International Journal of Refrigeration 116 (2020) 146–160

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

International Journal of Refrigeration

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ijrefrig

Review

Heat pumps and solar energy: A review with some insights in the
future
R. Lazzarin
Department of Management and Engineering, University of Padova, Stradella S. Nicola, 3, 36100 Vicenza, Italy

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

Article history: A large fraction of the energy demand is due to space heating. Direct solar heating might reduce the need
Received 9 January 2020 of fossil fuels. However the poor solar collector efficiency when outside temperature and solar radiation
Revised 27 March 2020
are low, as in the heating season, limit most of solar collectors application to domestic hot water heating.
Accepted 30 March 2020
Similarly air source heat pumps are penalized just when the heating demand is higher. Then a possible
Available online 15 April 2020
solar contribution to the outside air as a heat pump cold source was first analyzed, evaluating different
Keywords: integration modes of the two sources. Subsequently the coupling of a ground source and a solar section
Solar assisted heat pumps appeared a more favourable application, also because solar heat could recharge the ground in periods of
Absorption heat pumps low or no heating demand. At the same time the solar section might reduce the length of the expensive
Dual source boreholes. Solar assisted absorption heat pumps were successfully experimented. Recently studies were
Photovoltaic cogeneration devoted to a solar assistance of heat pumps by PV/T collectors, that offer both a fraction of the electricity
to drive the heat pump and a solar assistance to the heat pump cold source, be it the ground or the
outside air.
© 2020 Elsevier Ltd and IIR. All rights reserved.

Pompes à chaleur et énergie solaire : un bilan avec quelques perspectives d’avenir

Mots-clés: Pompes à chaleur assistées par l’énergie solaire; Pompes à chaleur à absorption; Double source; Cogénération photovoltaïque

1. Introduction As a result the most widespread solar thermal utilization all

Space heating and cooling of buildings are responsible for about
30–45% of the energy demand with different percentages from
country to country (Santamouris and Kolokotsa, 2013). The energy
demand for space heating is currently greater than the energy re-
quired for space cooling, particularly in temperate zone. Whereas
extensive applications of insulation are reducing the energy de-
mand for the new constructions, heating demand remains high in
the existing buildings even after a refurbishment. Therefore more
efficient heating systems are desirable such as condensing boilers
or heat pumps. Solar thermal technologies might reduce the con-
ventional energy demand from fossil fuels or electricity, but solar
collectors are strongly penalized in the cold seasons by the lower
solar energy availability and the lower outside temperatures.
E-mail addresses: renato.lazzarin@unipd.it, renato@gest.unipd.it
over the world is the heating of Domestic Hot Water (DHW), ex-
cept for hot countries where solar collectors provide swimming
pool heating. Fig. 1 reports the share of installations in 2017 in
the world and in different economic regions. Appreciable appli-
cations in solar combi systems (DHW and space heating) can be
found only in Europe.
Another promising utilization of solar collectors is in solar ther-
mal cooling. However even if the applications looks really suit-
able (plenty of solar energy just when the cooling demand is the
highest), the last recording of installations worldwide arrives at
only 1200 plants till 2014, most in Europe (Montagnino, 2017).
Solar thermal cooling is not only an expensive application, but
it usually requires a complex system. Moreover in temperate cli-
mate the utilization of a solar thermal cooling plant would be lim-
ited to few months, while the cold season utilization suffers the
above mentioned limitation of low outside temperature and solar
radiation.
Solar collectors on the market can be roughly classified in:

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijrefrig.2020.03.031
0140-7007/© 2020 Elsevier Ltd and IIR. All rights reserved.
 R. Lazzarin / International Journal of Refrigeration 116 (2020) 146–160 147

perature is not very low and the intensity of solar radiation is high
Nomenclature enough.
Specifically the efficiency for the above mentioned solar collec-
Acronym tors is described by a second order curve that can be experimen-
COP Coefficient of Performance tally built up. The efficiency is represented as a function of the so
CPC Compound Parabolic Concentrator called reduced temperature Tm ∗ that is the difference between the
DHW Domestic Hot Water average temperature of the fluid in the collector and the ambient
ETC Evacuated Tube Collector temperature divided by the solar radiation intensity Iβ (tm is the
FPC Flat Plat Collector arithmetic average between inlet and outlet temperature and ta is
GSHP Ground Source Heat Pump the ambient temperature):
GUE Gas Utilization Efficiency tm − ta T
PTC Parabolic Trough Collector Tm∗ = tm = tin + η = ηo − a1 Tm∗ − a2 Iβ (Tm∗ )2 (1)
Iβ 2
PV PhotoVoltaic
PVT PhotoVoltaic/Thermal η= solar collector efficiency;
PER Primary Energy Ratio Iβ = solar radiation intensity (Wm−2 );
SAHP Solar Assisted Heat Pump η0 =zero loss coefficient of the solar collector;
SAGHP Solar Assisted Ground Heat Pump a1 =first order heat loss coefficient of the collector efficiency
SSHP Solar Source Heat Pump curve (Wm−2 K−1 );
a2 =second order heat loss coefficient of the collector efficiency
Symbol curve (Wm−2 K−2 );
a1 First order collector heat loss coefficient, W m−2 K−1 tm = arithmetic average between inlet and outlet temperature
a2 Second order collector heat loss coefficient, (K);
W m−2 K−2 ta = ambient temperature (K).
Iβ Solar radiation intensity, W m−2 ETCs appeared on the market at the end of ’70. They are re-
ta Outside air temperature, °C alized, as the name suggests, by some parallel glass tubes. Inside
tm Average temperature in the solar collector between the tubes a good level of void eliminates practically all convec-
inlet and outlet, °C tive losses, when radiative losses are already lowered by selec-
Tm ∗ Reduced temperature, K m2 W−1 tive surfaces. The efficiency remains high even for high levels of
η Solar collector efficiency the reduced temperature Tm ∗ . The most recent realizations on the
ηo Zero loss collector efficiency market equip the tubes with Compound Parabolic Concentrators
(CPC) just behind the tubes so that solar radiation is recovered that
passes through the space between one tube and the another. Even
• Flat plate collectors (FPCs);
in the recent past ETCs were particularly expensive, but the situa-
• Evacuated tube collectors (ETCs);
tion is rapidly changing in front of the mass production in China.
• Parabolic trough collectors (PTCs).
In 2018 China produced about 36 million m2 of solar collectors, of
FPCs were the first produced collectors, easy to be manufac- which only 18% FPCs and the left part ETCs. In the same year FPCs
tured, usually single glazed, at the beginning sometimes even dou- were prevailing in all the other countries that totalized however
ble glazed. Actually they are provided of a selective surface on the about “only” 12 million m2 (REN 21, 2019).
plate (highly absorptive in the solar spectrum and highly reflective PTCs are concentrating collectors where a reflector focuses the
in the long wave infrared). Unglazed FPCs are also available mainly direct solar radiation parallel to the collector axis onto the re-
for swimming pool heating and DHW in hot countries or beach re- ceiver placed on the focal line. The collector is equipped with a
sorts. Selective surface FPCs operate at an acceptable efficiency for one-axis solar tracking system, usually with E-W tracking. The ef-
temperatures lower than 80–90 °C, provided that the outside tem- ficiency of these collectors diminishes slower than for ETCs with

