CO2 Heat Pumps Study KTH 2023 1678648671

DEGREE PROJECT IN SUSTAINABLE ENERGY ENGINEERING
SECOND CYCLE, 30 CREDITS
Performance Analysis of CO2

Heat Pumps in Different
Applications
Jaykumar Thanggavelu
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TRITA-ITM-EX 2022:505
Author
Jaykumar Thanggavelu
Email: jaykumarthangavelu@gmail.com
Energy Technology
KTH Royal Institute of Technology
Place of Project
Stockholm, Sweden
Examiner and Supervisor

Dr. Samer Sawalha
KTH Royal Institute of Technology
Jörgen Rogstam
EKA - Energi & Kylanalys AB
Abstract
This study focuses on researching the performance of CO2 heat pumps in different real-
time applications and in some studies, it compares the performance to synthetic and other
natural refrigerants based on heat pump data provided from buildings. The research on the
performance of the CO2 heat pump is performed based on Sweden's climatic conditions. The
study consists of four different case studies each focusing on the CO2 heat pump used for four
different buildings. The first study evaluates the performance of air source CO2 heat pump
installed in a residential building and performs cost benefit in comparison to district heating
energy consumption. The second study investigates the performance of the air source CO2 heat
pump for the district heating application and compares the same with other refrigerant heat
pumps. The refrigerants compared with include Ammonia (R-717), Propane (R-290), R-134a
(1,1,1,2-tetrafluoroethane). The third study examines the performance of air source CO2 heat
pumps in a commercial building with the field measured data obtained directly from the heat
pump sensors through the online portal “itop”. The fourth study analyses the performance of a
CO2 heat pump with that of a propane (R-290) heat pump for a commercial swimming pool
application.
The study is performed using a simulation model created using Microsoft Excel Sheets
and Cool Prop add-in, a thermophysical property database. The simulation model makes use
of formulae of heat pumps to analyse the performance of the heat pump systems. The climatic
data for Stockholm is taken from ASHRAE IWEC 2 database.
The results of the study show advantages of CO2 heat pumps when used for combined
purposes like space heating, space cooling and domestic hot water over the heat pumps using
other refrigerants for their operation, as these refrigerants when operated at high condensation
temperature led to low Coefficient of Performance (COP). The first study on residential
building CO2 heat pumps showed a cost savings of about 116,000 kr per year even in high-
pressure operations concerning the annual cost of district heating, which is about 30% of the
total cost district heating with auxiliary equipment. The study also examined the energy saving
over the usage of an ejector used in the heat pump which reached an average energy saving of
8%. The second study shows the dominance of the performance of CO2 over other refrigerants
for district heating purposes. The third study indicates the performance of the CO2 heat pump
in the application using real-time measure data. The fourth study illustrates an increase in
overall COP of about 10% from the CO2 heat pump in comparison to that of propane refrigerant
for swimming pool application. These results show that when the domestic hot water demand
is higher, the CO2 heat pump performs better than other refrigerants specifically because the
COP of other refrigerants is lower at high condensation temperatures.
Keywords
CO2 Heat pump, COP, District heating, commercial buildings, residential buildings,
field measurement data, Propane, Ammonia, R-134a
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Sammanfattning
Denna studie fokuserar på att undersöka prestandan hos CO2-värmepumpar i olika

realtidsapplikationer och i vissa studier jämför den prestandan med syntetiska och andra
naturliga köldmedier baserat på värmepumpsdata från byggnader. Forskningen kring CO2-
värmepumpens prestanda utförs utifrån Sveriges klimatförhållanden. Studien består av fyra
olika fallstudier som var och en fokuserar på CO2-värmepumpen som används för fyra olika
byggnader. Den första studien utvärderar prestandan hos luftkällans CO2-värmepump
installerad i ett bostadshus och ger kostnadsfördelar jämfört med energiförbrukningen för
fjärrvärme. Den andra studien undersöker prestandan hos luftkällans CO2-värmepump för
fjärrvärmeapplikationen och jämför densamma med andra köldmedievärmepumpar.
Köldmedierna jämfört med inkluderar ammoniak (R-717), propan (R-290), R-134a (1,1,1,2-
tetrafluoretan). Den tredje studien undersöker prestandan hos luftkällans CO2-värmepumpar i
en kommersiell byggnad med fältuppmätta data som erhålls direkt från värmepumpens sensorer
via onlineportalen "itop". Den fjärde studien analyserar prestandan hos en CO2-värmepump
med den hos en propan (R-290) värmepump för en kommersiell simbassängapplikation.
Studien utförs med hjälp av en simuleringsmodell skapad med Microsoft Excel Sheets
och Cool Prop-tillägget, en termofysisk egenskapsdatabas. Simuleringsmodellen använder
formler för värmepumpar för att analysera värmepumpsystemens prestanda. Klimatdata för
Stockholm är hämtade från databasen ASHRAE IWEC 2.
Resultaten av studien visar fördelarna med CO2-värmepumpar när de används för

kombinerade ändamål som rumsuppvärmning, rumskylning och tappvarmvatten jämfört med
värmepumpar som använder andra köldmedier för sin drift, eftersom dessa köldmedier när de
används vid hög kondensationstemperatur ledde till låg koefficient prestanda (COP). Den
första studien om bostadshus CO2-värmepumpar visade en kostnadsbesparing på cirka 116 000
kr per år även i högtrycksdrift avseende den årliga kostnaden för fjärrvärme, vilket är cirka 30
% av den totala kostnaden för fjärrvärme med hjälputrustning. Studien undersökte också
energibesparingen jämfört med användningen av en ejektor som används i värmepumpen som
nådde en genomsnittlig energibesparing på 8 %. Den andra studien visar dominansen av CO2s
prestanda över andra köldmedier för fjärrvärmeändamål. Den tredje studien indikerar CO2-
värmepumpens prestanda i applikationen med hjälp av mätdata i realtid. Den fjärde studien
illustrerar en ökning av den totala COP på cirka 10 % från CO2-värmepumpen jämfört med den
för propan-köldmedium för simbassängapplikationer. Dessa resultat visar att när efterfrågan på
tappvarmvatten är högre presterar CO2-värmepumpen bättre än andra köldmedier, särskilt
eftersom COP för andra köldmedier är lägre vid höga kondensationstemperaturer.
Nyckelord
CO2 Värmepump, COP, Fjärrvärme, kommersiella byggnader, bostadshus,

fältmätningsdata, Propan, Ammoniak, R-134a
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Acknowledgement
This master thesis is a project commenced by EKA - Energi & Kylanalys AB. First of
all, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to Jörgen Rogstam, managing director of EKA,
for his support in providing me an opportunity to work on this project and for providing
necessary data for the project and insights on the case studies discussed.
I would like to specially express my gratitude to my supervisor Dr. Samer Sawalha for
his support throughout the entire project, especially for offering insights on calculations and
new perspectives on approaches to different studies. Along with their support, they have
provided me with a lot of knowledge on heat pump systems and how these systems operate.
I would also like to extend my gratitude to Simon Bolteau, design team manager at
EKA, for his insights on different heat pump systems. I would also like to thank KTH Royal
Institute of Technology and the faculties of the Sustainable Energy Engineering department for
providing knowledge over the programme which helped me comprehend, work, and complete
the study on the heat pump systems. They have been a great inspiration to me in working out
my studies with immense pleasure.
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Contents
1. Acknowledgement ................................................................................................ iii
2. Introduction ............................................................................................................ 1
1.1 Background ................................................................................................................. 1
1.2 Purpose ........................................................................................................................ 2
1.3 Methods....................................................................................................................... 3
1.4 Objectives ................................................................................................................... 3
1.5 Methodology ............................................................................................................... 3
3. Literature Review .................................................................................................. 5
2.1 Overview ..................................................................................................................... 5
2.2 Role of Heat Pumps in Building Energy ..................................................................... 6
2.3 Refrigerants ................................................................................................................. 9
2.3.1 Natural Refrigerants ................................................................................. 10
2.3.2 Ammonia (R-717) .................................................................................... 10
2.3.3 Carbon dioxide (R-744) ........................................................................... 10
2.3.4 Hydrocarbons ........................................................................................... 11
2.3.5 Synthetic Refrigerants .............................................................................. 11
2.4 CO2 Heat Pumps ....................................................................................................... 12
2.5 Performance of CO2 refrigerant ................................................................................ 14
4. Simulation Model ................................................................................................. 21
3.1 Simulation Model Assumptions ................................................................................ 21
3.2 Simulation Model Formulae ..................................................................................... 21
5. Case Study 1: Residential Heat Pump ............................................................... 24
4.1 Heat Pump System .................................................................................................... 24
4.2 Field Measurement Data ........................................................................................... 26
4.3 Simulation Model...................................................................................................... 27
4.4 Simulation Results .................................................................................................... 30
4.5 Cost Benefit Analysis................................................................................................ 36
4.6 Discussions ............................................................................................................... 38
4.7 Conclusion ................................................................................................................ 39
4.8 Limitations ................................................................................................................ 39
6. Case Study 2: Heat Pump Connected to District Heating Network ................ 40
5.1 Fenagy CO2 Heat Pump ............................................................................................ 40
5.3 CO2 ............................................................................................................................ 42
5.3.1 Simulation Model ..................................................................................... 42
5.3.2 Simulation Results.................................................................................... 43
5.4 Other Refrigerant Systems ........................................................................................ 45
5.4.1 Other Refrigerant System Assumptions ................................................... 45
5.4.2 Other Refrigerants Simulation Model ...................................................... 45
5.5 R717 (Ammonia-NH3) ............................................................................................. 46
5.6 R290 (Propane) ......................................................................................................... 48
5.7 R134a ........................................................................................................................ 50
5.8 Comparison Results .................................................................................................. 52
5.9 Conclusion ................................................................................................................ 55
7. Case Study 3: Air Source Heat Pump for Commercial Building .................... 56
6.1 Heat Pump System .................................................................................................... 56
6.2 Field Measurement Data ........................................................................................... 58
6.4 Results ....................................................................................................................... 65
6.5 Conclusion ................................................................................................................ 71
6.6 Limitations ................................................................................................................ 71
8. Case Study 4: Commercial Swimming Pool ...................................................... 72
7.1 Heat Pump System .................................................................................................... 72
7.3 Simulation Results .................................................................................................... 74
7.4 Discussion ................................................................................................................. 74
7.5 Conclusion ................................................................................................................ 75
7.6 Limitations ................................................................................................................ 75
7.7 Scope for future work ............................................................................................... 75
9. Conclusion ............................................................................................................ 76
8.1 Future Work .............................................................................................................. 76
10. Appendix ............................................................................................................... 82
Case Study 1 ........................................................................................................................ 82
Case Study 2 ........................................................................................................................ 83
Chapter 1
Introduction
1.1 Background
Both the 19th and 20th centuries had seen industrial revolutions that paved way for
the modern society that exists now. A lot of inventions led to great advancements in human
society which remains the reason for the latest technologies and human progression. Even
though these advancements changed human society towards betterment there have been
consequences in form of environmental degradation, which was later realized in the late
1900s. Environmental degradation is caused on many fronts like air, water, and soil. These
fronts are the basic necessity for any living organisms on the earth and an impact on one of
these fronts causes an impact on other resources too, as these resources are linked to one
another as a nexus. For example, the greenhouse gases lead to global temperature rise
thereby increasing the melting of polar icebergs which in turn leads to a rise in sea level as
well as the increase in air pollution leads to an increase in pollutants in water resources too.
The increase in global temperature will impact the soil resources through dryness. These
are mere examples of environmental degradation which are one of the important
consequences of industrial revolutions that took place in the last centuries. After the
realization of the environmental deterioration, the countries in the world have been trying
to reduce the impacts and mitigate the impacts through introducing various protocols,
setting targets, and monitoring the set goals.
The Montreal Protocol was introduced in 1987 which focused on phasing out
ozone-depleting substances like HCFCs which have high global warming potential (GWP)
and high ozone depletion potential (ODP) [1]. Then in 1997, the Kyoto protocol was
introduced with the main focus of reducing greenhouse gases so as to limit and reduce
global warming [2]. In late 2015, the important Paris Climate Accords were adopted by 196
countries and the same was effectively implemented in 2016 [3]. The Paris agreement is an
international treaty driven to avoid disastrous climate change by restricting global warming
below 2oC and simultaneously pursuing to limit the same to 1.5oC. This treaty between the
countries ensured to monitor the progress of the countries toward climate change every 5
years. With this treaty, each country has its own Nationally Determined Contributions
(NDCs), that must be assessed and enhanced every 5 years [4]. All these protocols and
NDCs of countries focus on both limiting climate change and mitigating the effects of
climate change.
According to a special report by the European Court of Auditors, the building sector
consumes about 42% of total energy in European Union which can be seen from the figure
1.1, and the energy consumption towards space heating and domestic water heating in
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residential buildings in European Union alone contribute to 79% of the total final energy
use [5]. The report also suggests that the building sector has the greatest potential for energy
savings.
Figure 1.1: Energy consumption by sector [5]
The most of energy consumption towards space heating and domestic hot water is
contributed by the usage of fossil energy sources like coal, gas, and oil. These types of primary
energy sources have become the primary greenhouse gas emitting sources. Adding to these,
the usage of synthetic refrigerants like R22, R134a, and R410A in heat exchanging appliances
like air conditioning units, and heat pumps contribute to the greenhouse effect owing to the fact
that these synthetic refrigerants have high GWP.
Due to these complications over the greenhouse gas emissions contributed by

