Energy 36 (2011) 6830e6838

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Energy
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Thermal performance analysis of a direct-expansion solar-assisted heat pump

water heater
X.Q. Kong a, *, D. Zhang b, Y. Li a, Q.M. Yang a
a
School of Mechanical and Electronic Engineering, Shandong University of Science and Technology, Qingdao 266590, China
b
Research Center of Solar Energy & Gas Hydrate, Lanzhou University of Technology, Lanzhou 730050, China

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: A direct-expansion solar-assisted heat pump water heater (DX-SAHPWH) is described, which can supply
Received 12 August 2011 hot water for domestic use during the whole year. The system mainly employs a bare flat-plate collector/
Received in revised form evaporator with a surface area of 4.2 m2, an electrical rotary-type hermetic compressor, a hot water tank
6 October 2011
with the volume of 150 L and a thermostatic expansion valve. R-22 is used as working fluid in the system.
Accepted 10 October 2011
Available online 29 October 2011
A simulation model based on lumped and distributed parameter approach is developed to predict the
thermal performance of the system. Given the structure parameters, meteorological parameters, time
step and final water temperature, the numerical model can output operational parameters, such as heat
Keywords:
Solar-assisted heat pump
capacity, system COP and collector efficiency. Comparisons between the simulation results and the
Direct-expansion experimental measurements show that the model is able to give satisfactory predictions. The effect of
Water heater various parameters, including solar radiation, ambient temperature, wind speed and compressor speed,
Coefficient of performance has been analyzed on the thermal performance of the system.
Collector efficiency Ó 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
Solar energy is clean, “free” and renewable, which has received
much attention in recent years due to the growing global energy
needs and concern for environmental degradation. Heat pump is
also a promising means of reducing the consumption of fossil
energy resources. The idea of the combination of heat pump and
solar energy has been proposed and developed by many
researchers around the world, which is called the solar-assisted
heat pump (SAHP) system. A direct-expansion solar-assisted heat
pump (DX-SAHP) system directly integrates reverse-Rankine
refrigeration device with solar collector.
In the direct-expansion solar-assisted heat pump water heater
(DX-SAHPWH) system, the solar collector serves as an evaporator
where the refrigerant absorbs the incident solar energy (and/or
ambient air energy), and the energy rejected by the condenser
contributes to water heating. Since the solar collection system can
supply energy at temperatures higher than the ambient outdoor air,
the capacity and COP (coefficient of performance) of the DX-
SAHPWH system would increase over that for the air-source heat
pump system alone. In virtue of its above-mentioned advantages, the
DX-SAHPWH is expected to have a huge potential market in daily life.
* Corresponding author. Tel.: þ86 532 8605 7912; fax: þ86 532 8605 7987.
E-mail address: xqkong@sdust.edu.cn (X.Q. Kong).
The concept of the DX-SAHP was firstly considered by Sporn and
Ambrose in 1955 [1]. The DX-SAHP principle is one of the most
promising techniques, so much research has focused on DX-SAHP
systems, including system structure, thermal performance,
working fluid characteristics, operational control, numerical
simulation, economic analysis, etc. [2e18]. Since the overall
performance of a solar system is influenced significantly by the
changes in climatic conditions and load demands, the real system
matching in a whole year is hardly realized without the guide of
a reasonable theoretical analysis [2].
Morrison investigated the performance of heat pump water
heaters with solar boosted evaporators, and a simulation model in
the TRNSYS package was developed for assessing annual perfor-
mance [3]. Chaturvedi et al. investigated the thermal performance
of a DX-SAHP in which bare solar collector and variable frequency
compressor were employed. The results indicated that a significant
improvement in system COP could be achieved by modulating the
compressor capacity [4]. Torres Reyes et al. presented a theoretical
and experimental analysis of a SAHP for air heating. A methodology
for determination of the optimum temperature of the working fluid
in the evaporation and condensation steps was proposed [5]. Huang
et al. carried out a modeling and system simulation of an integral-
type DX-SAHPWH. The modeling and simulation assumed a quasi-
steady process for all the components except the storage tank. The
simulation results agreed very well with experiment [6,7].