Fig. 1. Distribution of solar thermal systems by application for the total installed water collector capacity by economic region in operation by the end of 2017 (Weiss and
Spörk-Dür, 2019).
148 R. Lazzarin / International Journal of Refrigeration 116 (2020) 146–160

Fig. 2. Indicative efficiency curves for the three considered solar collector typologies .

the reduced temperature, as the losses are strongly cut by the

small receiver tube surface. However, apart the complexity of the
tracking system, PTCs can exploit only the direct fraction of so-
lar radiation, with poor performance in cold months. Then in
the following neither PTCs nor another concentrating technol-
ogy on the market, based on Fresnel reflective optics will be
considered.
Once an outside temperature is given, for every working tem-
perature of solar collectors a critical radiation intensity can be
defined: useful solar energy can be collected only when the
intensity exceeds this value. It is a sort of a solar radiation
threshold.
Even for a temperature of 35 °C, the technical minimum tem-
perature for a low temperature heating system, such as a floor
heating, when the outside temperature is at about 0 °C, the critical
radiation intensity is at about 200 Wm−2 for a highly performing
FPC. For a not selective FPC this value might exceed 300 Wm−2
without speaking of unglazed collectors. Similar collectors, oper-
ating at a temperature of 5 °C, present, instead, a critical radia-
tion intensity of only 20–30 Wm−2 . Fig. 2 illustrates possible effi-
ciency curves for the three considered solar collector typologies. At
a working temperature of 40 °C with an outside air temperature of
0 °C the reduced temperature Tm ∗ is 0.2 for a solar radiation in-
tensity of 200 Wm−2 . FTC, even with selective surface, is at zero
efficiency (ETC is instead at an efficiency higher than 50%). At a
working temperature of 5 °C with the same solar radiation inten-
sity and outside air temperature, the reduced temperature Tm ∗ is
0.025: FPC and ETC have the same 70% efficiency (Duffie and Beck-
man, 2013; Zambolin and Del Col, 2010).
The coupling of these solar collectors with a heat pump can
enhance low levels of solar radiation, allowing at the same time
heat pump COPs higher than using outside air as cold source. In
fact at an operating temperature only 5 °C higher than the out-
side air, not only frosting/defrosting cycles would be avoided, but
in addition, heat pump COP would be improved due to the more
favorable heat transfer properties of liquid with respect to a gas.
At the same temperature of 5 °C, the behavior of a liquid heat
pump can be 10% higher than for an air source heat pump, in re-
spect of both COP and capacity. An example is illustrated in Fig. 3,
where the COP is given for liquid or air cold source as a func-
tion of the cold source for a heating temperature of about 40 °C
(Lazzarin, 2012).
Fig. 3. COP of liquid and air heat pumps as a function of cold source temperature.
As regards ETCs, the behavior is completely different with a low
threshold radiation even for severe winter temperatures, so that
their application appears completely different and it will be con-
sidered at the end of the present paper.
The above reasoning explains the interest in a coupling heat
pump and a solar section already in the first years of the diffusion
of solar collectors just in the aftermath of the 1973 energy crisis
with different proposals and developments with the common de-
nominator of dual source heat pump systems.
During this long time period from 1973 to 2020 new ideas,
studies, experiments, projects followed each other together with
technological development and cost reduction of the various com-
ponents. In the first decades the interest on SAHPs (Solar As-
sisted Heat Pumps) was faint: heat pumps systems were not so
widespread and mainly with air source. The diffusion of heat
pumps in cold countries such as in North Europe contributed to
an impressive increment of GSHPs (Ground Source Heat Pumps).
As coupling solar energy even with the weak winter solar radi-
ation could contribute to reduce the required length of the ex-
pensive ground heat exchangers, systems were studied where so-
lar thermal collectors might operate as heat pumps cold source
when the thermal levels were higher than allowed by the ground.
At the same time solar collectors could contribute to DHW all
year long, recharging the ground in summer for vertical boreholes
 R. Lazzarin / International Journal of Refrigeration 116 (2020) 146–160 149

systems. The number of papers on the subject squirted upwards in

few years from only 18 before 20 0 0 and 14 in the period 2001–
2005 to more than 30 in the four years from 2006 to 2010 as pre-
sented by Mohanraj et al. (2018a,b) in two extensive review pa-
pers. The unpredictable PV cost reduction at increasing speed from
2005 (fivefold from 2005 to 2010 and perhaps tenfold till 2015)
brought to the fore the possible coupling of heat pumps and PV, at
first to participate with the grid in driving heat pumps and then
operating the PV also as heat pump cold source in the quick de-
veloping of PV cogeneration (PV/T), that is PV modules equipped
with a heat exchange system to supply useful heat even if at low
temperature for direct heating of buildings. As reported by Mohan-
raj et al., the papers on SAHPs, frequently connected to PV systems
squirted upwards to more than 60 in the period 2011–2015. This
quick increase in the scientific literature on SAHPs in different con-
figuration was soon followed by many review papers. Besides the
just mentioned Mohanraj et al., (Nouri et al., 2019) must be cited
for the wide presentation of many papers, often with the layout Fig. 4. Simplified scheme of a solar assisted heat pump in parallel mode (Buker
of the dispositions of the various items in the reported plants. The and Riffat, 2016).
merit of the above reviews in the rich list of cited papers: 121 by
Nouri et al. (2019) and 155 by each of the double review by Mo-
hanraj et al.. Perhaps this is also their defect, as the reader risks to
get lost in a very long review whose length is between 20,0 0 0 and
30,0 0 0 words. A similar problem can be met even when the review
limits to a specific topic of the considered subject. For example the
excellent review of Shi et al. (2019) restricts the review to direct
expansion SAHPs limiting to “only” 99 cited references and about
20,0 0 0 words, or Buker and Riffat (2016) that, even restricting their
view only to low temperature water heating, refer to 81 papers
with a paper length similar to the above reviews. The purpose of
the present review is not of producing a thorough list of all the
recent papers on the subject, but of offering the reader some keys
to understand the evolution from the first proposed SAHP schemes
to the nowadays complex systems with a possible insight toward
the future. To this end three periods will be considered: the past
from 1973 to 2010 when first ideas of coupling heat pumps with
solar energy began to be considered and applied. The second pe-
riod I considered is the present from 2010 to today when SAHPs
were more and more often coupled in various ways with PV. As re-
gards the third period, the future, some insights will be proposed
based on recent researches and technologies.

