European Regional Climate Zone Modeling of a Commercial Absorption Heat Pump Hot Water Heater

Conference · Sun Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 2017

OSTI ID:1361339

Sharma, Vishaldeep ^[1]; Shen, Bo ^[1]; Keinath, Chris ^[2]; Garrabrant, Michael A. ^[2]; Geoghegan, Patrick J ^[1]

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1. ORNL
2. Stone Mountain Technologies, Inc., Johnson City

High efficiency gas-burning hot water heating takes advantage of a condensing heat exchanger to deliver improved combustion efficiency over a standard non-condensing configuration. The water heating is always lower than the gas heating value. In contrast, Gas Absorption Heat Pump (GAHP) hot water heating combines the efficiency of gas burning with the performance increase from a heat pump to offer significant gas energy savings. An ammonia-water system also has the advantage of zero Ozone Depletion Potential and low Global Warming Potential. In comparison with air source electric heat pumps, the absorption system can maintain higher coefficients of performance in colder climates. In this work, a GAHP commercial water heating system was compared to a condensing gas storage system for a range of locations and climate zones across Europe. The thermodynamic performance map of a single effect ammonia-water absorption system was used in a building energy modeling software that could also incorporate the changing ambient air temperature and water mains temperature for a specific location, as well as a full-service restaurant water draw pattern.

• Research Organization: Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States). Building Technologies Research and Integration Center (BTRIC)
• Sponsoring Organization: EE USDOE - Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EE)
• DOE Contract Number: AC05-00OR22725
• OSTI ID: 1361339
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English