0360-5442/$ e see front matter Ó 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.energy.2011.10.013
 X.Q. Kong et al. / Energy 36 (2011) 6830e6838 6831

Nomenclature d thickness (m)

ε emissivity (dimensionless)
A area (m2) h efficiency (dimensionless)
A0 minimum flow area (m2) k polytropic index (dimensionless)
Cpw specific heat of water (kJ/(kg K)) l thermal conductivity (W/(m K))
Cv flow coefficient (dimensionless) m dynamic viscosity (Pa s)
D external diameter of the tube (m) r density (kg/m3)
F fin efficiency (dimensionless) s StefaneBoltzmann constant (W/(m2 K4))
F’ collector efficiency factor (dimensionless) s time (s)
h Specific enthalpy (J/kg)/heat transfer coefficient (W/
(m2 K)) Subscripts
IT solar radiation intensity (W/m2) a ambient air
l length (m) c condenser
M mass (kg) cal calculated
m mass flow rate (kg/s) cl collector/evaporator
n compressor speed (rpm)/amount of infinitesimal cm compressor
sections (dimensionless) fi final
P pressure (Pa) i inlet
DP pressure difference (Pa) id indicated
Q thermal heat gain (W) in initial
q0 difference between the emissive power from a black j jth infinitesimal section
body and from the sky (W/m2) l liquid
S difference between the solar radiation absorbed and m mechanical
the total radiation heat loss (W/m2) mo motor
T absolute temperature (K) o outlet
t Celsius temperature ( C) p collector plate/pipe
Dt superheat degree ( C) r refrigerant
UL overall heat loss coefficient (W/(m2 K)) r1 refrigerant at the inlet
u speed (m/s) r2 refrigerant at the outlet
V volume (m3) rm average
Vd displacement volume rate (m3/rev) set set
v specific volume (m3/kg) sp single-phase
W pitch of the tube (m)/compressor work (W) t water tank
Xtt correction factor (dimensionless) th thermostatic expansion valve
x dryness (dimensionless) tp two-phase
v volumetric/vapor
Greek symbols w wind/water
a absorptivity (dimensionless) 1, 2, 3, 4 state
g void fraction (dimensionless)

Kuang and Wang presented the long-term performance of the
DX-SAHP system with a bare flat-plate collector array and a vari-
able speed compressor, which could offer space heating, air
conditioning and hot water. The performance under different
operation modes was analyzed in detail [8]. Li et al. built the
experimental set-up of the DX-SAHPWH system. The seasonal
average value of the COP and the collector efficiency was measured
as 5.25 and 1.08. What’s more, some methods were suggested to
improve the thermal performance of each component and the
whole system [9e12]. Ji et al. described a novel photovoltaic/
thermal SAHP with a specially designed direct-expansion evapo-
rator. A dynamic model based on the distributed parameter
approach was presented and the model could give satisfactory
predictions [13].
In this paper, a DX-SAHPWH system is designed for domestic
use, which can supply hot water during the whole year. A dynamic
model of the system is also presented, including the distributed
parameter models of solar collector/evaporator and condenser, the
lumped parameter models of compressor and thermostatic
expansion valve, and the model of refrigerant charge. It can esti-
mate the thermal performance of the DX-SAHPWH system and
analysis the effect of various parameters that influence system
performance. The potentiality and feasibility to improve the
performance of the DX-SAHPWH system are obtained. It should be
noted that refrigerant R-22 is used in the system, but the analysis of
the paper can be applied in the same way to the system using other
environment-friendly refrigerants.
2. System description
Fig. 1 shows the schematic diagram of the DX-SAHPWH system.
It mainly consists of a cost-effective bare flat-plate solar collector/
evaporator, an electrical rotary-type hermetic compressor, a hot
water tank with an immersed condensing coil and a thermostatic
expansion valve. The refrigerant R-22 enters the tubes of the solar
collector/evaporator at a given pressure, quality and temperature
(state 4), where it is vaporized by the absorbed solar energy (and/or
ambient air) heating. The refrigerant exits the collector/evaporator
as saturated or superheated vapor (state 1), and then passes
through the compressor. The higher pressure and temperature
vapor (state 2) enters the condenser and transfers heat to water in
the hot water tank. The condensed liquid refrigerant (state 3) is
next throttled to the evaporating pressure by the thermostatic
expansion valve, and enters directly the solar collector/evaporator
(state 4). The hot water from the tank can be utilized for either
domestic hot water or space heating.
6832 X.Q. Kong et al. / Energy 36 (2011) 6830e6838

absorber plates in parallel, which are made by a special process, in

2 which the piping network design is laid between two sheets of
1
aluminum plates and retained after the sheets are boned by rolling
n
io