2. The past (1973–2010)

Just for younger people a reminder might be necessary on the
1973 oil crisis, when the price of oil increased of about 400% in
few weeks. It was called a first oil shock, that was followed by a
second oil shock in 1979 with a further doubling in oil price. The
interest on solar energy that was modest in the previous decades
grew up rapidly in a way similar to the oil price. A milestone text-
book was published already in 1974 (Duffie and Beckman, 1974).
Few years later first studies were devoted on the coupling of so-
lar thermal collectors and heat pumps (Freeman et al., 1979;Svard
et al., 1981;Bedinger et al., 1982;Manton and Mitchell, 1982)
Only heat pumps that used outside air as cold source were
considered. The unfavorable behavior of this cold source, such as
the decreasing temperatures just when the load are increasing and
the need of defrosting, suggested the Authors to put solar collec-
tors beside an air coil for an air source heat pump. Three possible
operating modes were considered:
• Series mode;
• Dual mode;
• Parallel mode.
In a series system a less favored source takes heat before the
fluid is further heated by the other source. Dual mode selects the
Fig. 5. Free fractions of solar energy (fs ) and of energy taken from the outside air
(fa,s ) as a function of the solar collector area.
better temperature level source. In parallel mode, the solar col-
lector provides direct heating when possible, and the air source
heat pump aids the solar collector when insolation levels are low
(Fig. 4).
The analysis carried out with numerical methods demonstrated
that the parallel configuration is the most efficient. However as the
priority is given to the solar section whenever direct solar heating
is possible, heat pump operation is penalized as it works more fre-
quently in unfavorable conditions. Some evaluations proposed by a
design method (Anderson et al., 1980) showed a modest seasonal
COP of the heat pump at an increasing direct solar heating contri-
bution. Fig. 5 reports the free fraction f of a building load supplied
by the solar section and by the solar section plus the ambient en-
ergy taken from the air by the heat pump as a function of solar
section area in March (low load month of the heating season). The
heat pump contribution that offers about 40% of free energy with-
out the solar section, contributes less than 20% when the solar sec-
tion is of 25 m2 .
150 R. Lazzarin / International Journal of Refrigeration 116 (2020) 146–160
Fig. 6. Scheme of a solar assisted direct expansion heat pump for water heating (Omojaro and Breitkopf, 2013).
2.1. Solar Source Heat Pumps (SSHP)
SSHPs are heat pumps that rely only on solar source to oper-
ate. The heat pump is directly connected with the solar section or
indirectly through a storage tank.
Most studies considered a direct expansion solar heat pump:
(Fujita et al., 1983;O’Dell et al., 1984;Chaturvedi and Shen, 1984;Ito
et al., 1999). The refrigerant evaporates in these heat pumps di-
rectly in an evaporator inside the solar collector. For low or no
solar radiation the heat pump does not operate so that either a
suitable storage tank or an auxiliary boiler has to be provided.
Solar collectors are often unglazed to be able to better recover
atmospheric energy (rain, outside air) as represented in Fig. 6,
where the double energy inputs to the collectors, Qsol and Qatm ,
are represented.
The main application has been in the field of DHW produc-
tion (Li et al., 2007a, b;Kong et al., 2011), and no large plants are
reported with the above technology. Some Authors, aware of the
strong limitation of relying only on solar source, not only gave
up to the glaze cover, but tried to emphasize the heat exchange
with the outside air. Guoying et al. (2006) provided the solar heat
pump collector/evaporator of a finned tube. The experiments re-
garded mainly DHW production.
Whereas the above described schemes can found applications
either in DHW heating or in cold countries where the only heat-
ing operation of a heat pump is useful, they do not work when
heating/cooling operation is requested as a solar collector is a poor
heat sink. It might operate only during the night or in cloudy
days, when the cooling demand is low. In fact Omojaro and Bre-
itkopf (2013) proposed together with the water heating scheme il-
lustrated by Fig. 6 also a cooling system with an auxiliary water
cooled condenser for the heat pump, closing the circuit from the
heat pump evaporator to produce ambient cooling through the so-
lar collectors. Here the refrigerant vapor is heated before the com-
pressor with a sure COP penalization for the heat pump.
2.2. Dual source heat pumps
The awareness of the shortcomings of the above schemes led
soon to the concept of dual source heat pump when heating and
cooling of a building was requested. This concept was considered
even in the first studies on SAHP and called parallel mode but with
the only interest in heating operation. A first step was proposed
with a relatively simple system by Kaygusuz (1995) considering in
details a possible dual source heat pump even if only in heating
mode (Fig. 7).
The dual source system has three possible modes of operation:
• Mode 1. Solar heating mode – the heat pump is off and the
solar heat can be stored.
• Mode 2. Heat pump takes heat from the storage, when the stor-
age tank temperature is not high enough for direct heating, but
it is higher than the outside air.
• Mode 3. Heat pump works on an air evaporator. The storage
tank temperature falls below the outside air temperature. The
solar section can continue meanwhile to attempt to raise the
storage tank temperature.
The study of Kaygusuz considered the winter heating of a lab-
oratory building by the different systems varying the solar collec-
tor area. Fig. 8 compares the different systems for a solar collector
area of 30 m2 from the point of view of purchased energy and
free energy. The system with the least requirement of purchased
energy is the dual source, with a level of auxiliary energy only
slightly lower than parallel system, but with a better performance
of the heat pump: 14% electricity against 18% of the total heating
requirement respectively for the two systems. The highest value
of the heat pump COP is obtained by the series system (4.0) that
allows favorable temperature level for the heat pump evaporator,
however without direct solar heating. Dual source system instead,
whose COP is 3.5 (however higher than heat pump COP in parallel
system, 3.0) allows the highest free energy fraction, 80%, of which
60% from solar and 20% from the outside air.
Dual source systems solar+air found limited applications prob-
ably as both the sources perform poorly during the winter. More-
over in mild climates the outside air temperature is frequently at
favorable values and a further heat sink/source is not necessary,
or its higher cost is not justified by a poor increase in perfor-
mance. And in fact of 1252705 heat pumps sold in Europe in 2018,
1138686 (more than 90%) use outside air as source/sink (EHPA Re-
port, 2019). Nevertheless a sort of revival of outside air as a second
heat pump source sink in SAHPs is reported in very recent litera-
ture as later dealt with.
De Hoe and Geeraert (1982) were probably the first to propose
unshielded solar collectors coupled with a Ground Source Heat
Pump (GSHP) installation with the possibility of reducing the bore-
hole length.
 R. Lazzarin / International Journal of Refrigeration 116 (2020) 146–160 151

Fig. 7. Schematic of a dual source heat pump system (air + solar).

