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Simulation and experiment of a photovoltaic—air source heat pump system with thermal energy storage for heating and domestic hot water supply

  • Research Article
  • Building Systems and Components
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Abstract

For China, the development of low-energy buildings is one of the necessary routes for achieving carbon neutrality. Combining photovoltaic (PV) with air source heat pump (ASHP) yields a great potential in providing heating and domestic hot water (DHW) supply in non-central heating areas. However, the diurnal and seasonal inconsistencies between solar availability and building heat load can severely affect the efficacy of solar energy systems. This study creates and numerically simulates a PV-ASHP system with thermal energy storage (TES) in transient system simulation software, TRNSYS. Experimental studies are conducted to validate the simulation model. The system’s yearly operational characteristics are simulated to reveal the energy conversion relationship between the system’s thermoelectric storage and heating and DHW demand. The results show that the synergy between heating and DHW simultaneously improves the direct utilization of solar energy compared to single heating. The yearly self-consumption and self-satisfaction rates of PV and the COP of the ASHP increase by 131.25%, 10.53% and 9.56%, respectively. Solar energy contributes 55.54% to the system, with a PV capacity of 82 W per square meter of building area. This study provides fresh approaches to developing flexible building-integrated PV-ASHP technologies and balance of the energy exchange among the PV, building load and TES.

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Abbreviations

COP :

coefficient of performance

D exp :

experimental data

D sim :

simulated results

E all-pump :

all pumps demand (kWh)

E all-sys :

all system demand (kWh)

E ASHP :

ASHP electrical consumption (kWh)

E fan :

fan demand (kWh)

E pump-s :

single speed pump demand (kWh)

E pump-v :

variable speed pump demand (kWh)

E PV :

PV generation (kWh)

E solar :

total surface radiation for PV (kWh)

E PV-ASHP :

PV generation fed to the ASHP (kWh)

E PV-grid :

PV generation exported to the grid (kWh)

E grid-ASHP :

grid fed to the ASHP (kWh)

ECPV :

electricity consumption for system compared to PV generation (%)

n :

number of data

P PV :

power of the PV (kW)

P PV-ASHP :

power of the PV to ASHP (kW)

P PV-grid :

power of the PV to grid (kW)

P grid-ASHP :

power of the grid to ASHP (kW)

P ASHP :

power of the ASHP (kW)

P pump-v :

power of the variable speed pump (kW)

P pump-rated :

rated power of the variable speed pump (kW)

Q room :

room heat demand (kWh)

Q DHW :

DHW heat demand (kWh)

Q room-night :

room heat demand at night (kWh)

Q ASHP :

thermal energy supplied by the ASHP (kWh)

Q lost-tank :

thermal energy lost in the storage tank (kWh)

Q lost-pipe :

thermal energy lost in the pipe (kWh)

Q lost-sys :

thermal energy lost in the system (kWh)

Q tan-all :

thermal energy transferred from single and variable speed pump (kWh)

Q rem-tank :

thermal energy remained in the storage tank (kWh)

RMSE :

root mean square error

SC ASHP :

self-consumption for ASHP

SC grid :

self-consumption for grid

SS ASHP :

self-sufficiency for ASHP by PV

T a :

ambient temperature (°C)

T room :

temperature of the room (°C)

T set-room :

setpoint temperature of the room (°C)

T tank-h :

temperature of the heating storage tank (°C)

T tank-DHW :

temperature of the DHW storage tank (°C)

T water-in :

temperature of the water to room (°C)

T wind-out :

temperature of the air from fan coil (°C)

η PV :

PV converter efficiency (%)

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 51966019), International S&T Cooperation Program of Yunnan, China (No. 202003AF140001) and Kunming International S&T Cooperation Base of Kunming, China (No. GHJD-2020026).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Solar Energy Research Institute, Yunnan Normal University, No. 768, Juxian Street, Chenggong district, Kunming, Yunnan, 650500, China

    Junyu Da, Ming Li, Guoliang Li, Yunfeng Wang & Ying Zhang

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  1. Junyu Da
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  2. Ming Li
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  3. Guoliang Li
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  4. Yunfeng Wang
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  5. Ying Zhang
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Contributions

All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation, data collection and analysis were performed by Junyu Da, Ming Li, Guoliang Li, Yunfeng Wang and Ying Zhang. The first draft of the manuscript was written by Junyu Da and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Guoliang Li or Ying Zhang.

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We declare that we have no financial and personal relationships with other people or organizations that can inappropriately influence our work. There is no professional or other personal interest of any nature or kind in any product, service and company that could be construed as influencing the position presented in the manuscript entitled “Simulation and experiment of photovoltaic-air source heat pump system with thermal energy storage for heating and domestic hot water supply”.

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Da, J., Li, M., Li, G. et al. Simulation and experiment of a photovoltaic—air source heat pump system with thermal energy storage for heating and domestic hot water supply. Build. Simul. 16, 1897–1913 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12273-022-0960-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12273-022-0960-6

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