Study on the performance of a solar assisted air source heat pump system for building heating

This paper proposed a new solar assisted air source heat pump system with flexible operational modes to improve the performance of the heating system. A mathematical model was established on the solar assisted air source heat pump system for building heating with a heating capacity of 10 kW, and an air source heat pump unit was developed to validate the model. The effect of the solar collector area on the performance of the system running in Nanjing was studied. The results showed that the COP of the heat pump unit was enhanced with the increase of the solar radiation density during the typical sunny day in the heating season. In addition, the COP also increased in proportion to the solar collector area. Compared with the case when the solar collector area was 0 m2, the COP increase of the heat pump and the energy-saving rate were 11.22% and 24% respectively when the solar collector area was 40 m2. Meanwhile, the solar equivalent generation power efficiency could reach 11.8%.

► A new solar assisted air source heat pump system for building heating was proposed.
► A model was established to study the effect of solar collector area on the system performance.
► The COP was enhanced with the increase of solar radiation density and solar collector area.
► The COP increase and the energy-saving rate were 11.22% and 24% respectively.
► The solar equivalent generation power efficiency could reach 11.8%.