Fig. 8. Fraction of the total heating requirement attributable to purchased energy (Wheat pump and Qaux ) and fraction of the total heating requirement attributable to free
energy (Qsol and Qair ).

Another considered possibility was the energy roof, that is a
roofing system for buildings at low cost with large available area
(Lazzarin and Schibuola, 1986). Energy roofs can collect energy di-
rectly from the sun and from the air (in effect dual source), by
means of a fluid which flows in channels in good thermal contact
with metallic tiles (Fig. 9). The novelty of the proposal was in the
use of the energy roof as a sink during summer for the air condi-
tioning operation.
A similar concept was experimentally developed in a demon-
stration plant (Lazzarin, 1988) where a 100 m2 energy roof was
the cold source of an absorption heat pump (Fig. 10). No direct
solar heating was contemplated. Instead a vertical tube ground
storage formed by 16 reinforced polyethylene vertical tubes set
in a 4 × 4 array 9 m square was provided. The tubes were 15 m
long and parallel-connected in order to limit pressure drops. Two
pairs of valves allowed the four central tubes of the array to be
isolated, so that charging or discharging could be actuated only in
the centre.
Working operations of the system were multiple, since the
energy roof was connected both to the evaporator of the absorp-
tion heat pump and to the earth storage. Thus the evaporator
was supplemented either directly by the energy roof or by the
earth storage. Moreover, when the heat pump was not working
and the roof could collect useful energy, the energy roof was
connected to the earth storage in order to charge it: this was the
normal summer operation. The experimented energy roof worked
very well as a heat pump cold source, giving up to 150 Wm−2
of low level energy (10–15 °C). Even better was the behavior of
the ground source as it offered a feeding temperature to the heat
pump evaporator always in the range of 8–11 °C (high conductivity
ground with high water content). In spite of the problems due to
a poor efficiency of the absorption heat pump (at the time it was
more a prototype than a commercial machine), the experiment
indicated an alternative route to the solar assisted heat pump: no
more solar thermal + outside air, but solar thermal + ground.
In the last decade of the previous century and particularly in
the first years of the present century the utilization of Ground
Coupled Heat Pumps (GCHP) greatly increased to overcome the
penalization of the air source concerning temperature and de-
frosting in North countries. An estimation offered by Ozgener
152 R. Lazzarin / International Journal of Refrigeration 116 (2020) 146–160
Fig. 9. Detail of an energy roof tile and a view of an energy roof.
Fig. 10. Simplified scheme of an experimental plant with an absorption heat pump
coupled to an energy roof and 16 vertical tubes boreholes.
and Hepbasli (2007) indicated over 250,000 GCHPs in the USA
(55% vertical tubes). Their diffusion was already high in Germany,
Austria and Switzerland. The most widespread technology before
the energy crisis was with tubes buried in horizontal trenches.
In cold countries the preferred solution was instead with vertical
tubes to have a more stable and favorable temperature however
with high cost for the excavation.
Two main problems were soon identified:
• The high cost of the boreholes for the ground probes that
obliged to a careful sizing, which was often an under sizing;
• The progressive heat depletion of the soil which produced a
heat pump COP reduction not only during the heating season,
but also from one heating season to the following, at least for
the first 5–6 years of operations.
The possibilities of a hybrid geothermal heat pump systems
solar assisted were carefully analyzed by Chiasson and Yavuzturk
(2003). They estimated a possible trade off between borehole
length and solar collectors whose entity ranged from 4.5 to
7.7 m/m2 according to the climate. In other words the borehole
length could be shortened of that quantity for every m2 of FPC, of
course with the limit of a minimum length to prevent undesirable
effect as the ice lensing of the probes (an ice formation all around
the ground tubes). Ozgener and Hepbasli (2005a, b) carried out an
experimental work on the utilization of a Solar Assisted Ground
Heat Pump (SAGHP) for the heating of a greenhouse. No direct
solar heating was provided: solar collectors either recharged
the ground or fed the heat pump evaporator. The advantage of
recharging the ground in summer operation of solar collectors was
evidenced by Kjellsson et al. (2010) pointing out at the same time
the possible concern in a high electricity demand for the possible
long operation time of the circulation pumps.
Direct solar heating was studied experimentally by Trillat-
Berdal et al. (2006). A schematic diagram of the system is repre-
sented in Fig. 11. The plant was installed in a single family house
where the solar section provided DHW.
The solar collector area was of 12 m2 , decidedly oversized as a
half would be more than enough for DHW preparation. Two bore-
holes 90 m depth supplemented the heat pump evaporator nom-
inal capacity 15.8 kW (condenser 40 °C, evaporator 5 °C). Direct
solar heating was involved only in DHW preparation. When DHW
preset temperature was reached, the excess solar heat was injected
into the ground so that possible solar collector overheating was
prevented. At the same time the ground thermal level was recov-
ered on an annual basis. In fact during the heating season the heat
pump COP reduced of about 14% from November to April due to
the progressive decrement of ground temperature near the bore-
holes. The study evidenced another significant problem: the par-
asitic energy of the circulation pumps. The system COP (including
the energy of all the circulation pumps) was as low as 2.6, whereas
it increased to 3.35 switching off the circulation pumps when the
heat pump was not working. The control system was designed for
giving priority to solar DHW. In fact the pumps that connect the
solar section with the ground were activated only when the wa-
ter in the DHW tank arrived at 72 °C. The risk was that the heat
transfer from solar collector to the ground would prevent to obtain
temperature levels for direct heating.
An experimental investigation of a SAGHP was conducted by
Wang and Qi (2008). The system provided 4 operation modes:
• Solar recharging of the ground;
• Cooling by heat pump with heat transfer from the condenser to
the ground (ground as heat sink);
• Heating by heat pump with the ground as cold source;
• Solar direct heating.
The reported results were mainly devoted to solar recharging of
the ground and evidenced a poor performance of solar collectors
 R. Lazzarin / International Journal of Refrigeration 116 (2020) 146–160
Fig. 11. Dual source heat pump (ground + solar) with the possibility of direct solar heating (Trillat-Berdal et al., 2006).
with collector losses as high as 43% and only 40% of available solar
radiation stored in the ground.
Just at the beginning of the second decade of this century it is
worth considering the experimental work of Xi et al. (2011) who
provided a more comprehensive series of possible modes, as not
