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Procedia Engineering 00 (2017) 000–000

ScienceDirect www.elsevier.com/locate/procedia

Procedia Engineering 205 (2017) 4074–4081

10th International Symposium on Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning, ISHVAC2017, 19-
22 October 2017, Jinan, China

Heating and Cooling Performances of River-Water Source Heat

Pump System for Energy Station in Shanghai
Zhaohui Liua,b, Hongwei Tan a,b,c, *, Zhenyu Lia,b
School of Mechanical Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai 201804, China
a

Research Center of Green Building and New Energy, Tongji University, Shanghai 200092, China
b

c
UNEP-Tongji Institute of Environment for Sustainable Development, Tongji University, Shanghai 200092, China

Abstract

River water source heat pump (RWSHP) systems are considered to be one of the most promising technologies for energy saving
and sustainable development. In order to evaluate the actual operation effect of RWSHP systems in hot summer and cold winter
area in China, the heating and cooling performance of a RWSHP system for an energy station in shanghai is presented in this
paper. The monitoring data was acquired from the building energy management system (BEMS). The variation characteristics of
river water temperature were analyzed. It was found that there was a remarkable linear relationship between the temperature of
river-water and ambient air temperature and the obtained correlation can be used to calculate the river-water temperatures
throughout the year. Meanwhile, the power consumption of heat pump units, the power consumption of various water circulating
pumps and distribution energy consumption were analyzed. Results indicated that in winter heating mode, the average COP of
heat pump units and RWSHP system were about 7.4 and 5.2, respectively. In summer cooling mode, the average COP of heat
pump units and RWSHP system were about 6.5 and 2.6, respectively. The results can provide references for other practical
project applications in this field.
© 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.
© 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.
Peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the 10th International Symposium on Heating, Ventilation and Air
Peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the 10th International Symposium on Heating, Ventilation and
Conditioning.
Air Conditioning.
Keywords: River-water source heat pump; Heat exchanger; Coefficient of performance; Transmission power ratio

* Corresponding author. Tel.: +86-021-65980778; fax: +86-021-65981002.

E-mail address: hw_tan@tongji.edu.cn

1877-7058 © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the 10th International Symposium on Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning.

1877-7058 © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the 10th International Symposium on Heating, Ventilation and
Air Conditioning.
10.1016/j.proeng.2017.09.898
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2 Zhaohui Liu et al. / Procedia Engineering 00 (2017) 000–000

1. Introduction

Renewable energy sources play an essential role in the reduction of fossil fuel consumption and related carbon
emission. River water source heat pump (RWSHP) systems are considered to be one of the most promising
technologies for energy saving and sustainable development. In order to extend the application of RWSHP, many
scholars have conducted a great deal of works in this field. Kavanaugh [1] studied the open-loop water source heat
pump systems and proposed some important design considerations. Russo et al. [2] proposed the methodology of the
opportunity analysis of the utilization of open-loop groundwater heat pumps to provide cold source for large
university buildings in Italy. Zou et al. [3] proposed the calculation models of inlet water temperature on lake water
side. Si et al. [4] presented a calculation model of a water temperature of condenser inlet for the RWSHP, which can
be utilized to calculate energy consumption accurately. Büyükalaca et al. [5] studied the possibility of using Seyhan
River as heat source-sink and results showed that the use of Seyhan River instead of ambient air could be
advantageous during the whole heating and cooling seasons. Wang et al. [6] proposed the optimal design methods of
water-intake to enhance the energy efficiency of open-loop surface water source heat pump systems. Schibuola et al.
[7] experimentally analyzed the performances of a surface water source heat pump system of historical centre of
Venice. Results showed that the surface water heat pump was more perfect than other heat sources.
The aim of the present work is to evaluate the actual heating and cooling performance of a large RWSHP system.
The monitoring data was acquired from the building energy management system (BEMS). The variation
characteristics of river-water temperature and ambient air temperature were analyzed. Meanwhile, the power
consumption of heat pump units, the power consumption of various water circulating pumps and distribution energy
consumption were analyzed.