Condenser
iat

them together, and then are formed by over-pressurizing the

ad

network so that the serpentine fluid circuit forms with the fin. The
R

r
lar

to
ra

inner diameter (ID) of the tube is 8.6 mm with the total length of
So

po

14.9 m, and the thickness of the sheet is 4 mm.

va
r/e

Compressor In general, the refrigerant in the collector/evaporator passes

cto
lle

through two-phase region and superheat region in turn. Along the

Co

Water Tank
4 3
Thermostatic
Expansion valve
Fig. 1. Schematic diagram of the DX-SAHPWH system.
In order to develop and verify the mathematical model of the
DX-SAHPWH system, the apparatus used in this study is the same
as the one used by Li et al. [9e12], which is listed in Table 1.
3. Development of the model
A simulation model is developed to predict the thermal
performance of the DX-SAHPWH system, based on the following
assumptions:
(1). The DX-SAHPWH system is at quasi-steady-state within the
chosen time interval.
(2). Pressure drop is negligible in collector/evaporator, condenser
as well as in piping.
(3). Compression of the refrigerant vapor is assumed to follow
a polytropic process.
(4). Expansion of refrigerant liquid is considered to be isenthalpic.
(5). Hot water tank is assumed to be nonstratified.
The total model consists of four partial models of collector/
evaporator, compressor, condenser and thermostatic expansion
valve. The distributed parameter models of collector/evaporator
and condenser are built, while the other two uses the pumped
parameter models. With the equalization of energy, refrigerant
charge and mass flow rate, the models of the above four main
components can be connected and solved.
3.1. Bare flat-plate solar collector/evaporator
flow direction, the collector tube can be divided into many infini-
tesimal sections with equal enthalpy difference, as shown in Fig. 2.
tr1 and tr2 are the temperatures of the refrigerant at the inlet and
outlet, hr1 and hr2 are the inlet and outlet enthalpy of the refrig-
erant, and l is the tube length of the section. Based on the above
description, a homogeneous model of one dimension for the
refrigerant flow in the collector/evaporator is presented.
The useful energy gain of the bare flat-plate collector Qcl,
operating at steady-state conditions can be evaluated as follows
[19e21]
Qcl ¼ Acl F 0 ðS  UL ðtrm  ta ÞÞ (1)
where Acl is the area of the solar collector, F0
is the collector effi-
ciency factor, S is the difference between the solar radiation
absorbed by the collector per unit area and the total radiation heat
loss from the collector surface, UL is the overall heat loss coefficient
from the collector to the ambient air, trm is the refrigerant average
temperature of collector/evaporator unit, and ta is the ambient air
temperature.
Assuming that the thermal resistance of the bond between the
collector plate and tube can be neglected, F0 is given by
F 0 ¼ F þ ð1  FÞðD=WÞ (2)
where F is the fin efficiency, D is the external diameter of the tube,
and W is the pitch of the tube. Following analysis given in Hottel-
Whilliar-Bliss model for flat-plate collector [22], the fin efficiency
F can be evaluated using the following correlation

qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi 
tanh UL =lp dp ðW  DÞ=2
F ¼ qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi (3)
UL =lp dp ðW  DÞ=2
where lp, dp are the thermal conductivity and thickness of the
collector plate, respectively.
In Eq. (1), the symbol S is given as follows
S ¼ aIT  εq0 (4)

The DX-SAHPWH prototype uses a bare flat-plate collector/ Solar (and/or ambient) energy
evaporator with total area 4.20 m2. It consists of four aluminum ta

Table 1 tp
Specification of the main components of the DX-SAHPWH system [9e12].

Name Type Remarks

Compressor Rotary-type and Rated input power: 0.75 kW,
hermetic displacement volume: 13.40 cm3/rev tr2, hr2 tr1, hr1
Domestic Pressure resistance 150L water, immersed 60m
water tank and heat insulation serpentine copper tube
(F9.90  0.75 mm) as condenser
Solar collector/ Aluminum plate, 4 plates in parallel 2 flow paths,
evaporator bare total collector/evaporator area: 4.20 m2
Thermostatic TEX-2 type, External balance type
expansion manufactured
valve by Danfoss,
l
Denmark
Fig. 2. Details of the infinitesimal section of the collector tube.
 X.Q. Kong et al. / Energy 36 (2011) 6830e6838 6833

