Air Source Cold Climate Heat Pump
Abstract
A university/industry team, Purdue University, Trane, Emerson Climate Technologies, Danfoss, and Automated Logic Corporation of Indiana, demonstrated a new air-source heat pump technology that was optimized for colder climates. The technology has significant potential to reduce the primary energy used for heating small commercial or residential buildings and expand the range of air-source heat pumps to Department of Defense (DoD) facilities in the northern half of the U.S. Cold Climate Heat Pumps (CCHP) are less expensive to operate than an electric furnace and are cost competitive with fossil fuel sources of heat, even though the cost for natural gas is very low at this point in time. CCHP technology also has the potential for reducing greenhouse gas emissions because they are powered by electricity that could come from renewable energy. The field demonstration was conducted at the Camp Atterbury Joint Maneuver Training Center in Edinburgh, IN, a small town located about 1 hour south of Indianapolis. Two barracks were selected for the test because they are typical for the small to medium size buildings encountered on military bases. Each building was approximately 6,000 ft2 and constructed of cinderblocks. Even though the barracks were roughly 50 years old they had recently been updated with insulation, a sheet metal roof, and a modern central HVAC system. Both buildings had two zones for heating and cooling, which allowed for a direct comparison of CCHP technology to a modern natural gas furnace (NGF). The buildings were modified so that one zone used the cold climate heat pump and the other zone used its original modern central HVAC system. Both zones were instrumented so that energy consumption and comfort could be evaluated using a web-based control platform. The key finding from this field demonstration was that the CCHP reduced the primary energy for heating by 19% as compared to the NGF.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Aug 01, 2013
- Accession Number
- ADA600390
Entities
People
- Eckhard A. Groll
- William J. Hutzel
Organizations
- Purdue University