only it allowed the previously mentioned, but also solar heat pump
heating where the solar collectors are the heat pump cold source.
The system was located in the Bejing area. The performance of a
SAGHP, 270 m borehole and 45 m2 collector area, is compared with
a GCHP. The average COP for space heating was estimated at 3.89,
that is a 26% better than for a conventional GCHP. The solar frac-
tion for space heating was estimated at 0.30 and at 0.75 for DHW
with an average solar collector efficiency of 57%. The marginal con-
tribution of solar collector was evaluated in 3.67 m of borehole
saved for every m2 . Also this study emphasized the role of para-
sitic energy of circulation pumps: the extra power consumed by
circulation pumps was claimed to impair the system efficiency by
17.2% when the solar section did not provide in winter only DHW
but also ground recharging (however with a solar collecting effi-
ciency increase of 8%).
To take into account this extra power of the circulation pumps,
the study proposed by Busato et al. (2010) compared Primary En-
ergy Ratio (PER) of the whole system (comprising then this extra
power) of different solution for heating an educational building:
• An all ground system with 1633 m of boreholes;
• A dual source system with 23 m2 of solar collectors and 1517 m
of boreholes;
• A dual source system with 46 m2 of solar collectors and 1402 m
of boreholes;
• A dual source system with 60 m2 of solar collectors and 1332 m
of boreholes;
• A dual source system with 70 m2 of solar collectors and 1286 m
of boreholes;
• An all-solar solution with 327 m2 of solar collectors and no
heat pump.
The choice of the different parameters size was intended to pro-
duce a similar investment cost.
The best solution in terms of PER was the combination of 70 m2
of solar collectors and 1286 m boreholes. The Authors concluded
153
that at least in North Italy climate the best option is to provide
a minimum ground probe length that will prevent the ice lensing
phenomenon with a trade off with solar collectors that was esti-
mated at 7 m of borehole per 1 m2 of solar section.
3. The present (2010–2020)
3.1. Solar assisted air source heat pumps (SAASHP)
In the second decade of this century some studies were devoted
to try to solve the problems of air source heat pumps in cold and
humid climates. At first Kong et al. (2018,2020) experimented heat
transfer enhancement at the level of the heat pump condenser,
later also on a novel solar collector evaporator realized as a micro-
channel system (Kong et al., 2020). The system benefited the heat
transfer enhancement with a 55% COP increase when the ambi-
ent temperature passed from −2.9 °C to 12.8 °C. The micro-channel
evaporator revealed instead not so efficient as solar collector: when
the solar radiation intensity increased from 120 to 614 W m−2 ,
the system COP increased only from 3.08 to 3.92. The system was
equipped with innovative components such as a variable-frequency
rotary-type hermetic compressor, a micro-channel condenser, and
an electronic expansion valve as to fit the heat pump capacity to
the solar radiation variation.
In cold climates the proposal of Qiu et al. (2018) is to operate
with a two stage compressor with a variable inlet of collected solar
energy into the system according to the temperature of the avail-
able heat due to the level of solar radiation. For high level of solar
radiation solar collected heat is supplied directly to the heat pump
condenser. At a medium level the inlet is operated between the
first and the second stage of the compressor, whereas for low level
the inlet is just before the first stage together with the heat sup-
plied by the air source evaporator. The system appears to behave
efficiently in cold climates and the Authors claim a COP improve-
ment of about 55% at the outside temperature of −25 °C with re-
spect to the two separate systems (air source heat pump and solar
collectors).
In a cold and humid climate another relevant problem with air
source heat pumps is defrosting. A solar-air hybrid heat pump was
proposed by Ran et al. (2020) just to reduce the penalization due
154 R. Lazzarin / International Journal of Refrigeration 116 (2020) 146–160
to defrosting in humid climate conditions. The idea is to use so-
lar energy directly when solar radiation is high enough, but also
to exploit solar collectors even when solar radiation is weak, alle-
viating the length and frequency of defrosting. The system is pro-
vided of a multiple air source evaporator so that defrosting oper-
ates one by one on the various sections of the multiple evaporator.
The Authors estimate that the energy for defrosting using the SAHP
is only 30%–36% with respect to a separate system of solar collec-
tors and air source heat pump. The energy savings of the proposed
system is strongly dependent on the climate and it is evaluated
between 9–52% in different resorts in China.
3.2. Solar Assisted Ground Heat Pumps (SAGHP)
Yang et al. (2015) carried out an experiment where the solar
section was of ETCs with different operation modes that not only
considered the combined utilization of solar and ground for the
heat pump, but also a day and night alternate mode with the GCHP
operated only in the evening and rainy days and SAHP in daytime
so that the ground temperature might be partly resumed. An al-
ternate operation mode was considered with the GCHP working
in the evening, being off in daytime. Solar energy was fed to the
ground in daytime for buildings that needed heating only in the
evening.
A complete different approach is that of Busato et al. (2013).
Unlike all the other experiments that used compression heat
pumps, they used gas driven absorption heat pumps to heat an
educational building. The choice was dictated by the need to re-
duce the borehole length, maintaining good PER values. In fact the
PER of an electric heat pump with a COP of 4 is comparable with
an absorption heat pump with a GUE (Gas Utilization Efficiency) of
1.6 (thermoelectric conversion efficiency of 40%). However the for-
mer takes 0.75 kW from the cold source for every kW of capacity,
whereas the latter only 0.375 (1–1/1.6). The possible advantage of
solar assisted absorption heat pumps had already been claimed by
Lazzarin (1981) and Mendes et al. (1998).
The well insulated building with a gross heated volume of
19,644 m3 was equipped with two different heating systems: one
to serve a ventilation section with two ground source absorption
heat pumps and 74 kW heating capacity. A sensible cross flow heat
exchanger recovered heat from the exhaust airflow, that was then
used as heat pump cold source. The other system heated the build-
ing mainly via a radiant floor with 76 kW heating capacity absorp-
tion heat pumps, 6 × 160 m of boreholes and 50 m2 of solar col-
lectors. The control logic was based on the concept of a threshold
of solar radiation intensity. Zero loss collector efficiency ηo and the
first heat loss coefficient a1 were considered. A minimum target ef-
ficiency was fixed, ηmin , (say 10%). Then two different threshold of
radiation were determined on the basis of an operative tempera-
ture of 5 °C (heat pump cold source) or 38 °C (direct heating via
radiant floor):
a1 (tm − ta )
Iβ =
η0 − ηmin
Iβ = solar radiation intensity (Wm−2 );
