Crawl space-assisted heat pumps
Conference
·
OSTI ID:6216180
By means of field tests in real houses, it was found that the source air for the heat pump can be preheated (or precooled) by drawing the outdoor air through the crawl space before it is used by the heat pump. The outdoor air is warmed (or cooled) by flowing over the crawl space earth. Most of the data is from winter months, when one would expect the most benefit for heat pump performance. Generally, greater preheating occurs at lower outdoor air temperatures; and, the effect tapers off to virtually no gain at about 10/sup 0/C. The preheating effect has been shown to be sustained for an entire winter season. Another experiment proved that the preheating does come, in great part, from the earth and not simply from the house above. Analysis has also led us to believe that the heat transfer mechanism is by simple conduction within the upper 0.3 m of the crawl space earth. The current efforts of the project are twofold. First, with three identical houses, leased and unoccupied, compehensive tests of the concept will be carried out to determine the extent to which the efficiency of a heat pump might be improved by this method. Secondly, computer modeling efforts are underway to describe the crawl space earth and air behavior. Mating of this model, after it is validated, with existing heat pump models should allow us the prediction of the extent of benefits that might be attained in different climates.
- Research Organization:
- Oak Ridge National Lab., TN (USA)
- DOE Contract Number:
- W-7405-ENG-26
- OSTI ID:
- 6216180
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-810672-17; ON: DE81023221
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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