refrigerant usage, European Union introduced F-gas regulation over the HFC refrigerants with
the aim of phasing these refrigerants out in steps to 1/5th of HFCs sales in 2014 by the year
2030. The regulation also focused on banning the F-gases in new types of equipment like
refrigerators and air conditioning units [6].
The regulations alone do not contribute towards a greener future but there are various
research projects performed with various objectives like inventing better equipment, improving
the performance of existing equipment, and researching for better refrigerants with both low
GWP and ODP. These research projects analyse the existing systems and tune them to perform
better and improve their energy efficiency thereby reducing global warming there has been a
lot of research on using natural refrigerants as alternatives to synthetic refrigerants to contribute
towards limiting the global temperature rise of 1.5oC.
1.2 Purpose
This thesis evaluates the performance of heat pumps using CO2 as refrigerants using
field measurements, and heat pump manufacturer performance data in different applications in
comparison to other natural and synthetic refrigerants. The analysis of the CO2 heat pumps is
performed for the climatic conditions of Stockholm, Sweden. The main purpose of this thesis
is to understand the performance of CO2 heat pumps in terms of COP and cost savings in reality
and its performance as an alternative to synthetic and other natural refrigerants in applications
like space heating, domestic hot water heating, and space cooling. This thesis provides a better
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understanding of how the refrigerant CO2 could be used in applications related to thermal
comfort in living spaces and domestic hot water heating thereby promoting both a sustainable
future and goals toward global warming.
1.3 Methods
The methods used in the study include:

Collecting data on heat pumps installed in a different building with different
applications.
Data Processing
Constructing a simulation model for calculation.
Simulating the results of the performance of the heat pump (heating and cooling
capacity, COP)
1.4 Objectives
The specific objectives of the thesis are:
Analyse the performance of CO2 refrigerant through COP simulation