where IT is the total solar radiation intensity on the collector plate, is the total mass of the water in domestic water tank, Cpw is the
a is the absorptivity of the collector plate, ε is the emissivity, and q0 specific heat of the water, tw is the temperature of the water, s is the
is the difference between the emissive power per unit area from time, and h2, h3 are the specific enthalpies of the refrigerant at the
a black body at the ambient air temperature and the emissive inlet and outlet of the condenser, respectively. UL,t is total heat loss
power from the sky. coefficient of water tank, and At is total heat transfer area of water
Also in Eq. (1), the symbol UL is mainly due to the convection and tank walls.
radiation heat transfer from the top surface of the collector to the
surroundings, shown as follows
3.4. Thermostatic expansion valve
UL ¼ hw þ 4εsTa3 (5)
The thermostatic expansion valve is modeled as an orifice
where s is the StefaneBoltzmann constant, and hw is the wind heat
through which the liquid is expanded from condensing to evapo-
transfer coefficient, given by
rating pressures. The mass flow rate through it can be correlated
according to the following equation
hw ¼ 5:7 þ 3:8uw (6)
qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
where uw is the wind speed. mr ¼ Cv A0 2ri;l DP (12)
The energy gain in the solar collector/evaporator Qcl can also be
expressed in terms of the enthalpy change of the refrigerant from the where DP is the pressure variation across the valve orifice, ri,l is the
inlet to outlet of the collector/evaporator, assuming no heat loss, density of the refrigerant (liquid) at the inlet of the valve, and A0 is
the minimum flow area across the orifice. The flow coefficient, Cv,
Qcl ¼ mr ðh1  h4 Þ (7) depends upon the degree of opening of the valve. The maximum
where mr is the mass flow rate of the refrigerant. value of Cv is reached when the valve is fully open. Cv is evaluated
through the empirical equation by D.D. Wile [23]
3.2. Compressor pffiffiffiffiffiffi
Cv ¼ 0:02005 ri;l þ 0:634vo (13)
For a constant compressor speed operation, the mass flow rate where vo is the specific volume of the refrigerant at the outlet of the
of the refrigerant pumped and circulated by the compressor is valve.
given as For an isenthalpic process in the expansion device, the following
equation is obtained.
nhv Vd
mr ¼ (8)
60vi h3 ¼ h4 (14)
where n is the compressor speed, hv is the volumetric efficiency, Vd where h3 and h4 are the specific enthalpies of the refrigerant at the
is the displacement volume of the compressor, and vi is the specific inlet and outlet of the valve.
volume of the refrigerant at the inlet of the compressor.
As mentioned earlier, since the compression of the refrigerant
vapor is assumed to be a polytropic process, the electrical power 3.5. Refrigerant charge
consumption of the compressor Wcm can be given as follows
The refrigerant charge is one of the important iterative crite-
0 1
 k1 rions for the model convergence of the DX-SAHPWH system [24].
P1 vi k @ P2 k
Wcm ¼ mr 1A (9) The state of the refrigerant in the system can be divided into two
hcm k  1 P1
types, single-phase and two-phase, which should be calculated
respectively.
where P1 and P2 are the inlet pressure and discharge pressure of the
The single-phase refrigerant mainly exists in the superheated
compressor, k is the polytropic index of the refrigerant vapor. hcm is
area in the collector/evaporator, the sub-cooled area in the
the total efficiency of the compressor, which is calculated by
condenser, superheated area in the condenser, the compressor and
hcm ¼ hid hm hmo (10) connection pipes. Calculation of the refrigerant mass in single-
phase area is easier, which can be expressed as follows
where hid is the indicated efficiency, hm is the mechanical efficiency
and hmo is the motor efficiency. ZV n

X 
Msp ¼ rsp dV ¼ rsp;j Vj (15)
3.3. Condenser/hot water storage tank j¼1
0

The condenser is made up of a serpentine copper tube (8.4 mm where Msp is the mass of the single-phase refrigerant, rsp is the
ID) with length 60 m, which is immersed in the domestic hot water density of the single-phase refrigerant, V is the volume of the
tank. Similar to the collector/evaporator, the copper tube in the refrigerant, and n is the amount of infinitesimal sections.
condenser can also be divided into many infinitesimal sections with The two-phase refrigerant mostly exists in the collector/evapo-
equal enthalpy difference. rator and the condenser. Based on the void fraction g [25], the
Assuming that the hot water storage tank is nonstratified, an refrigerant mass in two-phase area can be calculated precisely as Mtp
energy balance with the immersed condenser yields
ZV n

