A Numerical Modelling Study on Submerged Condensers for Heat Pump Water Heaters Using Low-GWP Refrigerants
Challenges to global warming require reduction of GHG emissions, and increased use of renewable energy. Heat pumps extract energy from renewable sources and convert them to more useable forms for space conditioning, space heating and for water heating. They can be powered by renewable sources of electricity and must be engineered to use low global warming potentials (GWP) refrigerants (e.g., propane, GWP = 3) for a sustainable economy. Therefore, an electric heat pump water heaters (HPWH) using propane as refrigerant are developed in Oak Ridge National Laboratory to replace water heaters using all electric resistance and natural gas. A submerged condenser directly contacting with water is employed in the HPWH, which eliminates heat transfer barrier of the tank wall, and also prevents heat loss from the condenser tubes to the surrounding air. In present work, a numerical model is developed to model the submerged condenser. A dynamic temperature distribution on the condenser tubes from experimental data is applied to the model to enhance the accuracy of the numerical model. The model is essential to guide the design of the submerged condenser to achieve the performance required by the HPWH.
- Research Organization:
- Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE)
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC05-00OR22725
- OSTI ID:
- 1885331
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: 19th International Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Conference at Purdue - West Lafayette, Indiana, United States of America - 7/10/2022 4:00:00 AM-7/14/2022 4:00:00 AM
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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