2. General description of the HVAC plants

A large-scale commercial complex, located by the Huangpu River, whose architectural features include office,
business, conference, hotel, etc., has a building area of 520000 square meters. In order to provide cold and heat to
the building (air conditioning chilled water and hot water), a large-scale river water source heat pump system energy
station was established, which is entirely based on river water for low-grade heat sources. Fig. 1 shows the
schematic diagram for the RWSHP systems. The cold and heat source equipments of system for summer and winter
are set up independently. Chillers (screw unit and two-conditions centrifuge unit) are applied in summer and heat
pumps are applied in winter. The specifications and characteristics of cold and heat source equipment of the energy
station are given in Table 1.

Table 1. The specification of the cold and heat source equipment

Equipment Technical information
Screw Heat pump Manufacturer: Carrier; Model: 30XW170Z-HP1;
Heating capacity: 1950kW; Power Input: 386kW
COP: 5.05
Screw chiller Manufacturer: Carrier; Model: 30XW1402;
Cooling capacity:1448.2kW; Power Input: 255.9kW COP:5.66
two-conditions centrifugal chiller Manufacturer: York; Model: YKQVQSK35DHG;
Cooling capacity(water):6330KW;
Cooling capacity(ice):3752kW;
Manufacturer: York; Model: YKKCKRH95CWG;
Cooling capacity(water):3165kW;
Cooling capacity(ice):2107kW;
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Fig. 1. Schematic diagram of RWSHP system

In summer, the river water is transported to the heat exchanger through the backwashing devices, and the heated
river-water is discharged into the river from the condenser after cooling the water. In order to prevent water from
freezing on the evaporation side of two-conditions refrigerating unit, the glycol solution with the concentration of 25%
is used as secondary refrigerant and cools the return chilled water from air conditioning terminal. The design
temperatures of supply water and return water on the evaporation side are 6 ℃ and 12℃, respectively.
In winter, the river water is transported to the heat exchanger through the backwashing device, and the cooled
river-water is discharged into the river from the evaporator after heating the glycol solution. Considering the history
data records of river-water temperatures of 2-3℃, the glycol solution of 25% is used as the medium between
evaporator of heat pump and heat exchanger to prevent freezing.

3. Results and discussion

3.1. Annual variation analysis of river-water temperature

River-water temperatures have an important effect on the performance of heat pump system. Fig. 2 indicates the
variations of river-water and corresponding ambient air temperature throughout the period from November 20, 2014
to October 13, 2015. It can be seen from Fig. 2 that the river-water and corresponding ambient air temperature have
high consistency during the variation. The lowest temperature (4.5℃) occurred in January, while the highest
temperature (32℃) occurred in August. Table 2 shows that the average monthly temperatures of the river-water
were lower than those of ambient air. However, the differences between the two were not obvious.
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Fig. 2. The variations of river-water temperature and ambient air temperature

Fig. 3. The relationship between river-water temperature and ambient air dry-bulb temperature

Table.2 Average monthly temperatures of the river-water and ambient air

Month 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
Temperatures of ambient air (ºC) 10.3 10.8 13.2 18.4 22.6 25.6 27.8 30.2 27.3 24.8 17.0 10.6
Temperatures of the river water (ºC) 7.8 8.2 11.4 17.0 22.0 24.7 26.6 29.5 26.4 23.2 15.6 9.3
The relationship between river-water temperature (Triver, ºC) and ambient air dry-bulb temperature (Ta, ºC)
throughout the year is shown in Fig. 3. There were significant linear relationships between river-water temperatures
and ambient air dry-bulb temperatures, which are shown in Eq. (1).

Triver=1.0349Ta-2.0888 (1)

Generally, the temperatures of ambient air can be obtained relative easily. So the correlation of Eq. (1) can be
used to calculate the river-water temperatures according to the temperatures of ambient air throughout the year, then
the results can offer the basis for other analysis.
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3.2. Heating performance analysis

At present, the air conditioning load ratio of the whole system is at a relatively low level because most of the
buildings are not put into operation and only part of the heat pump unit needs to be turned on. In order to understand
the actual operation performance of the river-water source heat pump system, part of the operating data of the
system under heating mode in winter and cooling mode in summer is selected for energy analysis.
In order to analyze the heating performance of the RWSHP system in winter, the operating data from the
specified time range from January 12, 2015 to January 16, 2015 is selected. Fig. 4 indicates the variations of
different types of temperature throughout the period from January 12, 2015 to January 16, 2015.The average
temperature of river-water maintained at 8℃; The discharge water temperature was above 5℃; The difference
between water intake temperature and discharge water temperature was about 2℃. During the system operating time,
the temperature of supply water of heat pump was about 42.2℃, while the temperature of return water was about
37.3℃. The design temperatures of supply water and return water were 45 ℃ and 40℃, respectively. The actual
temperature difference is close to the design temperature difference of 5 ℃. Fig. 5 shows the heating capacity of
heat pump units and the coefficient of performance (COP) of system. The heating capacity of heat pump units was
about 3515kW. In heating mode, the average COP of heat pump units was about 7.4, and the average COP of
RWSHP system was about 5.2.