Analyse the CO2 refrigerant in terms of Cost
Compare the performance of CO2 refrigerant with a few of the other natural and
synthetic refrigerants.
1.5 Methodology
The study examines four cases in four different buildings. The methodology of the
study includes five parts: Data collection, Simulation, Analysis, Result and Conclusion. In the
data collection stage, the available field data of CO2 heat pump are obtained from the buildings
and other technical data on the CO2 heat pump is obtained from the manufacturer. The level of
available data in all the cases differ. The data collection also includes analysis of field data
obtained from the heat pump. In the simulation stage, the heat pump with considered
refrigerants is modelled in the Excel with CoolProp add-in, through the technical data obtained
from the manufacturer. The modelled simulation is run. The simulation outputs depend on the
available heat pump data. The result phase includes analysis of the results and verification of
the results. The results are verified and feedback from the results are also taken into simulation
to improve the simulation model. The analysis stage involves in analysing the results obtained
from the simulation and comparing the results of the simulation. Conclusion phase discusses
the analysis performed in the study.
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Data •Data Collection
•Data Processing
Collection
•Simulation Model
Simulation Design
•Simulation
•Result Investigation
Result •Result Verification
•Performance Analysis
Analysis •Field Data Analysis
•Cost Benefit Analysis
•Discussion
Conclusion •Conclusion
Figure 1.2: Methodology
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Chapter 2
Literature Review
2.1 Overview
The greenhouse effect was first calculated by renowned scientist Svante Arrhenius in
1896. But the importance of global warming was not concerned until the late 1970s [7] and the
concern on ozone depletion was started only after the implications stated in the study conducted
by Jonathan Shanklin in the year 1985 from Halley Research Station in Antarctica [8]. After
these major findings, various policies were introduced to control the emissions. The policies
include Montreal Protocol (1987), Kyoto Protocol (1997), and Paris Agreement (2015). The
policies were implemented to mitigate the effect of greenhouse gases by controlling the high
GHG emitting sectors like residential, industrial, and commercial. Among these sectors, the
usage of synthetic refrigerants like CFC, and HCFC contributed to major environmental
impacts as these synthetic refrigerants not only stay in the atmosphere for a long time causing
global warming, but also a few refrigerants combine with the ozone layer and drop down in
form of acidic and poisonous rain. These concerns with synthetic refrigerants increased the
need for alternative refrigerants that are natural and have better performance [9].
Refrigerants have been used widely in different sectors, especially for the purpose of
heating and cooling needs. At present, the heating demand in buildings and industries exceeds
the cooling demand. But it is expected that the cooling demand will rise and gradually rises
higher than the heating demand [10]. It was stated by the European Union that by 2030 heating
energy demand would be lowered by 30% whereas the energy for cooling would rise by 72%
[11]. Also, according to a study by Isaac et al in 2009 [12], the global heating demand is
projected to increase until 2030 and then become stable. According to the study, by the year
2060, the cooling demand would be higher than the heating demand. According to International
Energy Agency, by 2050, around 75% of households are estimated to use air conditioning units,
and the developing countries India, China, and Indonesia would contribute to 50% of the
estimated quantity. The same report explains that space cooling in buildings alone constitutes
37% of cooling demand in 2050. The report describes the importance of the use of efficient air
conditioning units through scenarios and explains that if efficient cooling appliances are used
for space heating purposes, the cooling energy demand could be reduced up to 45% [13]. The
following figure shows the scenarios for future cooling demand.
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Figure 2.1: Cooling demand prospect [58]
All these facts require the need for systems and refrigerants that are both efficient and
have a low environmental impact.
2.2 Role of Heat Pumps in Building Energy
The last century ended with a great concern about global warming and ozone depletion
which led to the implementation of the Montreal (1987) and Kyoto (1997) protocols. These
concerns did not end over there. Due to the need for a global drive and awareness toward
greenhouse gas emissions, the Paris Climate Agreement was bought forward in 2015, and 197
countries agreed to fight climate change together. Since then, most countries have been
working towards clean energy sources through policies to reduce GHG emissions and limit
global climate change. But the low carbon future needs decarbonization of energy sectors like
heating, electricity, and transport. Among these, the heating energy sector is the most carbon
and energy-intensive sector in the EU [14]. About 50% of the total energy demand is used for
heating purposes in the EU and three-fourths of this energy is provided by fossil fuels [15].
When viewed from a global perspective, only one-tenth of the global heat demand is met using
renewable sources in 2017 [16]. According to IEA, in 2020, the percentage of heating
contributed by renewable sources including heat pumps was 25% and it is estimated to reach
73% in 2030. Among these, the heat pumps are expected to grow from 11% in 2020 to 42% in
2030 [17]. It can be noticed that the share is to increase significantly for all the renewable
heating sources, especially heat pumps. By IEA analysis, the heat pumps installed in 2020 were
about 180 million units and are expected to rise to 600 million units in 2030 [17].
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Figure 2.2: Penetration of Heat pumps and other technologies in the past and future prospects [23]
Heat pumps are devices that use electricity to transfer heat from the source to the sink.
The sources could be ground, lake, or air. These heat pumps could also be operated to provide
cooling by transferring heat from the comfort zone to the ground, lake, or air through the use
of a reversal valve. The heat pumps make use of refrigerants which are the operating fluid that
helps in transferring the heat between source and sink. The refrigerant is a fluid used in the heat
pump thermodynamic cycle as a heat carrier undergoing a phase change from liquid to gas and
vice versa reversibly. The parts of the heat pump are similar to the refrigerator with the
evaporator, condenser, expansion valve, compressor and additionally reversing valve which
helps in changing the direction of flow of refrigerant to change between heating and cooling
mode. The heat pumps are being used not only for the purpose of heating and cooling alone
but also for domestic hot water purposes. The heat pumps are considered one of the energy-
efficient and environment-friendly technologies [18].
It was evidently proved that the usage of heat pumps helps in reducing carbon emissions
saving primary energy usage and increasing overall efficiency through various studies
conducted worldwide and some of the examples clearly stating these results are provided by
Yunna et al [18] and Alla et al [19]. The Swedish case study [20] considered heat pumps to be
superior to several other alternatives like solar collectors, oil, biomass, and natural gas boilers.
A case study performed in California identified heat pumps as an important technology for
decarbonizing the heating sector as it shows up to 50% GHG emission diminution [21]. It was
studied that the integration of heat pumps in Denmark's energy system would reduce system
costs by 16% and biomass usage by 70% within 2035 compared with an energy system with
heat pumps [22]. A study on space heating for residential buildings observes about 30% savings
in primary energy usage and emission reduction of the same percentage compared with natural
gas heating systems [23].
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Types of Heat
Pumps
Air Source Water Source Ground Source Sorption Hybrid Solar
Swallow Ground Adsorption
Geothermal or
Absorption
Bedrock
Figure 2.3: Types of Heat Pumps
The above figure shows different types of heat pumps existing in the market. The most
commonly used heat pumps are Air source, Water source, and Ground source. But other heat
pumps are also being used due to their improving fiscal viability and technical developments.
An air source heat pump (ASHP) uses heat energy available in atmospheric air and improves
the heat and delivers to the space heating zones through the circulation of fans (air-to-air
system) or through water distribution (air-to-water system) [14]. The study performed by Hu
et al [24], concluded that the operating cost of air source heat pumps with radiant floor heating
is the least compared with conventional radiators and modern bi-metal radiators. According to
Marcic, the ASHPs with scroll compressor economizer provided both space heating and
domestic hot water with a mean COP of 3.16 even at an ambient temperature of 0oC [25]. But
the concern with air source heat pumps is their performance dependency on seasonal climatic
conditions.
Water source heat pumps, as the name says, make use of water sources like ponds,
rivers, and lakes as heat energy sources. Water source heat pumps (WSHP) produce fewer
emissions to the environment and significantly result in cost savings [14]. Also, unlike ASHPs,
the seasonal temperature does not significantly impact the performance of the WSHPs, due to
the fact that the temperature of water sources fluctuates less than the ambient air temperature
[14]. A study conducted in Denmark identified that the seasonal variation of temperature did
not significantly impact the COP of the heat pump used for the purpose of transmission and
distribution networks of the district heating system [26]. Even though the performance of
WSHPs is better than ASHPs, the implementation of WSHPs is limited due to the requirement
of large water sources near the living spaces. Environmental regulations also play a vital role
in the implementation of WSHPs [14].
Ground source heat pumps use the ground as their heat energy source. There are two
types of ground source heat pumps (GSHP) – Shallow ground source heat pump and
geothermal or Bedrock heat pump. Shallow ground heat pumps are installed in the ground with
a maximum depth of around 1 m but require more area whereas the bedrock heat pumps require
deep holes in the ground but less area. Studies conducted in Australia [27] and Portugal [28]
found a similar conclusion that the GSHPs cover about 90% of the space heating requirements
with the same performance (COP). Many studies have been performed and concluded in favor
8
of GSHPs, but some studies conclude towards the need for quality heat pump installations and
better study on the performance of GSHPs.
Other heat pumps are not widely used but they do have advantages depending on the
availability of sources. The sorption-based heat pumps use waste heat for their operation and
solar energy is used in the case of solar-type heat pumps. Hybrid-type heat pumps use heat
pumps in combination with a gas boiler or electric heaters [14]. Each of these heat pumps has
its own performance or technical issues. A study on absorption heat pump systems used for
cooling applications concluded that the system could achieve energy savings of around 20%
[29] and another study in China on air source absorption heat pumps could save energy by
about 40% [30]. The study by Demir et al [31] and Meunier [32] suggests that more research
is needed on materials and refrigerants, components, advanced sorption cycles, and feasibility
studies for the sorption-based heat pump systems. In the case of solar heat pumps, it is
explained that these heat pumps could be used for low temperature demands but the
performance of these heat pumps is highly impacted by intermittency in Solar irradiation [14].
These solar-assisted heat pumps also make use of dual sources like solar with GSHPs to
mitigate the intermittency of solar irradiation. The hybrid heat pump system is beneficial in
two climatic conditions cold and mild climates [14]. During the winter season, in northern
countries like Sweden, the ambient temperature could drop up to -15oC leading to low
performance of ASHPs where the hybrid heat pump system with an electric heater could
provide a better indoor climate than individual ASHPs.
Even though the sources of heat pumps change depending on the sources they use, the
basic operation cycle is common to all. These heat pumps can be used based on the available
sources near the dwellings or other living spaces and based on the performance of the heat
pumps. All the heat pumps explained above have their own technical challenges and
operational performances and further research is still required for many heat pumps to improve
their flexibility, and performance for a greener future.
2.3 Refrigerants
Refrigerants are selected for each application based on their specific properties [33]. In
history, various refrigerants were used from time to time based on the availability, toxicity,
flammability, and performance of the refrigerants from the ether, petrol in the initial time to R-
1234yf, R-1234ze, hydrocarbons as the latest [34]. Natural refrigerants like ammonia and CO2
were used in the early days and were reduced or phased out by introducing CFC
(Chlorofluorocarbon) refrigerants. After an extended period, the harmful effects of CFC
refrigerants were noted and banned by Montreal Protocol in 1987. Instead of CFC refrigerants,
hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) were recommended as a substitution for CFCs. Considering the
environmental effects like ozone depletion and global warming, the Kyoto Protocol in 1997
scheduled to terminate the use of HCFCs and HFCs by 2030 and 2040, respectively. Though
there has been a great search towards finding an ideal refrigerant without any adverse influence
on the environment, Ciconkov states that no such refrigerants are in the sight with all ideal
properties [35]. With the detrimental effects of refrigerants in mind, the phased-out natural
refrigerants like CO2 have seen increased interest along with synthetic refrigerants with low
Global warming potential (GWP) and Ozone depletion potential (ODP) like R-1234yf, R-
1234ze.
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2.3.1 Natural Refrigerants
Natural refrigerants are naturally formed in the atmosphere due to chemical and organic
cycles. The natural refrigerants that are used in refrigeration cycles include Carbon Dioxide
(R-744), Ammonia (R-717), Sulfur Dioxide (R-764), and Ethyl ether (R-610), Water (R-718),
and Air (R-728). Among these refrigerants, Carbon dioxide and Ammonia are the highlights
of this thesis. Sulfur dioxide is not commonly used as a refrigerant in refrigeration cycles owing
to its corrosive and hazardous nature. Water (R-718) and Air (R-728) are non-flammable, non-
toxic, and widely available resources. Even though water has a high refrigeration effect, the
volumetric flow is ten times higher for the same capacity compared to the CFCs [36][37]. Water
(R-718) when compared with Propane, ammonia, R-134a, R-22, and R-152a for an evaporation
temperature above 35oC, water achieved higher COP [38]. However, the high volumetric flow,
high pressure (221 bar), and high critical temperature (373.95oC) make water less significant
for refrigeration processes [39]. Air, on the other hand, has a low critical temperature (-140.32
o
C). Air as a refrigerant is limited to air conditioning in high-speed trains and aircraft and in
industrial applications requiring extremely low temperatures between -50 oC and -100 oC [34].
High cost, low COP, and large system size pose the main drawbacks in using air as a refrigerant
[40].
2.3.2 Ammonia (R-717)
Ammonia which has been used since the beginning of refrigeration has zero ODP and
GWP along with good thermodynamic and heat transfer properties. Due to better heat transfer
properties, R-717 is used extensively in food-based industries. Ammonia has high miscibility
with water and has the lowest molar mass among most refrigerants making the compressor
have a lower swept volume [34]. Even though the ignition temperature of R-717 is 651 oC and
the lower explosion limit is 15%, the wide usage of ammonia is limited only to large
commercial applications even though its potential in low-capacity heating has been justified by
several authors [41]. Ammonia has a critical temperature of 132.25 oC and critical pressure of
113.33 bar with a high heat of vaporization (1313.2 kJ/kg). A domestic heat pump employing
ammonia as a refrigerant with a capacity of 9 kW for water heating has been successfully
fabricated and evaluated [42]. The result of the study suggests that the heat pump achieved a
COP in the range of 3.8 - 4.8. Ammonia has been limited to commercial purposes due to its
strong odor even at 5 ppm which creates panic. But ammonia is fatal only at a concentration of
5000 ppm and the threshold limit is set at 25 ppm. Adding to the above, ammonia has low
flammability in the air when it is about 16 to 28 percent by weight [34]. Ammonia is corrosive
due to its miscibility with water making it incompatible with copper, zinc, and their alloys
which becomes a major concern for safety issues. Also, ammonia has poor miscibility with oil
which makes it difficult in domestic applications. Safety issues pose the major challenge in
employing ammonia as a refrigerant in domestic applications.
2.3.3 Carbon dioxide (R-744)
Carbon dioxide is a natural refrigerant with zero ODP and a GWP value of one. CO2 is
non-flammable, non-toxic, and easily available from the atmosphere, which makes it
inexpensive. The use of CO2 refrigerant has been phased out by the intervention of CFC
refrigerants and its low critical pressure but now CO2 is gaining interest. Carbon dioxide has
low liquid density resulting in small system components and less charge quantity. CO2 provides
10
5.8 times higher refrigeration capacity at a very low critical temperature [34]. Due to the low
molar mass of CO2 and high operating pressure, the volumetric flow of CO2 is also reduced.
As the density of CO2 is higher, CO2 has an advantage in production and transportation, in
comparison with ammonia and HFCs, as the equivalent weight per kg is less in the case of CO2.
Glycols and salt brine have been replaced by CO2 as a secondary refrigerant. It is also reported
that COP is higher compared to HFC-based refrigeration systems in supermarkets for 90% of
the year when CO2 is used as a refrigerant [34]. In comparison to ammonia, even though CO2
operates at 10 times higher pressure, CO2 offers high refrigeration capacity due to its high gas
density. CO2 provides a cooling capacity of 22,600 kJ/Kg at 0 oC which is stated as 5-22 times
higher than other synthetic and natural refrigerants. It is stated that CO2 produces a small
reduction in saturation temperature for pressure drop facilitating high mass flux in the
evaporator and suction pipes and this effect is noticed when the CO2 system is operated
between -30 and -50 oC when higher efficiencies have been measured. When operated above
the critical pressure, there is a temperature glide when CO2 is condensed from the gaseous
phase.
2.3.4 Hydrocarbons
Hydrocarbon (HC) refrigerants are also naturally forming refrigerants and they include
propane (R-290), methane (R-50), butane (R-600), ethane (R-170), ethylene (R-1150),
propylene (R-1270) and isobutane (R-600a). Hydrocarbons have zero ODP and low GWP. HCs
are environmentally friendly, but their flammability poses a major challenge. The ignition
temperatures of HCs range between 420 oC and 600 oC Methane and ethane are used in low-
temperature applications of about -80 oC, as they have extremely low boiling points of -162 oC
and -88.58 oC respectively. Propane has been evaluated in comparison with R-12 in a standard
vapor compression system and reported to provide a higher cooling capacity and similar COP
[43]. The results were backed by Saleh et al using the BACKBONE equation [44]. Propylene
showed higher capacity and COP in comparison to R22 [44][45]. A mixture of propane and
butane in the same ratio was reported to perform better in comparison to R-134a and saves
energy by 4.4% with less charge quantity [46]. James et al suggest a restricted charge quantity
of 200 grams of HC refrigerants for domestic refrigeration whereas this quantity does not
exceed 0.40 grams in such systems [47]. But a charge quantity of 150 grams is referred for
domestic purposes in accordance with international standards like ISO [45].
2.3.5 Synthetic Refrigerants
The introduction of synthetic refrigerants like CFCs and HFCs developed industrial
growth but degraded the environment adversely [48]. Initial refrigerants like R141a, R141b,
R123, and R152a were replaced later by R134a even though a few of the former CFC
refrigerants like R11 persisted [48]. HFCs do not bring about global warming but form acid
and are poisonous when exposed to UV which would affect the earth later [48]. All these
negative impacts led to the implementation of the Montreal Protocol (1987), Kyoto protocol
(1997), European Union legislation (2014), F-gas regulations (2015), and Paris Accord (2016)
to facilitate development towards a greener future.
Various research has been performed to filter refrigerants based on their
thermodynamic, environmental, and physical properties. In 2014, Mclinden et al screened
refrigerants and found 1200 low GWP refrigerants, which based on the parameters – GWP ≤
11
200, Flammability ≤ 0.10 kg/m2, chemical stability, non-toxic, 26.85oC ≤ critical temperature
≤ 126.85oC were further filtered to 62 prospective refrigerants [49]. These refrigerants include
Sulfur compounds, halogenated oxygenate, halogenated nitrogen, fluorinated and halogenated
olefins, halogenated alkenes, inorganic, and other compounds. Among these compounds,
natural refrigerants are explained to be an interest in the future due to their environmental
advantages, thermodynamic properties, chemical stability, and low toxicity [50].
Figure 2.4: Environmental Properties of Refrigerants. Source [51][52][49]
The above figure shows the environmental properties of various synthetic and natural
refrigerants. The natural refrigerants R-744 (CO2), and R-717 (ammonia) can be seen to have
better environmental properties whereas the synthetic refrigerants have high GWP and long
life making them less favorable for a greener future [48]. Naeem Abas et al explains that natural
refrigerants are significant refrigerants in terms of Environmental, physical, transport,
performance, chemical, and fiscal properties through normalized quality values compared to
synthetic refrigerants, emphasizing more CO2 refrigerant. The newly developed synthetic
refrigerants R-1234yf and R-152a are also said to have favorable qualities and seem to be
potential candidates for next-generation heat pump applications [48].
2.4 CO2 Heat Pumps
CO2 refrigerant is a natural refrigerant like ammonia, and propane and it has a few
properties that make CO2 heat pumps a technology of interest in recent years. The table 2.1
shows the properties of CO2 refrigerant along with other common refrigerants such as
ammonia, propane, R-134a, and R-22. R-134a and R-22 have been commonly used for heat
pump applications whereas ammonia and propane are natural refrigerant alternatives.
12
Table 2.1: Properties of CO2 and other common refrigerants [53] [54] [55]
Refrigerant
Properties R-744 R-717 R-290
R-134a R-22
(CO2) (NH3) (Propane)
Critical
31.06 132.25 96.74 101.06 96.15
Temperature (oC)
Critical Pressure
73.84 113.33 42.51 40.59 49.90
(bar)
GWP (100 years,
1 0 3 1300 1500
relative to CO2)
ODP (relative to
0 0 0 0 0.055
R-11)
Atmospheric life
- - - 13.6 13.3
(years)
The CO2 refrigerant can operate in two different regions, Sub-critical region and Trans-
critical region as shown in the figure 2.5. As described in the table 2.1, the critical temperature
of CO2 refrigerant is 31oC, the least of other compared refrigerants. This is one of the main
reasons why the CO2 heat pumps facilitate operating in trans critical region. When the system
is operated in trans critical region, the discharge pressure from the compressors is high causing
an increase in power consumption. Even though the discharge pressure out of compressors is
high, the pressure ratio of CO2 heat pumps is usually lower than other refrigerants which result
in higher volumetric efficiency of the compressor [54]. When operated in trans-critical region,
on the gas cooler outlet temperature the COP of the system can be increased.
Figure 2.5: Sub-critical and Trans-critical operation of CO2 heat pumps [56]
CO2 refrigerant has good safety properties of non-toxicity, non-flammability, and non-
explosive properties. CO2 refrigerant has very good stability with most materials and oils
making it more suitable for applications. CO2 refrigerant is highly available making it a cheaper
refrigerant [54]. CO2 refrigerant has a high heat transfer coefficient of 2-3 times the traditional
refrigerants at the same saturation temperature owing to low surface tension, high vapor
density, and low vapor viscosity, also the two-phase flow of CO2 refrigerant has a low-pressure
drop [58]. CO2 refrigerant, due to lower pumping power, good stability with materials, and
good heat transfer properties, is used as a secondary refrigerant in many applications and as
both primary and secondary refrigerant in third-generation ice rink applications. The high vapor
density at high pressure results in smaller components reducing the sizes of pipes, compressor
which also results in high volumetric refrigeration capacity [59].
13
2.5 Performance of CO2 refrigerant
The performance of CO2 refrigerant has been studied by various research in different
parts of the world in different applications such as supermarkets, climatic chambers, domestic
space heating, and cooling applications, domestic hot water applications, and district heating
applications. A few of the studies have been explained here to provide a perspective on the
operation of the CO2 heat pump in different applications and different climatic conditions
occurring over the world.
The study [60] performed by Willy Adriansyah explains the combined air conditioning
and tap water heating using a CO2 heat pump both theoretically and experimentally for tropical
countries like Singapore and Indonesia. The study describes that due to the low cost and high
availability of CO2 refrigerant, the refrigerant could be free from marketplace monopoly. It
explains that the heating process in the CO2 heat pump occurs by sensible heating rather than
latent heating in conventional heat pump systems. The study also points out that the
performance of the heat pumps will reach low values when the traditional heat pumps are used
for tap water heating purposes along with cooling, which is not the case for the CO2 heat pump.
Also, in a CO2 heat pump, a very low pinch temperature at the gas cooler could be reached
especially in domestic hot water applications, since the pinch occurs at the end of the heat
rejection process, unlike conventional systems, indicating that the COP is increased when the
approach temperature is decreased. This is better illustrated in the figure
Figure 2.6: Sub-critical and Trans-critical operation of CO2 heat pumps [76]
Experimentally it was indicated that the CO2 heat pump performed exceptionally well
but had lower COP with the cooling process in comparison to other conventional systems [60].
The experiment conducted by Willy Adriansyah also compares the result between parallel and
series heat rejection, as shown in figure 2.7, through a gas cooler after tap water heating and
shows that the parallel configuration provides better cooling COP whereas the series
configuration provides negligible results compared to a system without domestic water heating.
The study [60] conducted in Singapore concluded that the CO2 heat pump when operated for
combined purposes, it offers promising potential for the future for tropical regions.
14
Figure 2.7: Series and parallel configuration [60]
Similarly, a study [50] on air source CO2 heat pumps in tropical conditions of Singapore
for the purpose of domestic hot water was analyzed experimentally. The experiment focused
on the performance of air source CO2 heat pump for domestic hot water purposes alone with
results on the system performance after usage of hot water from the tank. The experiment was
conducted at high ambient temperatures between 25oC and 34oC. The results of the study
concluded that the CO2 heat pump system had a mean COP of 5.4 for the water temperature
set point of 65oC and a mean COP of 3.8 for 80oC. It was also concluded that the ambient
temperature and relative humidity did not significantly impact the performance of the heat
pump for the water heating purpose. Also, the study concluded that the consumption of hot
water from the tank did not impact the performance of the heat pump to a large extent. The
study concluded that the CO2 heat pump for domestic hot water is both suitable and economical
for tropical weather conditions like in Singapore.
A study was conducted by Li et al [61] in 2021 on recovering heat for space heating
purposes from a data centre located in China using the trans-critical CO2 heat pump. The study
not only focused on the performance of CO2 heat pumps but also on the optimal configuration
to use for heat recovery from the data centre using heat pumps. The study used four types of
configurations – Direct recovery (through the evaporator), indirect recovery (from water cooled
chiller in between the heat pump and the data centre), using an Internal suction heat exchanger
and without an internal suction heat exchanger. The study also varied the supply temperature
between 50oC and 75oC for the radiators for space heating. The study concluded that the direct
recovery of heat from the data centre showed better performance in terms of COP exceeding
indirect recovery by about 23% and 18% for supply temperatures of 50oC and 75oC
respectively. The study determined that the COP of the heat pump utilized for heat recovery
from the data centre for space heating purposes provided is in the range of 3.05-3.92. Also, it
was concluded that the internal suction heat exchanger improved the COP of the heat pump by
2.0%-3.9%. The study comparing the economic cost of energy between the heat recovery from
the data centre and other forms of heating technologies like electric heating, gas heating, air
source heat pump, and ground source heat pump concluded that the heat recovery heat pump
outperformed all other technologies on basis of energy cost by the following percentages: 75%,
28.9%, 42.8%, and 23% respectively. The study also concluded favourably on the heat pump
based on emission reduction. The figure 2.8 provide information on the performance of the
heat pump in terms of COP and annual cost compared with different configuration, Direct
(connecting heat pump between the data centre and the residential building) and Indirect
(connecting heat pump between chiller of data centre and residential building), and other
15
heating technologies like Electric heating, Coal heating, gas heating, ASHP and GSHP, as
shown in figure 2.9. The study also reports the system investment cost for both direct and
indirect system configurations as shown in the figure 2.8.
Figure 2.8: Comparison of Cost and COP of Direct and Indirect Heat pump Systems [49]
50
45
Annual Energy Cost (106 CNY)
40
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
50 75
Supply water temperature (oC)
Heat Recovery HP Electric Heating Gas Heating Coal Heating ASHP GSHP
Figure 2.9: Energy Cost of different technologies compared to heat pump utilizing heat from data centre [49]
The annual energy cost of a heat recovery heat pump is the second least energy cost
technology after a coal-powered heating system. This is explained to be due to the cheap costs
of coal in China. Also, given that coal heating produces serious emission problems, the coal
heating technology is to be phased out in the future, and the heat recovery heat pump is
determined to be the best among the technologies considered.
A study performed by Liu et al [62] provides a comprehensive analysis of operational,
environmental, and economical performance on different trans-critical CO2 heat pump
configuration systems to replace the R-134a system for space heating purposes. Unlike the
previous study, this study on air source heat pumps does not include indirect systems in the
configuration types. The four configurations considered in this study are – a simple single-
stage system CO2 HPSSC, a two-stage compression system with inter-stage cooling CO2 HPTSC,
16
ISC, vapor injection system CO2 HVI, and the final system with all the configurations of a two-
stage compression system with inter-stage cooling and vapor injection system CO2 HPTSC, VI,
ISC. The figures 2.10, 2.11, 2.12, 2.13 show each system configuration with a pressure enthalpy
diagram.
Figure 2.10: System and P-H Diagram of Simple Single Stage CO2 heat pump [62]
Figure 2.11: System and P-H Diagram of Two-stage compression with interstage cooling CO2 heat pump [62]
Figure 2.12: System and P-H Diagram of Vapor injection CO2 heat pump [62]
17
Figure 2.13: System and P-H Diagram of two-stage compression with interstage cooling and vapor injection
CO2 heat pump [62]
The study not only compares the performance of the configurations with R-134a but
also analyses the performance of the heat pump configuration in three different climatic zones
belonging to five regions of China. The three climatic zones are – Severe cold regions (Urumqi
and Shenyang), Cold regions (Beijing and Xi’an), and hot summer with cold winter region
(Shanghai). Analyzing the operational performance of the heat pump configurations with that
of R-134a in terms of SPF (Season Performance Factor), the combined configuration heat
pump system CO2 HPTSC, VI, ISC preceded all other systems, as shown in the figure 2.14. But it
was also explained that the vapor injection configuration system was better performing in the
severe cold region than other basic systems other than the CO2 HPTSC, VI, ISC.
Figure 2.14: Seasonal Performance Factor of different heat pump systems [62]
The SPF of the CO2 HPTSC, VI, ISC exceeds the R-134a heat pump system by around 15-
17%. The environmental performance of the heat pump systems along with coal-fired boilers
and wall-hanging gas boiler heating concluded that the modified CO2 heat pumps had better
environmental performance than the R-134a system and coal-fired boiler heating system with
CO2 HPTSC, VI, ISC systems exceeding other systems, as shown in the figure 2.15.
18
Figure 2.15: Environmental Performance of different heating technologies [62]
But, unfortunately, the life cycle cost analysis of the heat pump system concluded that
during a period of 15 years, the life cycle cost of the CO2 heat pump system is higher than the
life cycle cost of the R-134a system, owing to the fact that the initial investment cost is highly
impacted by the high cost of CO2 heat pumps in China. Thus, the study concluded the need for
an increase in the production of CO2 heat pumps and technological advances, so that the
production sale of heat pumps reduces the cost of CO2 heat pump compressors resulting in
better penetration of CO2 heat pump technology for better prospects.
A study on the performance of a CO2 heat pump system with an ejector was performed
by Taleghani et al [63]. The study was performed numerically by changing the total heat
transfer area of the gas cooler and evaporator. The study observed an increase of COP of about
17% and heating capacity of 20% when the heat transfer area is increased while decreasing the
optimum gas cooler pressure as illustrated in the figure 2.17. The system with ejector is
illustrated in the figure 2.16.
Figure 2.16: CO2 heat pump with Ejector. a) system configuration b) Process in P-H diagram [64]
19
Figure 2.17: Performance of Ejector with gas cooler pressure for different heat transfer area ratios [63]
The studies explained above provide a better understanding of the heat pumps and
especially the CO2 heat pump’s configurations, operational, economic, and environmental
performance in various climatic conditions, and applications. These studies established
performance analysis of CO2 heat pumps both experimentally and numerically. But the analysis
of the performance of CO2 heat pumps changes continuously year around and the temperature
is dependent on the location of the heat pump. This change in performance of air source CO2
heat pumps in different applications year-round has limited research.
Moreover, the performance of CO2 heat pump is highly influenced when there is more
Domestic hot water demand. This is explained by Jørn Stene [76].
Figure 2.18: Heat pump performance with respect to DHW [76]
This research focuses on analysing the year-round operational performance of CO2 heat
pumps used in different applications with actual heat pump system specifications using a
simulation model specifically made by utilizing different equations to analyse the heat pump
systems. The study also focuses on the cost-benefit analysis of CO2 heat pumps in a real-time
application and compares the performance with other refrigerant heat pumps.
20
Chapter 3
Simulation Model
The simulation model is designed especially for each heat pump system based on the
configuration of the heat pump like single-stage, single-stage with a flash tank, two-stage with
a flash tank, two-stage with ejector and flash tank, and cascade system. The simulation model
is designed in the Microsoft Excel sheets and it uses Cool Prop [74] add-in to compute
thermophysical properties like enthalpy, and entropy of refrigerants at different parameters
such as pressure, temperature, and vapor quality. The simulation model then makes use of these
properties in formulas to evaluate the performance, heating, and cooling capacity of the heat
pumps.
3.1 Simulation Model Assumptions
The simulation model is a mathematical model which makes some assumptions over
the operation of the heat pump to evaluate the heat pump. The assumptions are [65]:
1. The heat pump system operates at a steady state.
2. The pressure drop during the gas cooling / condensation and evaporation process is
neglected.
3. Heat loss through pipes is not considered since it is assumed that the pipes are well-
insulated
4. Frictional heat loss in pipes is considered negligible.
5. The potential and kinetic energy changes are neglected.
6. The expansion process through the expansion valve is considered isenthalpic.
7. The temperature difference during evaporation and condensation / gas cooling process
is considered to be constant
8. The superheat and subcooling is assumed and described in each case study.
9. In trans-critical operation, the system is considered to be controlled by having a
constant optimum pressure in gas cooling process.
3.2 Simulation Model Formulae
The formulae used in the simulation model could be easily understood by using a basic
Pressure Enthalpy diagram of a CO2 heat pump, as described by Wang et al [65].
21
Figure 3.1: Basic CO2 trans-critical P-H cycle [65]
The mass flow rate of the single stage semi-hermetic reciprocating compressor is
specified as:
𝑚̇ = 𝜂𝑣 𝜌 V̇s (1)
where 𝜂𝑣 is the volumetric efficiency, V̇s (m3/s) is the swept volume of the compressor
and 𝜌 is the density of the refrigerant at point 1. The volumetric efficiency is calculated from
the manufacturer technical compressor data based on the pressure ratio across the compressor.
The swept volume flow is calculated as
𝜋 𝑁
V̇s = 2 x D2 x S x Z x 60 (2)
Where D is the bore diameter of the compressor and S is the stroke length of the
compressor, Z is the number of cylinders in the compressor, N is the revolution per minute
Considering the isenthalpic process during the expansion, the enthalpy at points 3 and
4 are the same.
h3 = h4 (3)
The cooling and heating capacity of the heat pump is defined as:
Qevap = ṁ x (h1 – h4) (4)
Qgas cooler = ṁ x (h2 – h3) (5)
The compressor work is defined as
Eisen = ṁ x (h2 isen – h1) (6)
The above equation corresponds to isentropic compression but in the model, isentropic
compression is not considered so the equation changes to:
Eel = ṁ x (h2k-h1) (7)
ℎ2𝑘 𝑖𝑠𝑒𝑛 – ℎ1
h2k = h1 + (8)
𝜂𝑖𝑠𝑒𝑛
where the 𝜂𝑖𝑠𝑒𝑛 is the isentropic efficiency of the compressor.
22
𝜂𝑖𝑠𝑒𝑛 = Eisen / Eel (9)
For the two-stage compression configuration with receiver, the vapor quality “X” is
used for computing the ṁgas and ṁliquid.
ṁtot = ṁliquid + ṁgas (10)
ṁliquid = ṁtot x (1-X) (11)
ṁgas = ṁtot x X (12)
where ṁtot is the total mass flow rate.
The performance of the heat pump is evaluated using the formulae:
Heating COP
COPhp = Qgas cooler / Eel (13)
Cooling COP
COPref = Qevap / Eel (14)
Overall COP
COPoverall= (Qgas cooler + Qevap) / Eel (15)
23
Chapter 4
Case Study 1: Residential Heat Pump