X
 
dtw Mtp ¼ ðgrv þ ð1  gÞrl ÞdV ¼ gj rv;j þ 1  gj rl;j Vj (16)
Qw ¼ Mw Cpw ¼ mr ðh2  h3 Þ  UL;t At ðtw  ta Þ (11)
ds 0
j¼ 1

where Qw is the heat gain at the condenser, which is also the heat where rv and rl are the densities of saturated vapor and liquid of the
transfer rate released to the hot water in tank by the condenser. Mw refrigerant, respectively.
6834 X.Q. Kong et al. / Energy 36 (2011) 6830e6838

The void fraction g is determined by the Xtt-correlated model where Xtt is the correction factor, x is the dryness of the refrigerant,
[24,26] and mv and ml are the dynamic viscosities of saturated vapor and
liquid of the refrigerant, respectively.
 0:9  0:2 0:5
1x ml rv The whole refrigerant charge Mr of the system is the sum of the
Xtt ¼ (17)
x mv rl mass in single-phase and two-phase areas, which can be written as
8 follows
<
0:375
g ¼ 1 þ Xtt0:8 ðXtt  10Þ (18)
: g ¼ 0:823  0:157lnX
tt ðXtt >10Þ Mr ¼ Mcm þ Msp;cl þ Msp;c þ Msp;p þ Mtp;cl þ Mtp;c þ Mtp;p (19)

Fig. 3. Flow chart of the simulation program.

 X.Q. Kong et al. / Energy 36 (2011) 6830e6838 6835

Table 2
Comparison of experiments and simulation.

Date IT ta tw,in tw,fi s (min) Qw (kWh) Wcm (kWh) COP hcl (%)
(mm/dd/yy) (W/m2) ( C) ( C) ( C)

exp sim exp sim exp sim exp sim exp sim exp sim
2005-4-4 955 20.6 13.4 50.5 50.1 94 98 6.48 6.38 0.98 1.04 6.61 6.12 91 90.1
2005-4-5 858 22.1 14.3 50.6 50.2 96 101 6.36 6.24 1.00 1.07 6.36 5.85 97 94.8
2005-4-15 663 25.1 17.4 49.3 49.8 98 104 5.58 5.69 1.06 1.09 5.26 5.23 105 107.6
2005-4-16 758 24.2 17.6 48.4 48.1 92 90 5.38 5.31 0.98 0.94 5.49 5.63 95 101.9
2005-4-18 846 28.9 19.6 48.1 48.3 76 74 4.99 4.99 0.82 0.82 6.09 6.07 97 105.5
2005-4-20 812 25.7 20.3 50.4 50.0 90 83 5.26 5.18 1.00 0.93 5.26 5.56 88 92.1
2005-4-22 812 24.4 20.5 50.5 50.0 90 84 5.26 5.14 1.01 0.93 5.21 5.51 88 98.8

