Improving defrosting performance of cascade air source heat pump using thermal energy storage based reverse cycle defrosting method

Minglu Qu, Tianrui Li, Shiming Deng, Yanan Fan, Zhao Li

Research output: Journal article publicationJournal articleAcademic researchpeer-review

83 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

When CASHPs are operated in heating mode, frosting/defrosting has been problematic. However, the defrosting methods commonly used by conventional ASHPs cannot be directly applied to CASHPs. Therefore, a thermal energy storage (TES) based reverse cycle defrosting method for CASHPs has been proposed and an experimental study on its operating performances was carried out. Comparative tests when using both the standard hot gas by-pass defrosting method and the TES based reverse cycle defrosting method were carried out. The results suggested that when using the TES based reverse cycle defrosting method, defrosting duration was shortened by 71.4–80.5%, and defrosting energy consumption reduced by 65.1–85.2%, as compared to those when using the standard hot gas by-pass defrosting method. In addition, the thermal energy stored can also become a source for indoor space heating, and 37.7% of the normal heating capacity can be provided to a heated indoor environment when using the TES based reverse cycle defrosting method.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)728-736
Number of pages9
JournalApplied Thermal Engineering
Volume121
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Jan 2017

Keywords

  • Air source heat pump
  • Cascade
  • Defrosting
  • Experimental study
  • Thermal energy storage

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Energy Engineering and Power Technology
  • Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering

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