This case study analyses the performance of an air source heat pump in a building in
Stockholm which is used mainly for residential purposes – space heating, domestic hot water
and space cooling, the building also has some commercial cooling demands for the inline shops
even at low ambient temperature of 5oC. So, this heat pump could meet both cooling and
heating demands based on the requirement. This heat pump analysed is compared with district
heating in terms of energy as well as the cost-benefit between the two systems. The building
was initially built with a district heating system but, later in 2022 was replaced with a CO2 heat
pump system. The energy consumption of heat using a district heating network was available
during the study, which is used in this study to analyse the peak demand that can be met with
the CO2 heat pump system installed.
4.1 Heat Pump System
The CO2 heat pump system is a two-stage heat pump with a flash tank and an ejector.
The system uses 5 Dorin compressors CD4 120-9.2H among which 2 of those compressors
operate between the evaporator and the flash tank and others between the flash tank and the
gas cooler. All the compressors have variable speed drives and so can be differentially operated
by changing the frequency of the compressors. This variable speed drive helps the system to
operate both in low volume flow rate and high-volume flow rate thereby controlling both
heating and cooling loads using low and high frequency to the compressor respectively. The
heat pump is simulated for the Stockholm weather profile for entire year.
Figure 4.1: Residential Heat Pump System
The above figure shows simple schematic of the CO2 heat pump system installed in the
building. This CO2 heat pump system is used for domestic hot water heating, space heating,
24
and space cooling. This system also employs an ejector which helps in rising the pressure of
the flash tank higher than the discharge pressure of booster compressor.
There are three different modes of operation of the heat pump system: Heat pump mode,
Cooling mode and combined mode. During the combined mode, the system operates to meet
both heating and cooling demands in the building. In the heating mode, when the ambient
temperature is between -25oC and 5oC, the medium temperature (MT) compressor compresses
the saturated vapor refrigerant from the flash tank and this high-pressure refrigerant exchanges
heat in the heat exchanger with the water loop (for both the domestic hot water and the space
heating). Then the high-pressure refrigerant expands to the receiver tank pressure after passing
through the ejector. The saturated liquid refrigerant from the receiver tank is further expanded
to evaporator pressure through the expansion valve and this low-pressure refrigerant passes
through the evaporator, opened to the atmosphere, expelling heat to the atmosphere. Then the
low-pressure refrigerant is pressurized through booster compressor (LT) and reaches the
receiver. Then the process continues. In cooling mode, when the ambient temperature is
between 20oC and 32oC, the system operates as a single stage heat pump system. The low-
pressure refrigerant initially passes through a heat exchanger, used for the purpose of space
cooling, and then passes through the evaporator only when the space cooling demands are low,
where the low-pressure refrigerant absorbs heat from the atmosphere and then reaches the low-
temperature compressor (LT). The low-temperature compressor is bypassed in this case. The
low-pressure refrigerant reaches the receiver through ejector and then the refrigerant is
pressurized to high pressure through medium temperature compressor. Then the high-pressure
refrigerant is passes through the gas cooler and the cycle continues. In combined heating and
cooling mode, when the ambient temperature is between 5oC and 20oC, the space heating is
provided by bypassing the gas cooler and the low-pressure refrigerant passes through both the
space cooling heat exchanger and the evaporator, as the heat obtained from space cooling
would be low. From the system diagram, it can be seen that the building is still connected to
the district heating network to be used when there is a heating demand that cannot be supported
by the heat pump. The single-stage (summer) and two-stage (winter) is represented in the
figures 4.2 through P-H diagram.
Figure 4.12: P-H Diagram of Single-stage and Two-stage process
25
4.2 Field Measurement Data
The actual data from the CO2 heat pump system was not available during the time of
the study. But the measurement data on the heating demand and cooling demand in the building
was available, taken before the installation of the heat pump system.
Heat Energy Consumed in the Building