Fig. 4. the variations of different types of temperature in heating mode

Fig. 5. the heating capacity of heat pump units and the coefficient of performance (COP) of system in heating mode
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Fig.6 demonstrates the power consumption of heat pump units and circulating pumps. It can be found out that the
power consumption of heat pumps was relatively stable, and the average power consumption was about 430.9 kW.
The transmission power ratio of the RWSHP system was about 30%.

Fig. 6. Power consumption of the RWSHP system in heating mode

3.3. Cooling performance analysis

The air conditioning cold source equipments include screw chillers for base-load and the two conditions
centrifugal units. Currently, the screw chillers for base-load can meet the building cooling load demand, because
only a part of the buildings has been put into use. Fig. 7 shows the variations of different types of temperatures
throughout the period from July 9, 2015 to July 15, 2015. The average temperature of river-water maintained at
24.6℃; The discharge water temperature was about 25.4 ℃; The difference between water intake temperature and
discharge water temperature was 0.8℃ about.

Fig. 7. The variations of different types of temperatures in cooling mode

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Fig. 8. Power consumption of the RWSHP system in cooling mode

During the system operating time, the temperature of supply water of heat pump was about 6.8 ℃, while the
temperature of return water was about 10.5℃ (Fig. 7). The design temperatures of supply water and return water
were 6℃ and 12℃, respectively. The actual temperature difference (3.7℃) was lower than the design temperature
difference of 6 ℃.
Fig. 8 demonstrates the power consumption of screw chillers and circulating pumps. It can be found that the
power consumption of screw chillers was relatively stable. The aver-age power consumption on weekdays was
about 338.3kW, and the average power consumption on the weekend was about 103.5kW. The power consumption
of river-water intake pumps was relatively high. From Fig. 7, the difference between water intake temperature and
discharge water temperature was only 0.8 ℃ about, which was far smaller than the de-sign temperature difference of
5℃. So, the relatively Large water flowrate water flow caused high energy consumption of river-water intake
pumps. The transmission power ratio of the RWSHP system was about 60%.

Fig. 9. the cooling capacity of screw chillers and the coefficient of performance (COP) of system in cooling mode

Fig.9 shows the cooling capacity of screw chillers and the coefficient of performance (COP) of system. The
average cooling capacity of screw chillers on weekdays was about 2186.6kW, and the average cooling capacity of
screw chillers on the weekend was about 733.2kW. The average COP of screw chillers was about 6.5, while the
average COP (not included the power consumption of river-water intake pump) of RWSHP system was about 4.6.
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The average COP (included the power consumption of river-water intake pump) of RWSHP system was about 2.6.
The COP of the latter was reduced by 43%. It can be speculated that relatively high power consumption was caused
by river-water intake pump. This can be con-firmed by Fig. 8.

4. Conclusions

In this study, the heating and cooling performance of RWSHP systems in an energy station were analyzed.
Through the data analysis of the variations of river-water temperature and corresponding ambient air temperature
throughout the whole year, it is found that there is a remarkable linear relationship between the two, and the
obtained correlation can be used to calculate the river-water temperatures throughout the year. In heating mode, the
average COP of heat pump units was about 7.4, while the average COP of RWSHP system was about 5.2. In cooling
mode, the average COP of screw chillers was about 6.5, while the average COP of RWSHP system was about 2.6.
In heating mode, the transmission power ratio of the total energy consumption for RWSHP system was about 30%.
In the cooling mode, the transmission power ratio of the total energy consumption for RWSHP system was about
60%. It is a relatively high value that was mainly attributed to the higher power consumption of river-water intake
pump. In future works, some optimization researches for enhancing the operation energy efficiency is need to be
done, especially the optimal control for the river-water intake pumps.

Acknowledgements

This research was funded by the project of Modeling and Optimization of Building Energy Consumption Based
on the Practical Data (the National Key Projects in the 13th Five-Year, project No. 2017YFC0704204).

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