a1 =first heat loss coefficient of the collector efficiency curve
(Wm−2 K−1 );
tm = arithmetic average between inlet and outlet temperature
(K);
ta = ambient temperature (K);
η0 =zero loss coefficient of the solar collector;
ηmin =minimum target efficiency.
The possible mode of the heating section are four and are illus-
trated in Fig. 12:
• Solar collector off and heating by the GCHPs (the solar radiation
intensity is below the first threshold);
• Solar collectors are the absorption heat pump cold source (the
solar radiation intensity is above the first threshold but it re-
mains below the second);
• Solar direct heating (the solar radiation intensity is above the
second threshold);
• Ground recharging by the solar collectors (no heating required,
for example in summer, and the solar radiation intensity is
above the first threshold).
The annual performance survey gave a Primary Energy Ratio
(PER) of 1.456 for the space heating, that lowered to 1.365 when
considering the electricity for all the circulation pumps. Solar di-
rect heating satisfied 8.2% of the demand, whereas the absorption
heat pumps provided 85.6% (auxiliary gas boiler supplied the left
6.2%). As regards the heat pump cold source, it was the ground for
87.5% and solar for 12.5%. Summer solar recharging of the ground
allowed to maintain the initial ground thermal levels.
Kamel et al. (2015) propose a detailed review on the integration
of heat pumps with solar systems. Whereas the first part of the pa-
per deals with the topics of solar collectors and heat pumps previ-
ously examined, the second part considers the possible integration
of photovoltaic (PV) and heat pumps and above all of photovoltaic
solar collectors (PVT or PV/T) and heat pumps.
Coupling of a heat pump with a PV/T system was studied only
in the last decade as the high PV cost of the past prevented the
joined use of two expensive items.
3.3. PV/T collectors
A PhotoVoltaic (PV) cell can convert a fraction between 6% and
25% of the incoming irradiation into electricity. The rest is dissi-
pated as heat.
This dissipation implies that the PV module increases its tem-
perature with respect to the air temperature, arriving in summer
even at temperatures as high as 20–25 °C above ambient (Kamuyu
et al., 2018). This reduces the efficiency of the PV cells: this reduc-
tion is estimated between 0.2–0.5% for every 1 °C rise in the PV
module for crystalline silicon cells temperature above 25 °C that
is usually the temperature at which the standard PV efficiency is
claimed.
No surprise that even when a timid PV commercial develop-
ment took place, some studies were proposed to realize a PV/T,
whose main purpose was to dissipate the unwanted heat maintain-
ing at a low level the PV cell temperature. Wolf (1976) proposed a
first analysis of the possibilities of systems producing at the same
time electricity and heat. Florschuetz (1979) arrived to extend the
Hottel Whillier equation of a flat plat solar collector to a PV/T sys-
tem.
At first the interest of the researchers was mainly in the cool-
ing aspect of the PV/T, not only for an efficiency increase, but also
to better exploit the expensive PV panels concentrating the light
(O’leary and Clements, 1980; Al-Baali, 1986; Mbewe et al., 1985).
(2)
The concentration increases the electricity output but worsens the
problems of temperature increase. Then the existence of a cooling
system is practically essential.
Two main categories of PV/T panels were considered: PV/T-air
where air is the heat transfer medium and PV/T-liquid where the
heat transfer medium is a liquid, water or a mixture of water and
an anti-freeze.
Certainly the PV/T –liquid panels are more important for the
purpose of this paper, as a liquid circuit can be easily connected to
the evaporator of a heat pump. Significant researches were con-
ducted on this topic at the University of Eindhoven by Zondag
et al. (2002, 2003).
They modeled and realized both unglazed and glazed PVT col-
lectors, emphasizing the fact “An area covered with PV/T-collectors
 R. Lazzarin / International Journal of Refrigeration 116 (2020) 146–160
Fig. 12. The four operation modes. On the top from left to right: heating by ground source heat pump and heating by solar source heat pump. On the bottom from left to
right: direct solar heating and ground recharging by solar collectors.
produces more electrical and thermal energy than a corresponding
area partially covered with conventional PV systems and partially cov-
ered with conventional thermal collectors.” When the available space
is limited as in the case of a building roof, the advantage is evident.
The glazed solution was designed to better exploit the thermal
yield of the PV/T panel. In fact, the unglazed surface has higher
top thermal losses rapidly increasing with the temperature and it
is very sensible to even weak gusts of wind. To reach temperatures
useful for producing Domestic Hot Water (DHW) the glazed solu-
tion is necessary but at the price of a reduced electrical efficiency
for these higher temperatures. Another big problem posed by the
glazed solution is the possible overheating of the solar cells in the
case of absence of water circulation due for example to a stop
in the water pump. The stagnation temperature of a glazed PV/T
liquid collector was estimated by Affolter et al. (2007) at 150 °C
whereas the maximum temperature that EVA (ethylene vinyl ac-
etate) solar cell coating can withstand is 135 °C. The risk is a per-
manent damage of the PV cells.
3.4. PV/T and heat pump
A first proposal of using a PVT panel to supply a heat pump is
due to Ito et al. (1997). The proposal appeared not economically
viable and the system complicated to be managed. In effect later
155
Ito et al. (1999) preferred to supply the heat to a heat pump
directly from solar collectors, giving up to the PV/T principle.
The first experimental studies on PV/T heat pump systems were
conducted on testing rigs to analyze the behavior of PV/T and heat
pump, that is PV/T performance both electrically and thermally
and heat pump COP.
Ji et al. (2008) realized a testing rig where the PV/T was con-
structed, laminating the PV cells directly onto the heat pump evap-
orator in the form of a collector. A single glass was originally
provided over the module, but the tests were carried out with
unglazed PV/T collectors. The heat pump condenser heated up a
water circuit. For an inlet water temperature of 50 °C to the heat
pump condenser, the average COP was found to be 3.5.
A possible scheme of a PV/T driven heat pump coupled with a
ground source heat pump is represented in Fig. 13. The heat pump
is driven whenever possible by PV electricity. PV/T is a heat pump
cold source alternative to the ground, that can be recharged by the
PV/T in periods of no heating demand.
Chow et al. (2010) studied a similar system, that is an unglazed
PV/T collector that acts directly as heat pump evaporator with a
dynamic simulation in the hot climate of Hong Kong. The heat
pump provided DHW heating all year round. A comparison was
performed against a solar-assisted direct expansion heat pump
together with plain PV modules. The simulation revealed a lower
yearly COP for the PV/T system (5.9 against 6.5). However the
156 R. Lazzarin / International Journal of Refrigeration 116 (2020) 146–160