300
250
Heat Energy Consumed (kWh)
200
150
100
50
0
-20 -10 0 10 20 30 40
Ambient Temperature (oC)
Figure 4.3: Heating Demand in the Building
The above diagram shows the heating demand in the building. The diagram signifies
the heat energy consumption from the district heating network with respect to the ambient
temperature. The heating demand in the building is taken at the hourly interval and hence the
diagram has many points, which together are seen as lines.
Figure 4.4: Cooling Demand in the Building
26
The figure 4.4 shows the cooling demand in the building. It can be seen that there is a
cooling demand even at low ambient temperatures of about 7oC. All these values of heating
and cooling demand provided from the building included hourly ambient temperature at the
specified demand.
4.3 Simulation Model
The simulation model is constructed based on the Dorin compressor data and the system
configuration. According to the system specification, the system has three pressure levels –
High pressure, intermediate pressure, and low pressure. The system is assumed to operate only
in trans-critical region. The low pressure is after the expansion valve and the high pressure is
at the compressor discharge. Whereas the intermediate pressure is between the receiver and the
evaporation pressure line. The low-temperature compressor is used to pressurize the refrigerant
from the low pressure to intermediate pressure then the refrigerant reaches the receiver pressure
using the ejector work. The model considers that the ejector is used for the entire time and since
any information on the heat pump system is unavailable during the study, the model is
constructed with the assumption that the ejector provides a constant pressure rise of 4.35 bar
from the intermediate pressure, table A1. From the specifications provided the receiver
pressure was found to change depending on the intermediate and low pressure. So, the model
assumed that the pressure of the receiver tank is changed with the same value as the ejector
pressure rise from the intermediate pressure, i.e., the low-temperature compressor pressurizes
the refrigerant from the low pressure to the intermediate pressure and then gets pressurized to
the receiver pressure, which is 4.35 bar higher than the intermediate pressure, using the ejector
work. The basic flow of the CO2 refrigerant can be understood using the P-h diagram shown
below.1
From the system specifications, the minimum intermediate temperature of the heat
pump system is 0oC whereas the minimum evaporator temperature is -25oC and the maximum
evaporator temperature is 7oC. For the simulation model, on the evaporator side, the approach
temperature between the ambient and the evaporator temperature is kept at a constant 10 K i.e.,
Tevap = Tamb – 10 K. In the simulation model, it is assumed that when the evaporator temperature
reaches 0oC, then both the evaporator and intermediate temperature would be the same i.e.,
when the ambient temperature reaches above 10oC, the low-temperature compressor stops
working and the ejector helps in pressurizing the low-pressure refrigerant to the receiver
pressure (This follows the original ejector type system operation).
Figure 4.5: Approach Temperature at the Evaporator
27
The above figure shows the approach temperature at the evaporator, and it is a simple
representation of the evaporator side. The superheat at the evaporator is kept at a constant value
of 7 K. Due to the unavailability of the data on the temperature outlet from the space heating
heat exchanger for a wide range of ambient temperatures, assumptions have been made for
simulating the performance of the system for the ASHRAE weather profile. The heat pump
system is assumed to operate in a way that it provides the facility radiators with the same supply
and return temperature as the district heating network in Sweden. The supply and return
temperature of the radiator were obtained from the findings of Maria Jangsten [73].
Radiator Temperatures
70
60
50
Temperatures
R² = 0.9999
40
Supply Temp
30
Return Temp
R² = 0.9988
20
10
0
-20 -15 -10 -5 0 5 10 15 20
Ambient Temperatures
Figure 4.6: Radiator Supply and Return Temperatures
The above figure shows the supply and return temperatures for the space heating in
district heating networks for domestic facilities. The same temperatures with an approach
temperature between the radiator temperature and heat pump connection of 3K were used for
the simulation model to analyse the system during winter periods. These temperatures are the
main parameters to determine the final temperature on the high-pressure side before throttling
through the expansion valve in heating and combined modes of system operation.
The gas cooler outlet temperature for the cooling mode is based on the equation
maximum of (27oC, Tamb + Tapp), i.e., the minimum gas cooler temperature at the outlet is kept
at 27oC, which is obtained from the minimum return figure 4.6 as well, and the approach
temperature between the ambient and the gas cooler is kept as 3 K, such that when the ambient
temperature increases above 24oC, the gas cooler outlet temperature increases such that the gas
cooler outlet temperature is higher than the outdoor air temperature. This is made to constrain
the operation of the heat pump in the trans-critical zone and the performance of the system at
the maximum possible condition.
28
Figure 4.7: Approach Temperature at the Gas Cooler
The compressor discharge pressure is optimized for the simulation model using the
equation, Pgc = 2.4 x Tgc_out, investigated by Zhang et al [67]. But the simulation is made at
both optimized pressures as well as at the fixed pressure of 100 bars, figures A1 and A2, as the
performance of the system does not always take place at the optimized pressure. This is made
to visualize the effect of increased pressure on the system performance and the cost saving it
incurs.
The simulation model uses the compressor data to find the isentropic and volumetric
efficiencies of the compressors. The compressor data is taken from the Dorin software, and it
is also available from the compressor datasheet. In this study, the Dorin software v22.06 was
used to take the coefficients to calculate the efficiencies of the compressors. Since there are
two compressors (low-temperature and high-temperature), two sets of efficiency data have
been calculated with respect to pressure ratio. The figure 4.7 show the isentropic efficiencies
of both compressors with respect to pressure ratio.
Figure 4.8: Isentropic Efficiency of LT and MT Compressor
29
The figure 4.9 illustrates the volumetric efficiencies of low-temperature and high-
temperature compressors with respect to pressure ratio.
Figure 4.9: Volumetric Efficiency of LT and MT Compressor
In this case, study, since two different compressors are used, the R2 Value of the
equation for the plot was 1 and hence the equation was directly used for the efficiencies. For
the simulation, it is considered that all the compressors were working at the same time with a
normal frequency of fixed speed drive (50Hz). For the simulation model, the compressors are
assumed to have a heat loss factor of 10% lost to the environment.
The simulation model makes use of the Stockholm weather profile of ASHRAE IWEC
acquired from the Climate Download Centre of Equa [77]. This weather profile is used to
investigate the performance variation with respect to changes in weather conditions.
4.4 Simulation Results
The simulation calculates the heating capacity, cooling capacity, and COP of the heat
pump system using the formulas described in the earlier chapter. The simulation results are
based on the peak heating capacity and cooling capacity that could be provided by the CO2 heat
pump system when all the compressors are operated at a fixed speed of 50 Hz.
The figure 4.10 illustrates the peak heating capacity provided by the heat pump system
for different outdoor temperatures at optimized pressure. A gap is seen in the plot at the ambient
temperature of 10oC, which is due to the fact that the evaporator and intermediate temperature
become equal, and the electricity required to operate the low-temperature compressor becomes
zero. This change is reflected in the plot. When the ambient temperature is 17oC, the evaporator
temperature reaches its maximum of 7oC and so does the intermediate temperature. This is the
reason why the plot plateaus from 17oC. But when the outdoor air temperature exceeds 29oC,
the temperature at the gas cooler outlet also increases thereby reducing the heating capacity of
the heat pump system. It can also be noticed that when the ambient temperature decreases, the
heating capacity of the heat pump also reduces. This is because the heat energy available in the
air also decreases, thereby decreasing the heating capacity of the air source heat pump system.
30
Comparison of District vs Heat Pump
180
160
140
120
Heat Energy (kW)
100
80
60
40
20
0
-15 -10 -5 0 5 10 15 20
Tamb
Figure 4.10: Heating Capacity of the Heat Pump
The figure 4.11 describes the heating COP of the heat pump system with respect to
different ambient temperatures at optimized pressure. It can be seen that as the ambient
temperature reduces, the heating COP of the system also reduces. The heating COP profile has
the same explanation as that of the heating capacity of the system.
31
Figure 4.11: Heating COP of the Heat Pump
The figure 4.12 illustrates the cooling capacity of the heat pump system at different
ambient air temperatures at optimized pressure.
Figure 4.12: Cooling Capacity of the Heat Pump
The figure 4.13 shows the cooling COP of the heat pump system for the cooling
capacity shown in the previous figure. When seen individually all these figures may be difficult
to comprehend the comparison with the actual demand. So, the comparison of these figures is
32
shown below along with the simulation results of the heat pump at 100 bars of discharge
pressure.
Figure 4.13: Cooling COP of the Heat Pump
The figure 4.14 illustrates the comparison of the heating capacity provided by the heat
pump at both high pressure and optimized pressure to the actual heating demand in the building.
It can be seen that the heating capacity increases as the discharge pressure is increased to 100
bars. The heating capacity provided by the heat pump can be seen as insufficient in the low
ambient temperature conditions and hence the building makes use of extra heating energy from
the district heating network as shown in the initial system diagram. It can also be seen that the
heating capacity of the heat pump at both optimized and high pressure is similar to each other
when the ambient temperature is lower than 10oC. This is because when the ambient
temperature decreases, the required supply temperature to the space heating radiator increase
thereby increasing the gas cooler outlet temperature. This increase in gas cooler outlet
temperature directly impacts the optimum pressure for the system which eventually overlap
with that of the high-pressure model. But when the ambient temperature is higher than 10oC,
there is an increase in mass flow rate leading to a higher heating capacity of the heat pump.
The above figure provided is shown in the unit of kWh to be compared with the heating energy
demand in the building. The conversion was easy as the demand profiles were available for
each hour.
33
Figure 4.14: Comparison of heat pump heating capacity with district heating
The figure 4.15 illustrates the cooling capacity provided by the heat pump system to
the actual cooling demand. The above figure does not show the entire cooling capacity of the
heat pump system since the cooling is taken into account only when there is an actual demand.
The profile for the cooling demand is taken as a simple plot from the actual demand profile
since the available cooling demand was only available in image format rather than actual data
during the study. It can be seen that the heat pump was able to provide more than 90% of the
cooling demand in the building i.e., it covered the cooling demand until the ambient
temperature is about 30oC.
34
Figure 4.15: Comparison of heat pump Cooling capacity with Cooling demand
The figure 4.16 shows the heating COP of the heat pump system at optimized and high-
pressure conditions. From the previous figures, it can be seen that even though the heating
capacity of the heat pump system increases by increasing the discharge pressure, the COP of
the system reduces due to an increase in compressor work. The same result could be seen for
the cooling COP of the heat pump system in the figure 4.17.
Figure 4.16: Comparison of heating COP at optimized and high-pressure conditions
35
Figure 4.17: Comparison of Cooling COP at optimized and high-pressure conditions
The simulation also examined the influence of ejector over the heat pump system and
showed an energy savings of about 8% of total energy consumed over the compressors.
4.5 Cost Benefit Analysis
The cost-benefit analysis of the CO2 heat pump system is made in comparison to the
district heating. The cost of district heating and district electricity was referenced from the
study of Egüez [68]. The cost of district heating and the electricity in Sweden is taken as 0.85
kr and 1.64 kr respectively. For the cost-benefit analysis, it is necessary to find the performance
of a separate air conditioner unit that provides cooling. The performance of a Split type of air
conditioning unit was referenced from the study of Yusof et al [69]. The cost analysis is
performed for both optimized pressure and fixed pressure conditions. For the cost-benefit
analysis, the extra cooling demand required higher than that provided by the heat pump is
neglected, as the cooling demand appears only in a few instances.
The result of the cost-benefit analysis for optimized pressure is shown in the table 4.1.
36
Table 4.1: Cost Benefit Analysis for Optimized Pressure condition
Using District
Heating and
Source Auxillary Cooling Only Heat Pump
(MWh) (MWh) Auxillary (MWh) Total (MWh)
Before After
Heating 498 447 52 498
Cooling 149 149
Heating 153
Electrical
Cooling 47 39
Energy Spent
Total 192
Cost for Heating 423,368 kr 250,748 kr 42,770 kr 293,518 kr
Cost for Cooling 47,000 kr 39,390 kr
Total Cost 470,360 kr 332,908 kr
Savings per year 137,452 kr
The table 4.1 not only shows the savings by using the CO2 heat pump system but also
provides net energy used from the district heating even after installing the heat pump. It should
be noted that all the energy is shown in MWh. It can be confusing that the heat energy provided
by the heat pump is about 90% of the heating demand, but the earlier figure comparing the
district heating and the heat pump heating energy shows that the peak demand is not met at low
ambient temperatures. This is because the total energy considered in the cost-benefit analysis
is not the peak hourly demand. This can be better shown in the histogram chart, figure 4.18.
Histogram
3000 120.00%
2500 100.00%
Frequency
2000 80.00%
1500 60.00%
1000 40.00% District Heat
500 20.00% Cumulative
0 0.00%
100
150
200
250
10
30
20
40
50
60
70
80
90
Bin
Figure 4.18: Histogram of Heating Demand in kW
As shown in the figure 4.18, the high heating demand appears only a few times whereas
the lower heating demand in the building appears higher. The heat pump provides about 60 kW
37
of heating capacity even at the ambient temperature of about -15oC. On checking this value
over the histogram, it can be seen that about 60% of the peak demand is met by the heat pump
even at low ambient temperatures. The result of cost-benefit analysis for fixed pressure is
shown in the table 4.2.
Table 4.2: Cost Benefit Analysis for Fixed Pressure condition
Using District
Heating and
Source Auxillary Cooling Only Heat Pump
(MWh) (MWh) Auxillary (MWh) Total (MWh)
Before After
Heating 498 449 56 498
Cooling 149 149
Heating 160
Electrical
Cooling 47 48
Energy Spent
Total 209
Cost for Heating 423,368 kr 263,390 kr 41,788 kr 305,179 kr
Cost for Cooling 47,047 kr 48,554 kr
Total Cost 470,415 kr 353,733 kr
Savings per year 116,681 kr
4.6 Discussions
From the cost-benefit analysis, the cost of cooling using an auxiliary split air
conditioning unit is lower than the cooling with the heat pump. But the cooling for the heat
pump is considered free cooling until there is no heating demand in the building. Also,
considering the fact that most split air conditioners use refrigerants like R22 which are synthetic
refrigerants, the CO2 heat pump is more sustainable than the split air conditioning units. When
only the cooling is considered after the ambient temperature is above 20oC, the energy
consumption is only about 18,000 kWh and the corresponding cost of that electricity is about
30,500 kr, which is much lower than the cost of cooling using the split air conditioners in
optimized pressure condition. So, the CO2 heat pump provides better and sustainable options
when compared with district heating and auxiliary cooling.
The study also investigated the performance of the ejector in the heat pump system and
found that the ejector saved average total energy of 8% during the whole simulation and the
total energy saved in optimized pressure is about 24 MWh whereas in fixed pressure conditions
it saved around 25.15 MWh since when the system is operated at a higher pressure, the mass
flow rate increases leading to high energy saving but at the expense of the COP of the system.
38
The average heating COP of the system at optimized and fixed pressure conditions is
about 3.6 and 3.2 whereas the average cooling COP of the system under the same conditions
is about 3.5 and 2.9 respectively. From both the cost-benefit analysis, it can be seen that having
an optimized discharger pressure could increase the savings by about 21,000 kr. Checking the
final savings using the heat pump, even considering the fixed pressure conditions, the cost
saving would be around 116,000 kr per year, without consideration of free cooling, if
considered it would be around 139,000 kr per year. The CO2 heat pump considered in this study
provides domestic hot water along with space heating and space cooling needs.
4.7 Conclusion
The result of this study shows the performance of the air source CO2 heat pump in a
residential building and compares the performance and cost-benefit with that of district heating
combined with an auxiliary air conditioning unit. The CO2 heat pump considered in this study
seems to provide a better performance and savings in a sustainable way than that of other
technologies considered.
4.8 Limitations
• The actual performance of the heat pump system was not considered in the study
which might vary. But the worst possible conditions were considered in the study
so that the validity of the results can be considered valuable for other studies.
39
Chapter 5
Case Study 2: Heat Pump Connected

