Session: 16-01: Poster Presentations

Paper Number: 130511

130511 - Experimental Performance Analysis of R410a Heat Pump System in Northeastern u.s Winter Climates 

Abstract: 

This work is motivated by the accelerated pathways to decarbonize our cities. New York City passed Local Law 97 to decarbonize the city by 2050. A key component of these efforts is the space heating of buildings, one of the major sources of carbon emissions due to the use of natural gas and oil for space heating. This challenge presents opportunities for large-scale penetration of heat pump systems, both air source and groundwater, with air source as the most deployable in existing buildings. Air source heat pumps are versatile as a single machine to be used for both heating and cooling system, and they could be expanded for domestic hot water. However, the major drawback of air source heat pump (ASHP) systems is that the performance usually decreases significantly when the outdoor temperature becomes extremely low, as in high latitude cities. In this study, the performance of variable capacity ASHP using R410A refrigerant has been investigated at different outdoor conditions in Northeastern U.S winter climates. The 1st law and 2nd law analysis of the ASHP system has been done including a comprehensive exergy analysis at different component levels of the system. A complete laboratory testing setup was designed and built to simulate the extreme outdoor winter conditions inside the laboratory where the heat pumps are tested. LabVIEW has been implemented to design an interactive interface that is used for data logging, monitoring, and control of the system. A Blackbox model has also been developed and validated by experimental analysis. The Coefficient of Performance decreased significantly with the decrease of outdoor temperature. The compressor had the highest exergy losses followed by condenser, expansion valve and evaporator. The power consumption decreased significantly with the increase of outdoor temperature. This study provides insights into the challenges of air source heat pump systems in the northeastern U.S winter climates, setting the path for more advanced systems such as those of Transcritical Cycles to reduce further greenhouse gas leakages.

Presenting Author: S M Abdur Rob The City College of New York

Presenting Author Biography: S M Abdur Rob is a PhD candidate in Mechanical Engineering Department at The City College of New York. His research areas are focused on Desgin and Optimization of HVAC Control Systems, Building Energy Modelling, Air Source Heat Pump Systems with Low GWP Refrigerants, and Decarbonization of Cities.

Authors:

S M Abdur Rob The City College of New York
David Garraway The City College of New York
Geoffrey Turbeville The City College of New York
Prathap Ramamurthy The City College of New York
Jorge Gonzalez-Cruz University at Albany