Fig. 13. A simplified scheme of a dual source (solar by PV/T + ground) heat pump system driven by PV/T electricity.
Fig. 14. PVT module within a glass vacuum tube (Chen et al., 2011).
average electrical efficiency was higher (12.1% against 8.1%) thanks
to the PV cooling in the hot considered climate.
All the above studies operate with unglazed collectors. Chen
et al. (2011) proposed a new system, again with direct expansion in
the PV/T evaporator heat pump, but the PV modules were within
glass vacuum tubes (Fig. 14). Besides the PV cells were made of
a-Si, instead of pc-Si. The studied system was of small size with
a compressor power input of the order of one hundred watts. The
main results were a very good thermal efficiency with an average
of 75% and a heat pump COP rapidly increasing with solar radia-
tion (from 2.9 at 200 W m−2 to 4.6 at 800 Wm−2 )
No comparison was proposed by the Authors between plain PV
and the system. Instead an analysis was produced comparing the
PV/T behavior with and without cooling of the PV: the difference
at a solar radiation of 800 Wm−2 is impressive (4.6% against 2.7%)
so much the more that a-Si is less sensitive to temperature effects
than pc-Si.
A completely different approach is due to Ramos et al. (2017):
surprisingly the proposal is that the PV/T system is finalized to
drive a thermally driven absorption refrigerator or heat pump. The
operating temperatures that can arrive at 85 °C require particu-
lar hetero-junction thin-film PV cells that according to the Authors
“retain high efficiencies at elevated temperatures”. The Authors pro-
pose 4 different scenarios for space heating, DHW and cooling of a
single family house, floor area 100 m2 with an available roof area
for PV/T up to 50 m2 . The analysis considers ten European loca-
tions with quite different climates. The scenarios are the following:
• PV/T and electrical air-to-air heat pump unit covering the cool-
ing demand only;
• PV/T and electrical air source heat pump covering both the
heating and cooling demand;
• PV/T and electrical driven water-to-water heat pump;
• PV/T and thermally driven absorption chiller covering the cool-
ing demand.
Some details are given regarding the PV array within the con-
sidered PV/T: an efficiency at reference condition of 18% and a tem-
perature coefficient of −0.3% K−1 . Unfortunately nothing is said re-
garding the solar collector that is presumably glazed. The most ef-
ficient configuration was the coupling of PV/T with the water-to
water heat pump, that is driven just by the electricity produced
by the PV/T, where the thermal output of the collectors keeps the
cold source of the heat pump at a temperature of about 15 °C all
year round.
Also Bellos et al. (2016) propose a comparison of 4 different
systems, comprising the use of PV/T. In this work the 4 scenarios
are the following:
• an air source heat pump with PV modules;
• a water source heat pump with flat plate collectors;
• a water source heat pump with PV/T;
• a water source heat pump with PV modules and flat plate col-
lectors.
Again few details are offered for the PV/T except for some
formulas that give electrical, thermal and total efficiency as a
 R. Lazzarin / International Journal of Refrigeration 116 (2020) 146–160
function of the reduced temperature. The high value of the slope
of the thermal efficiency curve suggests that the considered PV/T
is unglazed.
The scenario of water source heat pump with PV/T allows the
minimum electricity request from the grid and according to the
proposed analysis it appears the most feasible solution from the
economic point of view for an electricity price over 23 c€ kWh−1 .
If studies regarding PV/T-heat pumps systems are few, reports
on full-scale systems are even fewer.
To this author’s knowledge only three. Two of them were pre-
sented at the International Conference on Solar Heating and Cool-
ing for Buildings and Industry SHC 2012 at San Francisco.
In the first Baetschmann and Leibundgut (2012) consider a dual
source heat pump where the cold source is either the PV/T ther-
mal output or the ground. The eventual excess heat from PV/T,
mainly in the period from March to October is used to regener-
ate the ground, that is the heat pump source for low or no so-
lar irradiation. The PV/T is unglazed and without backside insu-
lation. Nevertheless the authors claim an outlet temperature from
the PV/T array between 22 and 33 °C in the climate of Switzer-
land. Although a PV/T prototype was installed with 400 m coaxial
ground source heat exchanger, the claimed system results derived
only from simulation. A Seasonal Performance Factor of the heat
pump as high as 6.0 was evaluated, even considering the circula-
tion pump energy with an average temperature from the ground
of 16.5 °C.
Bertram et al. (2012) report an investigation on a real system
near Frankfurt with 39 m2 unglazed PV/T collectors, 3 × 75 m
coaxial ground heat exchangers and a 12 kW heat pump that sup-
plies floor heating and DHW. The survey was conducted over a
period of two years. The fact that the PV/T were unglazed pre-
vented an appreciable heat input from the PV/T to the evapora-
tor heat pump during the heating season. Instead the PV/T thermal
contribution was substantial in recharging the ground in summer.
An evaluation of a similar system without solar support revealed
an average temperature to the heat pump evaporator 4.3 K lower
over a 20 years period and 3 K during the first year of operation.
The other significant contribution of the PV/T was an additional
PV yield due to the cooling effect. This was evaluated from 4 to
5% for free mounting of the PV modules. The additional PV yield
was estimated from 8 to 11% for rear side insulation (PV modules
integrated in the roof).
It appears from the above illustrated literature that the PV cell
cooling was predominantly favored against higher possible tem-
perature supply to the heat pump evaporator. No pilot plant was
equipped with glazed PV/T collectors and even simulations mostly
consider unglazed systems.
Nevertheless if the temperature supply to the heat pump evap-
orator is increased, say, of 10 K, as reported by Bertram et al.
(2012), a Seasonal Performance Factor (SPF) improvement can be
evaluated of about 30% (from 4.2 SPF to 5.4), whereas the penaliza-
tion for the PV electricity production is estimated at 5% (from 12%
PV efficiency on an annual basis to 11.4%). Then it appears more
profitable to give up to a fraction of the PV electricity yield in fa-
vor of a better SPF, provided the PV/T are cooled when heating is
not required, recharging at the same time the ground in a dual
source scheme.
The third example is due to Zhou et al. (2020) who propose and
experiment an innovative PV/T panel composed from the bottom
to the upside of:
• an insulation layer within the panel frame;
• a micro-channel layer that acts as heat pump evaporator in a
direct expansion system;
• an Ethylene-Vinyl Acetate (EVA) layer glued on the micro-
channels;
157
• a Tedlar-Polyester-Tedlar (TPT) layer acting as electrical insula-
tion;
• a PV layer protected by a glazed cover.
The experiments regarded the heating of a 150 m2 room whose
thermal load was about 10 kW, maintained at a temperature of
18.5 °C. A whole November day was surveyed with an ambient
temperature between 6 and 15 °C. PV/T produced water at a tem-
