Energetic Analysis of Low Global Warming Potential Refrigerants as Substitutes for R410A and R134a in Ground-Source Heat Pumps

Abstract

The European building sector is responsible for approximately 40% of total energy consumption and for 36% of greenhouse gas emissions. Identifying technological solutions capable of reducing energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions is one of the main objectives of the European Commission. Ground source heat pumps (GSHPs) are of particular interest for this purpose, promising a considerable reduction in greenhouse gas emissions of HVAC systems. This paper reports the results of the energetic analysis carried out within the EU research project GEO4CIVHIC about the performance of geothermal heat pumps working with low-GWP refrigerants as alternatives for R134a and R410A. The work has been carried out through computer simulations based on base and regenerative reverse cycles. Several heat sink and heat source temperature conditions have been considered in order to evaluate the GSHPs’ performance in the whole range of real conditions that can be found in Europe. Particular attention has been paid to the evaluation of compression isentropic efficiency and its influence on the overall cycle performance when dealing with steady-state heat pump simulations. To do so, five different scenarios of isentropic efficiency calculation have been studied and discussed.

Energy Performance Analysis of R32 and R134a Refrigerant for Spring Pool Water Heater

“…Once the simulation data was collected for each refrigerant, calculations were performed by substituting the data into Equations (1) to (9), while varying the mass flow rate of the refrigerant. The mass flow rate of water was kept constant at 0.554 kg/s.…”

“…By employing Equation (6), the power requirement of the compressor was determined for different mass flow rates. Furthermore, the analysis aimed to determine the time required to heat the 48 m 3 water tank from 10°C to 40°C using Equation (9) as illustrated in Fig. 3 While Fig.…”

“…One notable advantage of heat pumps is their eco-friendliness and cost-effectiveness compared to conventional heating and cooling systems that rely on fossil fuels [7]. By utilizing the ambient heat from the environment, heat pumps minimize the need for direct combustion of fossil fuels [8], thereby reducing costs, greenhouse gas emissions [9] and contributing to environmental sustainability [10,11]. Additionally, since heat pumps primarily rely on electricity for their operation, they offer the potential for utilizing renewable energy sources, further enhancing their environmental benefits.…”