where Mcm is the refrigerant mass in the compressor. Msp,cl, Msp,c, experiments were done in April 2005 under the meteorological
and Msp,p are the refrigerant mass in single-phase area of the conditions at Shanghai in China.
collector/evaporator, the condenser and connection pipes. Mtp,cl, The experimental and simulated results are listed in Table 2,
Mtp,c, and Mtp,p are the refrigerant mass in two-phase area of the where tw,in and tw,fi are the initial and final water temperature in
collector/evaporator, the condenser and connection pipes, the water tank. The symbols of “exp” and “sim” represent experi-
respectively. mental and simulated values, respectively. It shows that, experi-
mental results for the heat time s, the heat gain at the condenser
3.6. Collector efficiency and COP Qw, the electrical power consumption of the compressor Wcm and
the COP of the system, are seen to be very close to the simulation
The collector efficiency hcl is defined as results with average deviations in the range of 1%. It also shows that
the average collector efficiency hcl prediction is acceptable, with the
Qcl average deviation of 4.6%.
hcl ¼ (20) A set of experimental data under typical climate conditions
Acl IT
(sunny day on April 4, 2005, and partly-cloudy day on April 22,
The COP of the DX-SAHPWH system is defined as 2005) are selected to plot for reflecting the time-dependent
performance of the DX-SAHPWH system, which are shown in
Qw Figs. 4 and 5, respectively.
COP ¼ (21)
Wcm On April 4, 2005, it took 94 min for heating 150 L water from
about 13.4 to 50.5  C with average ambient temperature 20.6  C,
average solar radiation intensity 955 W/m2 and wind speed 3.1 m/s
during the experimental period, respectively. From data shown in
3.7. Numerical procedure
Fig. 4, it can be concluded that the simulated values of the water
temperature tw are very close to the experimental ones. Compared
Based on the above-detailed analysis of each components of the
to the experimental results, the simulated values of the COP have
proposed DX-SAHPWH system, a Visual Cþþ program was written
the same trend with the average relative error of 7.41%. Further-
and developed to estimate thermal performance of the said system.
more, with the increase of the heat time, the relative error of the
The input data are the structure parameters, meteorological
COP becomes smaller. Fig. 4 also shows that the simulated and
parameters, time step and final water temperature in the hot water
experimental values of the heat time s are 98 and 94 min, with the
storage tank. The thermodynamic properties of the chosen refrig-
relative error of 4.26%.
erant R-22 are available in the form of computer subroutines by A.C.
On April 22, 2005, it took 90 min for heating 150 L water from
Cleland [27].
about 20.5 to 50.5  C with average ambient temperature 24.4  C,
The flow chart of the simulation program is shown in Fig. 3,
where mth and mcm are the mass flow rate of the refrigerant
through the thermostatic expansion valve and the compressor. Dt0
and Dt are the calculated and assumed values of the superheat
degree at the outlet of the collector/evaporator. Mr,cal and Mr,set are
the calculated and set values of refrigerant charge of the system.
tw,cal and tw,set are the calculated and set values of the final water
temperature in the hot water storage tank. The program evaluates
the performance characteristics of various components of the
system and the heat load of the system. Also, the state point data,
such as pressure, specific enthalpy, specific entropy, specific
volume and the mass flow rate, are computed by the program. The
influences of the operating parameters on the system performance
are discussed in the next section.

4. Discussion of results

4.1. Experimental verification of simulation

Experiments were carried out for the above-mentioned DX- Fig. 4. Comparison of predicted and measured instantaneous values of system COP
SAHPWH system by Li et al. [9e12]. A series of seasonal sunny day and water temperature for April 4, 2005.
6836 X.Q. Kong et al. / Energy 36 (2011) 6830e6838

Table 3
Main parameters used in the performance prediction of the DX-SAHPWH system.

Compressor speed (n) 2830 rpm

Displacement volume of compressor (Vd) 13.4 cm3/rev
Volumetric efficiency (hv) 0.91
Polytropic index of R-22 (k) 1.18
Collector area (Acl) 4.2 m2
Thermal conductivity of collector plate (lp) 236 W/(m K)
Thickness of collector plate (dp) 4 mm
External diameter of the tube in collector plate (D) 9.4 mm
Pitch of the tube in collector plate (W) 40 mm
Absorptivity of collector plate (a) 0.9
Emissivity of collector plate (ε) 0.1
Difference of emissive power per unit area (q0) 77.24 W/m2
Total efficiency of the compressor (hcm) 0.75
Water volume of hot water tank (Vw) 150 L
Polyurethane insulation thickness of hot water tank (dt) 38 mm
Initial water temperature in the water tank (tw,in) 20.5  C
Final water temperature in the water tank (tw,fi) 50  C
Fig. 5. Comparison of predicted and measured instantaneous values of system COP, Refrigerant charge (Mr) 1.68 kg
collector efficiency and water temperature for April 22, 2005. Solar radiation (IT) 750 W/m2
Ambient air temperature (ta) 25.7  C
Wind speed (uw) 3.1 m/s
Pipe length between compressor and condenser 1.5 m (9.15 mm ID)
average solar radiation intensity 812 W/m2 and wind speed 3.1 m/s Pipe length between condenser and thermostatic 1.5 m (7 mm ID)
expansion valve
during the experimental period, as shown in Fig. 5. It shows that the
Pipe length between thermostatic expansion 2.5 m (9 mm ID)
simulated values of the COP are very close to the experimental ones. valve and collector
The collector efficiencies hcl obtained experimentally are a little bit Pipe length between collector and compressor 2.5 m (9.4 mm ID)
less than the simulated values, but they have the same trend. For Time step size 60 s
the water temperature tw, the experimental values are slightly
higher than the simulated ones. This is due to the fact that the
experimental values of tw are transient measured ones. As to 4.2.1. Effect of solar radiation, ambient temperature and wind speed
experimental operation, once the measured values of tw researched As solar radiation, ambient temperature and wind speed vary
55  C, the compressor was switched off and the circulating water over a wide range in a year, it would be interesting and informative
pump was switched on to mix the stratified hot water in tank. to study their effect on the system performance, as shown in
According to experimental results, the actual equilibrium water Figs. 6e8. In Fig. 6, it is clearly seen that the COP increases and the
temperature tw was about 4.8  C lower than the measured one collector efficiency hcl decreases with the increase of solar radiation
[9e12]. intensity IT, which has a good agreement with experimental results
[9e12]. This is mainly because of two reasons: (1) The increase of IT
enables to attain a higher evaporating temperature of the refrig-
4.2. Effects of various parameters on the thermal performance of erant, consequently resulting in a higher system COP; (2) For
the DX-SAHPWH system a given ambient air temperature ta, the higher IT enables the
temperature of the collector plate tp to increase, which results in
The overall thermal performance of the DX-SAHPWH system is the change of temperature difference between tp and ta. When tp is
strongly influenced by such operational parameters as solar radi- lower than ta, the collector/evaporator could obtain useful energy
ation, ambient temperature, compressor speed etc., which are gain from the surroundings, which is proven that hcl can exceed 1.0
studied subsequently. The various input parameters used in the with lower IT. The higher tp enables temperature difference
simulation program are listed in Table 3. between tp and ta to decrease, even that tp is higher than ta, and