perature between 15 and 30 °C with a thermal efficiency of 56.6%.
The measured electrical efficiency was 13.1%. The experimental av-
erage heat pump COP was 4.7 with a water temperature to the
heating system between 30 and 40 °C.
4. The future (2020–20??)
A forecasting of future development would require a crystal
ball: many variables are implied whereas technology might offer
unexpected discoveries.
The efficiency improvement of PV cells together with their price
reduction indicates strong possibilities for heat pumps solar as-
sisted by PV/T collectors. Probably the best coupling is with the
ground as in the hot season the PV/T needs to be suitably cooled
both to preserve the solar cells and their efficiency. However new
solar cells might be developed less sensitive to the temperature, so
that the PV/T could operate at higher temperatures, say even more
than 90 °C, as claimed by the above mentioned reference (Ramos
et al., 2017). Then a system could be conceived with solar ther-
mal cooling by an absorption chiller, exporting electricity to other
utilizations. The absorption machine could be used in the heating
season as a heat pump together with an electric driven one.
Dual source heat pump systems are expected to spread more
and more at least for larger plants in order to take profit of the
solar collectors even when solar radiation intensity is not so high
to allow direct heating. Two different trends can be identified.
The first tendency is aimed to simplify the plant lay-out.
A first example is offered by Ji et al. (2020) that study a direct
expansion SAHP where the evaporator is composed of finned-tube
heat exchanger painted with selective absorption coating to enable
the evaporator to absorb energy from both environment and solar
irradiation.
A further development is proposed by Simonetti et al.
(2019) who realized and experimented an innovative evaporator,
they call Integrated Dual Source Evaporator. The finned tube evap-
orator hosts two circuits: evaporating refrigerant flows in the first
circuit whereas water from solar collectors or PV/T circulates in
the second. Heat is transferred to the refrigerant from the out-
side air, that is eventually heated up by the water circuit. The Au-
thors claim an improvement of 14% with respect to the simple air
source heat pump: the system is composed by commercial four
PV/T panels (250 W of peak power each) and a 6.8 kWth heat
pump (Besagni et al., 2019).
Zhang et al. (2019) even further propose a three fluid heat ex-
changer where not only the system can absorb energy from solar
and air simultaneously but the PV/T modules can be cooled ac-
tively or passively by a heat pipe system when heating is not re-
quested. The claimed improvement over an air source heat pump
is not far from the 14% previously reported by Simonetti et al..
The added benefit is an increase in the electrical energy output
by 14.7% due to the effective cooling by the heat pipes.
The other possible trend is completely different from the just
mentioned, as the lay-out of the plant is instead more complex
equipping the system of suitable storage capacities in order to
decouple the heat source from the heat pump (Lazzarin and Noro,
2020). The simplified functional diagram of a HVAC plant that is
under construction is represented in Fig. 15. The operations of the
plant are strictly connected on the one hand by the level of solar
158 R. Lazzarin / International Journal of Refrigeration 116 (2020) 146–160
Fig. 15. Simplified functional diagram of the HVAC plant.
radiation intensity and on the other by the building demand that
can be of heating, DHW heating, cooling and contemporaneous
heating and cooling. The plant is set up by the following main
loops:
• the PVT-Source Tank- Ground loop operates as dual source for
the heat pump with the PVT heat excess that can recharge the
ground;
• the DHW loop permits the DHW pre-heating by the PVT and
final heating by the heat pump;
• the Heat Pump – Chiller loop permits to provide heating or
cooling. The heat pump condenser can heat up DHW in sum-
mer or recharge the ground;
The proposed plant should make the building almost com-
pletely energy independent from external supply for heating
(building and DHW) and cooling as the heat pump is driven by the
PVT electricity. The plant is expected to be self-sufficient for the
electricity on a yearly basis, even exporting electricity to the grid
in summer favorable periods. The surveys in the real plant under
construction can hopefully validate these simulated results.
Another variable to be considered regards the ETCs price that
is quickly lowering in a way not different from PV panels. ETCs
were seldom considered in solar assisted heat pumps till now.
Çağlar and Yamali (2012) experimented a solar assisted heat pump
with ETCs for DHW heating. They obtained high values of the heat
pump COP between 5 and 6, together with high ETC efficiency of
about 80%. However they did not surprisingly consider the direct
DHW heating by the solar collectors whenever possible.
Not only ETCs might provide direct heating even with low level
of solar radiation, but they could drive an absorption heat pump,
whose cold source is the ground or the outside air in an integrated
system that provide also solar cooling. New studies and experi-
ments are then welcome.
5. Conclusions
The possible coupling of heat pumps and solar energy was
taken into account just in the first years after the 1973 energy cri-
sis. The first applications were mostly the parallel utilization of so-
lar thermal collectors and air source heat pump, as series or dual
modes were considered less efficient. Solar direct expansion heat
pump evaporator were experimented with the problems of poor
heat supply in period of low or no insolation. The dual mode was
rediscovered and experimented with ground source heat pumps, as
solar collectors not only could offer a more favorable temperature
to the heat pump evaporator, but they could recharge the ground
with the eventually excess collected energy. A more recent devel-
opment was connected to the impressive PV cost reduction and to
the possible use of solar thermal PV (PV/T). In the beginning the
only real applications were in the field of DHW and then in small
plants. Later on the concept of dual source heat pump was ex-
tended to PV/T- air source heat pumps with special integrated solar
evaporator, using advanced heat enhancement technologies such as
micro-channels heat exchangers and heat pipes. A further possible
evolution regards more complex plant layouts with the insertion
of storage capacities: progress in this field could derive by the use
of Phase Change Materials (PCM). Technology development might
allow the production of PV/T operating at higher temperature so
to drive absorption machinery for solar heating and cooling. At the
same time a strong cost reduction of ETCs might make possible
the use of absorption machinery not only for summer cooling but
even for winter heating with absorption heat pumps driven by so-
lar heat.
Declaration of Competing Interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing finan-
cial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to
influence the work reported in this paper.
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