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How it works

Operating principle
 A low temperature waste heat flow
can be upgraded to useful high temperature heat with the use of a heat pump. Among the different
types of heat pumps that have been developed, the mechanical heat pump is the most widely used.
Its operating principle is based on compression and expansion of a working fluid, or so called
'refrigerant'. A heat pump has four main components: evaporator, compressor, condenser and
expansion device. The refrigerant is the working fluid that passes through all these components. In
the evaporator heat is extracted from a waste heat source. In the condenser this heat is delivered to
the consumer at a higher temperature level. Electric energy is required to drive the compressor and
this energy is added to the heat that is available in the condenser. The efficiency of the heat pump is
denoted by its COP (coefficient of performance), defined as the ratio of total heat delivered by the
heat pump to the amount of electricity needed to drive the heat pump.

The thermodynamic cycle

The operating principle of a

heat pump is based on the physical property that the boiling point of a fluid increases with pressure.
By lowering pressure, a medium can be evaporated at low temperatures while an increase of
pressure will lead to a high boiling point. The graph at the left side shows this principle. The black
line shows the relation between pressure and boiling point of, in this case, Ammonia. At low
pressure and temperature Ammonia is evaporated in the evaporator. The energy needed for this is
provided by a waste-heat flow. The compressor increases the pressure of the Ammonia vapour. The
vapour is then condensed at high pressure and temperature inside the condenser. During the
condensation of Ammonia, heat is released: a useful source of energy. The liquid Ammonia is
transported to the expansion device that lowers pressure. The low temperature, low pressure
Ammonia flows to the evaporator: the starting point of yet another cycle. Read more
Refrigerants
The figure above shows the heat pump cycle for the refrigerant Ammonia. For large scale industrial
applications, Ammonia is the most suitable refrigerant for heat pumps that deliver heat up to a
temperature of 90 °C. Ammonia is considered to be one of the most efficient refrigerants. However
its use comes with certain safety measures. Therefore Ammonia is mainly used for large industrial
installations. The choice of refrigerant for a certain application is determined by the temperature
range of its thermodynamic cycle and the size of the installation needed. Refrigerants can be divided
into two groups: natural refrigerants (Butane, Ammonia, CO2) and synthetic refrigerants (R134A,
R407C, R410A). For commercial applications synthetic refrigerants are favoured over natural ones.
A disadvantage of synthetic refrigerants is their strong contribution to the greenhouse effect in case
of leakage. The negative impact of synthetic refrigerants is, for example, 1300-2100 times higher
compared to CO2. Read more
Different types of heat pumps
 The mechanical heat pump is the heat pump that is
most conventionally applied in the industry. However, several other types of heat pumps are
available.

Mechanical heat pump: The mechanical heat pump is the most commonly used and commercially
feasible heat pump. It's principle of operation: The pressure of a refrigerant is increased with a
compressor causing a rise in boiling temperature. There are two varieties of mechanical heat pumps:
a system with direct expansion (DX system) and a system in which a vessel is used to separate
gaseous and fluid refrigerant. Read more

Gas engine heat pump: The gas engine heat pump consists of a mechanical heat pump and a gas
engine. Different to a conventional heat pump, where the compressor is driven with an electric
motor, the compressor of a gas engine heat pump is driven by a gas engine. The heat from the
motor cooling and flue gases of the gas engine can be utilized. Therefore the heat pump capacity
can be lower.

Absorption heat pump: The principle of operation of an absorption heat pump is based on
evaporation of a refrigerant and its absorption into an absorbing medium. Well known combinations
of refrigerant and absorbing medium are Lithium-Bromide and Water and Ammonia and Water.
Driving force in this type of heat pump is thermal energy. Absorption heat pumps can be very useful
when both heating and cooling are necessary. Read more

Adsorption heat pump: Although based on the same principles as the absorption heat pump, the
adsorption heat pump uses a solid instead of a fluid as absorption medium. Read more

Transcritical CO2 heat pump: Above 31°C CO2 falls in the trans-critical range; meaning that no
distinction can be made between fluid or gaseous phase. Due to this phenomenon, heat can be
released at a range of temperatures instead of a fixed temperature. Read more

Hybrid heat pump: A hybrid heat pump is the combination of a mechanical and an absorption heat
pump. The principle of operation is based on the fact that absorption of Ammonia in Water takes
place at much higher temperatures as compared to condensation of Ammonia at constant pressure.
Read more

Thermoacoustic heat pump:

A thermo-acoustic heat pump uses the physical principal that temperature differences can generate
sound waves. Or, the other way around: a sound wave can generate a temperature difference. Low
temperature waste heat is used to generate a sound wave. This wave is used to create a
temperature difference in another valuable high temperature medium. Thermo-acoustic systems are
not yet commercially available.

Read more
 →   COP heat pump
 →   Refrigerants
 →   Thermodynamic cycle
 →   Mechanical heat pump
 →   Absorption heat pump
 →   Adsorption heat pump
 →   Transcritical CO2 heat pump
 →   Hybrid heat pump

An initiative of De Kleijn Energy Consultants & Engineers

De Kleijn Energy Consultants & Engineers provides consulting and engineering projects in the areas
of energy, climate and refrigeration technology.
Contact information

Email: info@energyconsulting.nl
Telephone: +31 (0)487 - 585810