Fig. 6. Effect of solar radiation intensity on the system performance. Fig. 7. Effect of ambient air temperature on the system performance.
 X.Q. Kong et al. / Energy 36 (2011) 6830e6838
Fig. 8. Effect of wind speed on the system performance.
hence, hcl decreases due to the change of heat transfer between the
collector plate and ambient air.
Fig. 7 shows that the system performance improves with
increasing ambient air temperature ta. It can be contributed to the
fact that, the rising ta lowers the heat loss from the collector and
raises the fluid temperature in the collector, which results in higher
COP as well as hcl.
The effect of wind speed uw on the system performance depends
on the relation between tp and ta. The increase in uw enhances heat
transfer between the collector/evaporator and surroundings. When
tp is lower than ta, the rising uw enables the collector to obtain more
useful energy gain from the surroundings, and consequently
increasing the COP and hcl, as shown in Fig. 8. It should also be
noted that the variation of uw does not greatly influence the system
performance in comparison with IT and ta.
4.2.2. Effect of compressor speed
Fig. 9 shows the effect of compressor speed n on the system
performance. As expected, with the rising n, the COP decreases
rapidly as a result of the compressor work increment. It in turn is
related to the raise in the discharge temperature associated to the
increment in the compression irreversibility with speed. However,
this phenomenon is not so with collector efficiency hcl, which
diminishes with the rising n. This is because the higher n enables
the mass flow rate of the refrigerant mr to increase, which in turn
Fig. 9. Effect of compressor speed on the system performance.
6837
drops tp, thereby resulting in the higher hcl. This mismatch between
the COP and hcl implies that, there exists an optimum n to enable
the DX-SAHPWH system to obtain a reasonable compromise
between the COP and hcl.
5. Conclusions
A modeling and system simulation of the designed DX-SAHPWH
for thermal performance analysis is carried out in the present
study. The simulation program is based upon dynamic mathemat-
ical models, including the models of the components and the model
of refrigerant charge. Based on the DX-SAHPWH prototype devel-
oped by Institute of Refrigeration and Cryogenics of Shanghai Jiao
Tong University in China, good agreements between the simulation
results for instantaneous performance and experimental data are
obtained. The heat gain at the condenser, the electrical power
consumption of the compressor and system COP agree very well
with average deviations in the range of 1%, and the average devi-
ation is just 4.6% for collector efficiency.
According to the simulations, the high thermal performance of
the DX-SAHPWH system can be achieved, which is affected
significantly by the variation of solar radiation, ambient tempera-
ture and compressor speed. Compared with them, the wind speed
has not a great influence on the system performance. The system
simulation technique presented in this paper are expected to
contribute to further studies and applications of DX-SAHPWH
systems in the future.
Acknowledgments
This work was supported by the Shandong Province Higher
Educational Science and Technology Program under the contract
No. J11LD63, the Shandong Province Science and Technology
Development Planning Project under the contract No.
2009GG20007011, and the Special-purpose Construction Project
Foundation for “Taishan Scholar” of Shandong Province.
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