy. This is due to existing irreversibilities
both internal (e.g., friction losses in fluid motion, in mechanical devices etc.) and
external, as the temperature jump between evolving fluid and thermal sources.
From the first relation we obtain that QF > 0 (supplied to cycle), L < 0 (supplied
to cycle), QC < 0 and, in addition |QC| > |QF|. It means that heat exchanged with the
warmer source (indoor environment in winter and outdoor environment in summer)
is larger than the one with the colder source. If a heat pump is used both in winter
and summer, the net total energy exchange with the external source may approach
zero, depending on the durations of the winter and summer periods. It is a
favourable phenomenon for the external environment once the external source can
accumulate and return this energy close to the user, as it occurs for geothermal heat
pumps. Nevertheless the mechanical energy is provided to the heat pump all along
the period of operation and the heat exchanged with the indoor environment has to
be considered as the produced “useful effect”.
A coefficient of performance, COP, is defined to characterize heat pumps per-
formances as the ratio of heat exchanged with indoor environment and the
1.2 Working Principles 5

Τ
2
3
ΤC

ΤC ΤF
4 1
QC
3 2 s
condenser

Lamination
valve compressor
evaporatore
4 1

QF
ΤF

Fig. 1.2 Basic scheme of a compression heat pump and reference cycles in the planes p,h, top left
and T, S. Source temperatures, different from the refrigerant’s ones, are also evidenced

indoor SUMMER

condenser

indoor
evaporator
evaporator

outdoor

WINTER condenser

outdoor

Fig. 1.3 Winter and summer operation with a four way reversion valve
6 1 The Fundamentals

mechanical work supplied to the machine. This is positive by definition and, when
heat is exchanged with two sources, is given by3:
Winter
QC 1 1
COPW ¼ ¼ QF ¼
 
L 1  jQC j 1  F 1  TC Sg
T
TC jQC j

Summer
QF 1 1
COPS ¼ ¼ ¼  
jLj jQC j  1 TC 1 þ TF Sg  1
QF TE QF

It clearly comes out that irreversibilities lower, even very much, the value of COP.4
The term Sg depends on the conditions of operation and TCSg, TFSg represent the
energy losses caused by irreversibilities.
The quantities:
Winter Summer
TC Sg TF S g
cW ¼ jQC j cS ¼ QF

are the ratios between the lost energy and the one exchange with the related source.
The smaller is c the better is the expected performance. Figure 1.4 shows the effect
of the above term, both as a reduction of COP and as a decrease of its sensitivity to
outdoor temperature.
     0 2  2
1 1 1 1 T C  TC TF  TF0
Sg ¼ jQC j 0   QF  ¼ UC þ UF
TC TC TF TF0 TC0 TC TF0 TF
with

   
TC0 [ TC ; TF0 \TF ; jQC j ¼ UC TC0  TC ¼ UC DTC ; QF ¼ UF TF  TF0 .

Consider an internally reversible cycle, where irreversibilities are only located on

the boundary as temperature differences between the evolving fluid, with equivalent
temperatures TF’ (<TF) and TC’ (>TC), and the heat sources. If UC and UF are the
global heat transfer coefficient of the two heat exchangers we have:
DTC
TC Sg TC UF DT
TF
F DTF
TF
cW ¼ ¼ þ 
jQC j 1 þ DTTC
C
U DTC
C TC 1  DTF
TF

3
For the sake of simplicity we refer to a sort of equivalent inverse “Carnot cycle” where irre-
versibilities are accounted for in Sg.
4
The name COP is today reserved only to the winter coefficient of performance, while for summer
it is called the energy efficiency ratio, EER.
1.2 Working Principles 7

(a) Winter (indoor temperature, TC =20°C)

γ=0
60
γ=0.01
50
γ=0.05
40
γ=0.1
COP

γ=0.2 30
20

10

0
-10 -8 -6 -4 -2 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14
TF (ºC)

(b) Summer (indoor temperature, TF=24°C)

100
90
80 γ=0
70 γ=0.01
60 γ=0.05
COP

50
γ=0.1
40
30
20
10
0
27 29 31 33 35 37 39 41 43 45 47 49
TC (ºC)

Fig. 1.4 Trend of COP in winter (a) and summer (b) versus outdoor temperature for several
values of c

TF Sg
DTF
UC DT
TC
C DTC
TC
cS ¼ ¼ TFDTF þ 
QF 1  TF UF DT
TF
F
1 þ DTC
TC

For a preliminary evaluation of the above quantities we can refer to the following
values for an air/air heat pump:

Seasons TF (°C) TC (°C)

Winter 7 20
Summer 27 35

For the sake of simplicity, we can suppose UC = UF = U and DTC = DTF = DT

(remember T is expressed in °C and T in K) and thus (see the trends in Fig. 1.5):
8 1 The Fundamentals

0,11
0,1
0,09
winter
0,08
0,07 summer
0,06
γ

0,05
0,04
0,03
0,02
0,01
0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
ΔT

Fig. 1.5 Trends of c versus DT in summer and winter

DT DT DT
TC TF TF
cW ¼ DT
þ DT

1þ TC TC 1  DT
TF
DT DT DT
TF TC TC
cS ¼ þ 
1  DT
TF
DT
TF 1þ DT
TC

What has been said so far emphasizes some basic thermodynamic aspects affecting
the performances of a heat pump operating between two thermal sources. Of course
referring to an equivalent inverse Carnot cycle is a convenient simplification to
understand the fundamental working principles of this type of machine. Anyway,
before going forward, it is the case to stress the main differences between the above
reference scheme and the real behavior. They can be listed as follows (Fig. 1.6).
• Fluids actually used can keep their temperatures reasonably constant as they
undergo a phase change. Due to the close link between temperature and pressure
in these transformations, a constant pressure is needed to have a constant
temperature. This could be only achieved by neglecting friction losses in heat
exchangers. In addition, due to the nature of some refrigerants, temperature
changes occur also at constant pressure (Glide) as we will see in the following.
Furthermore superheated vapor discharging from the compressor is cooled
down, before reaching the saturated condition. Energy subtracted in this phase
in a dedicated de-superheater is sometimes employed for different uses from
ambient heating as the production of hot sanitary water. In the end liquid exiting
from evaporator generally has some superheating to avoid liquid inlet into the
compressor as well as liquid from evaporator is slightly subcooled not to have
vapor in the expansion valve.
• The expansion valve causes an unavoidable irreversibility, because it is not
convenient to recover energy from the related pressure difference.
• Compressor is characterized by friction losses, is not adiabatic and so on. All
this leads to define the so called isentropic efficiency.
1.2 Working Principles 9

Outdoor source Indoor source

Winter condition
air
air

water

water

ground

Fig. 1.6 Heat pump interaction with thermal sources

• Thermal sources are in principle suppose with a uniform and constant temper-
ature, but in reality this is not true. For instance in air cooled condenser, air
temperature changes from time to time. This happens for any type of source in
different ways. As shown in Fig. 1.9, outdoor sources can be air, surface water
(rivers, lakes, sea) underground water, urban or industrial process wastewater
and ground. The logarithmic average temperature of the fluid flowing in the
related heat exchangers can be assumed as the reference source temperature.
With regard to the indoor heat source, it can be both ambient air and water. The
former case refers to a direct-expansion system, i.e., a system where refrigerant is in
direct thermal contact with the either cooled or heated. This happens in the so called
split systems. In the latter the heat exchange occurs between refrigerant and water
of any hydronic system.
The following combinations exist (Table 1.1):
Figure 1.7 shows a split system.

Table 1.1 Heat pump Outdoor source Indoor source Heat pump type name
nomenclature depending on
heat sources Air Air Air—Air
Air Water Air—Water
Water Air Water—Air
Water Water Water—Water
Ground Water Geothermal
10 1 The Fundamentals

Indoor unit

Outdoor
unit

Fig. 1.7 A typical split system (Technibel)

As already said, a large temperature difference between the two sources has a
negative effect on heat pumps performances. We might divide the total temperature
jump into two smaller ones. Let us suppose to have to supply a power QC to the
indoor environment, kept at a constant temperature TC, with a cold source at TF. We
could use two stages, one working between the cold source and an intermediate
temperature TC1′. It exchanges Q with the evaporator of the second stage, at TF2′.
The exiting vapor goes to the second compression and, the to a condenser at
temperature TC2′.
If we still refer to Carnot cycles, as in Fig. 1.8 (lamination valves have been
replaced by a reversible expander to eliminate irreversibilities) we get no advantage
and the intermediate heat exchanger could only introduce irreversibilities.

θ ’C2 θ ’C2
θ

θ ’C2 Stage 2
θC
θ ’F2 θ’F2
θ ’C1
θ ’C1 θ ’C1
θ ’F2
Stage 1
θF
θ’F1
θ ’F1 θ’F1
S Intermediate heat exchanger
Note – an expander is used in the reversible scheme instead of a lamination valve.

Fig. 1.8 Two stage Carnot cycle