to District Heating Network
This case study focuses on studying the performance of air source CO2 heat pumps in
the application of district heating. For this case study, CO2 heat pumps commercialized by
Fenagy, a heat pump manufacturer, are taken for the purpose of the study. Fenagy heat pumps
are used for providing a sustainable alternative for the district heating network rather than
utilizing boilers and furnaces which degrades the environment. The case study observes the
performance of the air source CO2 heat pump for the Stockholm weather profile and compares
the same with other refrigerants of interest.
The Stockholm district heating network occasionally uses various sources of heat like
Data Centres for sustainable heating. For example, Stockholm city, depending on availability,
uses heat from Data Centres to increase the temperature of water to 40oC and requires the
primary heating systems to increase the temperature from 40oC to desired temperature level
[70]. So, load on the primary heating systems like Furnace, in this case, heat pumps, varies
widely depending on the application. Hence, in this case study, the load on the heat pumps is
varied and the performance of different refrigerants in comparison to CO2 refrigerants is
reported.
5.1 Fenagy CO2 Heat Pump
The Fenagy heat pump model used for the study is H300 AW. Due to the inaccessibility
of the actual performance of H300 AW, based on the system conditions provided on the
website, the heat pump model was theoretically simulated, and the compressor model was
chosen based on the required swept volume. Then the performance of the actual heat pump
model was simulated with a selected compressor model for varied loads. The basic system
conditions taken from the Fenagy website are as follows.
Evaporator Temp: -2oC Ambient Temp: 5oC
Gas Cooler exit Temp: 38oC Gas Cooler Pressure: 105 bars
Heating capacity Q1 = 318 kW
Cooling Capacity Q2 = 210 kW
The system model employs parallel compression.
These system parameters are used only for the theoretical simulation.
40
For simulating the model over the year around the weather profile, some system
parameters have been assumed.
Tevaporator =Tambient – 7 K (Max 7oC) ; Tsup = 10 K;
Tapproach = 4 K
The performance of transcritical CO2 depends on the gas cooler outlet temperature. The
gas cooler outlet temperature in this case study depends on the inlet water temperature. The
relation between gas cooler outlet temperature and the inlet water temperature can be expressed
as:
Tgc_out = Tw,in + Tapproach (16)
Hence, the case study is simulated for various gas cooler outlet temperature which is
directly impacted by the inlet water temperature. In the transcritical operation of the CO2 heat
pump, the pressure should be optimized to obtain higher COP values. The simulation model
employs a correlation for the optimum pressure depending on the gas cooler outlet temperature.
Pgc = 2.4 x Tgc_out [71] (17)
The actual equation postulated has been converted for the pressure values in Bars.
During the implementation of the above equation for various gas cooler outlet temperatures,
the pressure calculated sometimes reached subcritical pressure values and very high-pressure
values. So, the equation for the model is constrained between pressure levels of 85 bar and 115
bar, given these pressure values are normally used for CO2 heat pump operation.
The system uses a receiver tank for its operation. This receiver tank's pressure is
calculated using the equation,
Preceiver = √𝑃𝑔𝑐 ⋅ 𝑃𝑒𝑣𝑎𝑝 [71] (18)
Due to the high pressure of transcritical CO2, the pressure of the receiver reaches near
to critical point and so, the receiver tank pressure is constrained to a maximum pressure value
of 50 bar.
After the selection of the appropriate compressor for the heat pump, the isentropic and
volumetric efficiencies must be calculated based on the pressure ratio. During plotting the
compressor efficiencies over the pressure ratio, the isentropic efficiency varied much resulting
in an equation with an R2 value around 0.65. While using the equation in the simulation resulted
in inconsistent outputs. So, the value of isentropic efficiency over the compressor is plotted
over a set of system parameters and the average and median for the range have been calculated
and a value common to both average and median has been used in the simulation. This
assumption does not impact the results inversely, as the average and median corresponded to
lower efficiency and so when simulated for the original pressure ratio, the performance would
be better than that discussed in this study. This can be seen evidently from the CO2 compressor
model CD 5001M plot. So, for the CO2 heat pump model, the isentropic efficiency was kept
constant at 65%.
41
Also, the compressor model is assumed to have a heat loss of 10% to the environment,
common for all the simulation models [72].
The simulation model makes use of the Stockholm weather profile of ASHRAE IWEC
acquired from the Climate Download Centre of Equa [77]. This weather profile is used to
examine the performance of the heat pumps in response to changes in the weather conditions.
Pr vs Volumetric and Isentropic Eff - Refrigerants

0.9
0.85
0.8 R² = 0.989
0.75
Efficiency
0.7
hvolumetric
0.65
Isen Eff
0.6 R² = 0.6549
0.55
0.5
0 1 2 3 4 5 6
Pressure Ratio
Figure 5.1: Compressor Efficiencies vs Pressure Ratio CO2

