Cold Climate and Retrofit Applications for Air-to-Air Heat Pumps

Conference · Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 2015

OSTI ID:1185970

Baxter, Van D ^[1]

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1. ORNL

Air source heat pumps (ASHP) including air-to-air ASHPs are easily applied to buildings almost anywhere for new construction as well as retrofits or renovations. They are widespread in milder climate regions but their use in cold regions is hampered due to low heating efficiency and capacity at cold outdoor temperatures. Retrofitting air-to-air ASHPs to existing buildings is relatively easy if the building already has an air distribution system. For buildings without such systems alternative approaches are necessary. Examples are ductless, minisplit heat pumps or central heat pumps coupled to small diameter, high velocity (SDHV) air distribution systems. This article presents two subjects: 1) a summary of R&D investigations aimed at improving the cold weather performance of ASHPs, and 2) a brief discussion of building retrofit options using air-to-air ASHP systems.

• Research Organization: Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States). Building Technologies Research and Integration Center (BTRIC)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE)
• DOE Contract Number: DE-AC05-00OR22725
• OSTI ID: 1185970
• Resource Relation: Conference: Air Source Heat Pumps in Retrofitting Applications, Vienna, Austria, 20150507, 20150507
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English