5.3 CO2
5.3.1 Simulation Model
First, the theoretical model is simulated based on the design conditions and the heating
requirements to calculate the swept volume and then by using the swept volume, the
compressor model is selected from Dorin or Bitzer compressors. Then the technical data of the
selected compressors are used to plot the isentropic and volumetric efficiency of the
compressor based on the pressure ratio. These values are then used in the simulation model
which is further simulated for the year-round weather profile in Stockholm and for various gas
cooler outlet temperatures in case of CO2 or for various condensing temperatures in case of
other refrigerants. For the purpose of selecting compressors, Dorin software v22.06 has been
used. The weather profile of Stockholm city was acquired from ASHRAE IWEC for Stockholm
Bromma for the year 2022.
The simulation model is based on parallel compression. The parallel compression
process could be easily observed from the figures 5.2 and 5.3. For the simulation of the CO2
heat pump, two types of compressors have been used. One for the parallel compression and the
other for the gas compression from the receiver tank. The compressor models are CD 3501H
and CD 5001M of Dorin Manufacturer. Also, the compressors were simulated at the frequency
of 50 Hz.
42
Figure 5.2:Parallel Compression System Figure 5.3:Parallel Compression in P-H Diagram
5.3.2 Simulation Results
The CO2 heat pump H300 AW performance was simulated for the Stockholm weather
profile based on ASHRAE IWEC for the year 2022 and the following plots have been obtained
on the heat capacity provided by the heat pump and the corresponding COP of heating.
From the figure 5.4, it is evident that the heating capacity of the CO2 heat pump highly
depends on the gas cooler outlet temperature. When the gas cooler outlet temperature increases,
the heating capacity of the heat pump drops significantly. It can be seen that at a gas cooler
outlet temperature of 39oC, the heating capacity of the heat pump is much higher than the H300
AW model. This is due to the reason that the exact compressor model information is not
available during simulation. So, the simulation is based on a selected compressor model based
on the swept volume from the theoretical simulation of H300 AW.
43
CO2 Heat Capacity
450
400
350
Heating Capacity (kW)
Q1 Tgc29
300 Q1 Tgc34
Q1 Tgc39
250 Q1 Tgc44
Q1 Tgc49
200
Q1 Tgc54
Q1 Tgc59
150
100
-20 -15 -10 -5 0 5 10 15 20 25 30
Figure 5.4: Heating Capacity of CO2 Heat Pump

The figure 5.5 signifies how the performance of the heat pump depends on the gas
cooler outlet temperature. As the gas cooler outlet temperature increases, the heating COP of
the CO2 heat pump drops significantly.
CO2 COP hp
5
4.5
4
COP Tgc29
3.5
COP Tgc34
3
COP Tgc39
COP
2.5
COP Tgc49
2
COP Tgc54
1.5
COP Tgc59
1 COP Tgc44
0.5
0
-20 -15 -10 -5 0 5 10 15 20 25 30
Figure 5.5: Heating COP of CO2 Heat Pump
44
5.4 Other Refrigerant Systems
In this section, the performance of various refrigerants is studied for the same heating
capacity to be compared with that of the CO2 heat pump. Following refrigerants are studied for
the comparison:
• R717 (Ammonia – NH3)
• R290 (Propane)
• R134a
R717 and R290 are natural refrigerants similar to CO2, whereas R134a is considered in
this study because the R134a is the most commonly used refrigerant for most heat pump
applications. So, comparing with these refrigerants would be better for analysing the
performance of CO2 in heating applications.
5.4.1 Other Refrigerant System Assumptions
For simulating the other refrigerant model in comparison to the CO2 heat pump, the
following system parameters have been assumed.
Tevaporator =Tambient – 7 K (Max 7oC) ; Tsup = 10 K
There is no sub-cooling.
The receiver pressure is calculated based on the equation:
Preceiver = √𝑃𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑑 ⋅ 𝑃𝑒𝑣𝑎𝑝
But here the receiver pressure was not constrained because the condensing pressure was
within the critical point and the receiver pressure did not result in inconsistency of outputs. All
these assumptions are common to all the further discussed refrigerants.
5.4.2 Other Refrigerants Simulation Model
For the simulation model, the cooling capacity is kept constant for the theoretical
simulation and using this theoretical simulation the swept volume is calculated and used in the
selection of the compressor model for the heat pump. Here the cooling capacity is kept constant
instead of the heating capacity because the heating capacity varies with different refrigerants.
For this simulation model, parallel compression has not been used due to the unavailability of
compressors to undergo the high-pressure difference. So, two-stage compression, as shown in
the figure 5.6, is used in place of parallel compression. Also, the compressors were simulated
at the frequency of 50 Hz.
Since these refrigerants do not operate above the critical point, the condensing
temperature has been varied to study the performance of the refrigerants system.
45
Figure 5.6: Two-Stage Compression System
5.5 R717 (Ammonia-NH3)
The R717 simulation model uses compressor model W6FA of Bitzer Manufacturer.
Using the technical data available from the manufacturer, the volumetric efficiency and
isentropic efficiency have been plotted as follows.
Pr vs Volumetric and Isentropic Eff - NH3

1.2
1 R² = 0.9405
0.8
Efficiency
0.6
Vol Eff
0.4 R² = 0.6761 Isen Eff
0.2
0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6
Pressure Ratio
Figure 5.7: Compressor Efficiencies vs Pressure Ratio NH3
As discussed in the CO2 simulation model, the isentropic efficiency has an R2 value of
about 0.67 leading to inconsistent outputs during simulation over the year around weather data.
So, the isentropic efficiency of the NH3 compressor is taken as 60% from the average and the
median. Whereas the volumetric efficiency plot equation has been kept the same and it did not
yield any inconsistency.
46
The simulation model has been simulated for the refrigerant R717 and the following
plots on the heating capacity and the COP of the system have been obtained. In the below chart
the Tgc indicates gas cooler outlet temperature for CO2 whereas Tc indicates the condensing
temperature of other refrigerants considered in this study. For the comparison, the Tgc
temperature of 44oC is taken as it is the median value of the considered Tgc temperatures.
From the figure 5.8, it is evident that for the same cooling capacity, the heating capacity
of R717 is lower than that of the CO2 heat pump. Also, for various condensing temperatures,
the heating capacity remains the same unlike the CO2 heat pump, where the heating capacity
highly depended on the gas cooler outlet temperatures.
HEATING CAPACITY NH3

500
450
400
350
NH3 Tc 90
300
CO2 Tgc 44
250
NH3 Tc 80
200
NH3 Tc 70
150 NH3 Tc 60
100 NH3 Tc 50
50
0
-20 -10 0 10 20 30
Figure 5.8: Heating Capacity of R717 Heat Pump
The figure 5.9 represents the heating COP of the NH3 heat pump based on various
condensing temperatures. It is evident that even though the heating capacity over the cooling
capacity is constant for various condensing temperatures, the heating COP of the NH3 heat
pump drops drastically. The figure also provides a comparison of CO2 heat pump COP with
that of NH3. Here the heating COP and the heating capacity of the CO2 heat pump were
compared taken from the simulation at a gas cooler temperature of 44oC. So, it should not be
taken as the heating COP of CO2 is lower than that of NH3. From the figure, it is evident that
the heating COP of NH3 is lower than the CO2 heat pump with Tgc_out of 44oC at the condensing
temperature lower than 70oC.
47
COP HP NH3
4.5
3.5
3
NH3 Tc 90
2.5 CO2Tgc 44
COP
2 NH3 Tc 80
NH3 Tc 70
1.5
NH3 Tc 60
1 NH3 Tc 50
0.5
0
-20 -10 0 10 20 30
Figure 5.9: Heating COP of NH3 Heat Pump
5.6 R290 (Propane)
R290 simulation model uses compressor model HEX9000CC of Dorin Manufacturer.

isentropic efficiency have been plotted as follows.
Pr vs Volumetric and Isentropic Eff - R290

1
0.95
0.9
0.85
R² = 0.9603
0.8
Efficiency
0.75 hvolumetric
0.7 Isen Eff
0.65
0.6 R² = 0.5641
0.55
0.5
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Pressure Ratio
48
Figure 5.10: Compressor Efficiencies vs Pressure Ratio R290
As previously discussed, the isentropic efficiency has been taken from the average and
median values due to the R2 value and the value is kept constant at 65% to get consistent
outputs.
The model has been simulated for the refrigerant R290 and the following plots on the
heating capacity and the COP of the system were obtained.
In the figure 5.11, it can be seen that at the condensing temperature of 90oC, the R290
provides more heating capacity compared to CO2 but at lower condensing temperatures, the
heating capacity is more similar to that of CO2.
HEATING CAPACITY R290

R290 Tc 90 CO2 Tgc 44 R290 Tc 80 R290 Tc 70 R290 Tc 60 R290 Tc 50
550
500
450
HEATING CAPACITY (KW)
400
350
300
250
200
150
-20 -15 -10 -5 0 5 10 15 20 25 30
AMBIENT TEMPERATURE (OC)
Figure 5.11: Heating Capacity of R290 Heat Pump
The figure 5.12 represents the heating COP of the R290 heat pump based on different
condensing temperatures. It is evident that even though the heating capacity at condensing
temperature of 90oC is higher than CO2, the heating COP of the R290 heat pump at that
condensing temperature is lower than that of a CO2 refrigerant. The figure also provides a
comparison of CO2 heat pump COP with that of R290. Here the heating COP and heating
capacity of the CO2 heat pump compared is taken from the simulation at a gas cooler
temperature of 44oC. So, it should not be taken as the heating COP of CO2 is lower than that
of R290. From the figure, it is evident that the heating COP of R290 is lower than the CO2 heat
pump with Tgc_out of 44oC at a condensing temperature lower than 70oC.
49
COP HP R290
4.5
3.5
3
R290 Tc 90
2.5 CO2 Tgc 44
COP
2 R290 Tc 80
R290 Tc 70
1.5
R290 Tc 60
1 R290 Tc 50
0.5
0
-20 -10 0 10 20 30
Figure 5.12: COP of R290 Heat Pump
5.7 R134a
R134a simulation model uses compressor model HEX9000CC of Dorin Manufacturer.

isentropic efficiency were plotted as follows.
Pr vs Volumetric and Isentropic Eff - R134a

1.1
0.9
Efficiency
0.8
R² = 0.9463
0.7
0.6
R² = 0.4585
0.5
0 2 4 6 8 10 12
Pressure Ratio
Figure 5.13: Compressor Efficiencies vs Pressure Ratio R134a
50
As previously discussed, the isentropic efficiency has been taken from the average and
median values due to the R2 value and the value is kept constant at 63% to get consistent
outputs. Whereas for the volumetric efficiency, the equation from the plot has been used for
the simulation without any inconsistencies.
The simulation model has been simulated for the refrigerant R134a and the following
plots on the heating capacity and the COP of the system have been obtained.
From the figure 5.14, it is apparent that the heating capacity of the R134a heat pump
for the same cooling capacity is higher than that of CO2 refrigerant for all the condensing
temperatures considered in this study.
HEATING CAPACITY HP R134A

550
500
450
400 R134a Tc 90
CO2 Tgc 44
350
R134a Tc 80
300 R134a Tc 70
R134a Tc 60
250
R134a Tc 50
200
150
-20 -15 -10 -5 0 5 10 15 20 25 30
Figure 5.14: Heating Capacity of R134a Heat Pump
It is obvious from the heating COP figure 5.15 that even though the heating capacity of
R134a is higher than that of the CO2 refrigerant heat pump, the heating COP of R134a at higher
condensing temperatures is lower than that of CO2 when the condensing temperature is above
70oC. It should be noted that the CO2 heating COP and the heating capacity presented in the
above figures are at the gas cooler outlet temperature of 44oC.
51
COP HP R134A
4.5
3.5
R134a Tc 90
3
CO2 Tgc 44
COP
R134a Tc 80
2.5
R134a Tc 70
R134a Tc 60
2
R134a Tc 50
1.5
1
-20 -15 -10 -5 0 5 10 15 20 25 30
Figure 5.15: Heating COP of R134a Heat Pump
5.8 Comparison Results
The above results are based on individual refrigerant performances based on different
gas cooler outlet temperatures or condensing temperatures. But these results are difficult to
comprehend individually when plotted in the same graph as there are many refrigerants and
many condensing or gas cooler outlet temperatures. So, for a better understanding of the
performances of different refrigerants, all the refrigerants are simulated at a constant ambient
temperature of 5oC but at different condensing or gas cooler outlet temperatures. This way, it
would be easier to comprehend the performance of the CO2 heat pump in comparison with
other considered refrigerants at a specific system condition.
As mentioned above, the performance is simulated for different refrigerants at an
ambient temperature of 5oC, which fixes the evaporation temperature at -2oC.
From the figure 5.16, it is easier to comprehend the different performances of
refrigerants considered in the study. It is evident that CO2 performs better than other
refrigerants at lower gas cooler outlet temperatures. The study also compared the performance
of different refrigerants to the performance of the CO2 heat pump. The results are also as
follows:
52
COPhp for all Refrigerants
3.3
3.1
2.9
2.7
COP R290
COP
2.5
COP R134a
2.3 COP NH3
2.1 COP CO2
1.9
1.7
32 42 52 62 72 82 92
Condensing Temeprature / Gas Cooler Outlet Temperature ( oC)
Figure 5.16: Heating COP of all Refrigerants
From the figure 5.17, it can be seen which refrigerant heat pump performs better
compared between NH3 and CO2 at different condensing and gas cooler temperatures. It is
evident that at lower gas cooler temperatures, the CO2 heat pump performs better than the NH3
heat pump, whereas the NH3 heat pump precedes the CO2 heat pump at low evaporation
temperatures.
Tgc out
(oC) NH3 vs CO2
52 NH3 NH3 NH3 NH3 NH3 CO2 CO2 CO2
50 NH3 NH3 NH3 NH3 CO2 CO2 CO2 CO2
48 NH3 NH3 NH3 NH3 CO2 CO2 CO2 CO2
46 NH3 NH3 NH3 CO2 CO2 CO2 CO2 CO2
44 NH3 NH3 NH3 CO2 CO2 CO2 CO2 CO2
42 NH3 NH3 CO2 CO2 CO2 CO2 CO2 CO2
40 NH3 CO2 CO2 CO2 CO2 CO2 CO2 CO2
38 NH3 CO2 CO2 CO2 CO2 CO2 CO2 CO2
36 CO2 CO2 CO2 CO2 CO2 CO2 CO2 CO2
Tc (oC) 55 60 65 70 75 80 85 90
Figure 5.17: Performance of NH3 vs CO2
From the figure 5.18, it can be seen which refrigerant heat pump performs better
compared between R290 and CO2 at different condensing and gas cooler temperatures. It is
obvious that at lower gas cooler temperatures, the CO2 heat pump performs better than the
R290 heat pump similar to that of the NH3 heat pump, whereas the R290 heat pump precedes
the CO2 heat pump at low evaporation temperatures.
53
Tgc out
(oC) R290 vs CO2
52 R290 R290 R290 R290 R290 CO2 CO2 CO2
50 R290 R290 R290 R290 CO2 CO2 CO2 CO2
48 R290 R290 R290 R290 CO2 CO2 CO2 CO2
46 R290 R290 R290 CO2 CO2 CO2 CO2 CO2
44 R290 R290 R290 CO2 CO2 CO2 CO2 CO2
42 R290 R290 CO2 CO2 CO2 CO2 CO2 CO2
40 R290 R290 CO2 CO2 CO2 CO2 CO2 CO2
38 R290 CO2 CO2 CO2 CO2 CO2 CO2 CO2
Tc (oC) 55 60 65 70 75 80 85 90
Figure 5.18: Performance of R290 vs CO2
Tgc out
(oC) R134a vs CO2
52 R134a R134a R134a R134a R134a CO2 CO2 CO2
50 R134a R134a R134a R134a CO2 CO2 CO2 CO2
48 R134a R134a R134a R134a CO2 CO2 CO2 CO2
46 R134a R134a R134a CO2 CO2 CO2 CO2 CO2
44 R134a R134a R134a CO2 CO2 CO2 CO2 CO2
42 R134a R134a CO2 CO2 CO2 CO2 CO2 CO2
40 R134a R134a CO2 CO2 CO2 CO2 CO2 CO2
38 R134a CO2 CO2 CO2 CO2 CO2 CO2 CO2
Tc (oC) 55 60 65 70 75 80 85 90
Figure 5.19: Performance of R134a vs CO2
It can be said from the above figures, that all the refrigerants considered in the case
study perform better than CO2 heat pumps only at low condensing temperatures whereas CO2
precedes all during both low gas cooler outlet temperatures and high condensing temperatures
of other refrigerants.
Even though the previous graphs presented how different refrigerant heat pumps are
considered performed with CO2 heat pump, the below figure represents which refrigerant heat
pump one can choose for the desired system conditions. It can be noted from the below figure
that the natural refrigerants considered in the case study outperform the R134a refrigerant heat
pump in all the cases. It can be seen that at lower condensing temperatures R290 refrigerant
heat pump competes well with CO2 whereas NH3 competes at a medium condensing
temperature between 70oC and 75oC.
54
Tgc out
(oC) All Refrigerants
52 R290 R290 R290 NH3 NH3 CO2 CO2 CO2
50 R290 R290 R290 NH3 CO2 CO2 CO2 CO2
48 R290 R290 R290 NH3 CO2 CO2 CO2 CO2
46 R290 R290 R290 CO2 CO2 CO2 CO2 CO2
44 R290 R290 R290 CO2 CO2 CO2 CO2 CO2
42 R290 R290 CO2 CO2 CO2 CO2 CO2 CO2
40 R290 R290 CO2 CO2 CO2 CO2 CO2 CO2
38 R290 CO2 CO2 CO2 CO2 CO2 CO2 CO2
Tc (oC) 55 60 65 70 75 80 85 90
Figure 5.20: Performance of all Refrigerants vs CO2
Nevertheless, the CO2 heat pump performs better than other considered refrigerants in
most cases.
5.9 Conclusion
The study reports the performance of the CO2 heat pump in comparison to the
performance of other refrigerants that are natural and widely used. In the report, it is evident
that the CO2 heat pump performs better than other refrigerants considered in this case study in
the majority of the cases. But looking at the perspective of heat pump application for district
heating, there is a greater need for a heat pump that can operate at higher condensing
temperatures than low condensing temperatures because the water needs to be heated to a
higher temperature level before distribution. So, this helps us understand that CO2 heat pumps
could be better heat pump systems for the application of district heating.
55
Chapter 6
Case Study 3: Air Source Heat Pump

for Commercial Building
This case study evaluates the performance of an air source heat pump installed in
Uppsala, Sweden. The heat pump is installed in a commercial building and is used for domestic
hot water, space heating, and space cooling purposes. The heat pump system data can be seen
lively using the “Itop 4” online tool developed by Huurre Caverion [75], a HVAC specialized
company. The heat pump system has been installed recently which limits the useful operational
data to only about 2 months. But this data could be used to verify the accuracy of peak
simulation outputs of the simulation model at least for a short range of ambient temperatures.
Also, it should be noted that it was warned before the study that the system still needs to be
tweaked. These field measurements and the simulation model results would validate the
performance of both the CO2 heat pumps in real-time and the integrity of the simulation model
used in this research. The building has a restaurant and other facilities whose details were not
available during the study.
The heat pump system configuration is a single-stage CO2 heat pump with a flash tank.
The system uses 3 Dorin compressors CD 1400H. Among these three compressors, only two
have variable speed drive (inverter system) whereas the other operates at the fixed speed of 50
Hz. Inverter system-based compressor operates by handling the frequency of the compressor
thereby varying the volume flow rate of the refrigerant in the compressors. This enables the
system to operate at low heating and cooling demand without shutting down the entire system.
This type of system also reduces the maintenance of the compressors.
The figure 6.1 shows the entire heat pump system and its components. The numbering
in the figure is used for describing the process of the heat pump during modes of operation.
The system consists of common heat pump components like the gas cooler, compressor,
evaporator, and expansion valves.
56
Figure 6.1: Commercial CO2 Heat Pump System
Table 6.1: Heat Pump Nomenclature
Points Nomenclature
1 Compressor
2 Domestic Hot Water Valve
3 Space Heating Valve
4 Gas Cooler / External Evaporator
5 Mixing point
High-pressure side Internal Suction Heat

6
Exchanger outlet
7 Receiver Tank
8 Internal Evaporator expansion valve
57
Low-pressure side Internal Suction Heat
9
Exchanger inlet
Low-pressure side Internal Suction Heat

10
Exchanger outlet
But the difference lies in the process in which the systems operate. During the heating
mode, when the ambient temperature is above 20 oC, the compressed CO2 refrigerant reaches
point 2, where depending on the Domestic Hot Water requirement the HEX 04 is utilized and
then the refrigerant reaches point 3. Here the refrigerant passes through the HEX 01 only if
there is space heating demand. It should also be noted that if there is low space heating demand,
the valve opens partially letting only a part of the refrigerant through the HEX 01 and the
remaining reaches the gas cooler. The refrigerant which passes through the HEX 01 is returned
to point 5 whereas, the refrigerant flow which reaches the gas cooler cools down and then
reaches point 5. Then the entire refrigerant passes through the internal suction heat exchanger
HEX 02, providing superheat. At point 6, the refrigerant is throttled down to receiver tank
pressure, point 7. Then the liquid part of the refrigerant alone passes through the expansion
valve at point 8 to evaporator pressure, acquiring heat from the ambient or through space
cooling if the ambient temperature is above 25oC. Then reaches the compressor after passing
through internal suction heat exchanger points 9 and 10. But, when the outdoor temperature
drops and there is a space heating requirement, so the gas cooler operates as an evaporator. In
the heating mode, the refrigerant passes through HEX 01 and the entire refrigerant reaches
point 5 and passes through HEX 02 and the entire refrigerant reaches point 6. Here at point 6,
the expansion valve throttles the refrigerant to low pressures rather than for receiver pressure.
So, the refrigerant instead of directly reaching the receiver tank passes through the gas cooler
(operating as an external evaporator). From the receiver, only the gaseous refrigerant moves to
the compressor through HEX 02. It should be noted that the system is operated depending on
the demand requirements in the commercial building.
6.2 Field Measurement Data
The heat pump system has been provided with many meters and sensors which provide
instant data of the system through the online tool/portal “Itop 4” designed by Huure. Using the
Itop portal, one could easily check on the system. All the measured data used in this case study
on the system is based on the data acquired from the Itop portal.
Even though various data can be obtained through the portal, only main parameter data
have been used in the study. Following are a few important parameters taken for the analysis
of the heat pump system. Most of the data shown are the median projection of the data and
have a sampling period of 4 hours.
The figure 6.2 depicts Discharge Pressure (Blue) and Evaporator Pressure (Cool
exchanger is the name provided in the portal) (Yellow) with respect to ambient temperature
(Green).
58
Figure 6.2: System Parameters Set 1
The data used for the study is between 04 May 2022 and 05 July 2022. The system was
started a few days before the 04th of May, but due to inconsistent data in the initial start, those
data were eliminated for the study. From the data in the graph, the discharge pressure of the
compressor does not seem to vary much with the ambient temperature. The discharge pressure
is seen to be maintained between 60 bars and 80 bars in most cases. But the evaporator pressure
seems to be lowered when the ambient temperature reaches above 20oC. The median of the
evaporator pressure was around 33 bar which translates to the evaporator temperature between
0oC and -5oC. From the system settings, it is known that the high pressure is limited to 95 bars
of pressure.
59
The above figure depicts the inlet gas temperature to IHEX (Green), outlet gas
temperature out of the evaporator (including the superheat) (Yellow), and inlet gas temperature
to the compressor (Red) with respect to outdoor temperature (Blue). From the above data, it
can be viewed that the inlet gas temperature to the IHEX lowers down to around 30oC when
the ambient air temperature reaches above 20oC. This helps to better understand the system.
When the facility requires space heating, the refrigerant bypasses the gas cooler and reaches
directly to point 5 but passes through the gas cooler when there is no demand for space heating.
But when the ambient temperature is lower than 20oC, the IHEX inlet temperature is higher.
From the graph above, it can also be seen that the temperature out of the evaporator and the
gas temperature at the inlet to the compressor are synchronous.
The above figure illustrates the frequency of compressor 1 (Green) and compressor 2
(Yellow) with respect to ambient air temperature (Blue). From the graph, it can be seen that
the frequency of the compressors is decreased when there is an increase in ambient air
temperature, but the system is operated even at high ambient temperatures for the purposes of
Domestic Hot Water and Space Cooling.
60
The above figure represents the Evaporator pressure (Blue) with respect to ambient air
temperature (Green). The above chart shown represents a time range between 20 June 2022
and 01 July 2022, to clearly show the relationship between both, which is an average sampled
data and a sampling period of an hour. From the graph, it can be seen that wherever the ambient
temperature is higher than 20oC, the evaporator pressure is lowered. This underlines the fact
that there is a demand for cooling purposes in the facility. Also, when the ambient temperature
lowers, the evaporation pressure is increased for maintaining the system at a higher
performance (COP).
Temp difference
40
Temperature Diff b/w Inlet and Outlet
35 R² = 0.8226
30
25
of IHEX gas side
20
15
10
5
0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
IHEX Inlet Temperature
Figure 6.6: System Parameter Set 5
The above figure describes the temperature difference between the inlet and outlet gas
in IHEX in relation to the inlet gas temperature at IHEX. This graph shows how much
temperature difference the gas provides to the heat exchanger when the inlet temperature
increases.
61
Figure 6.7: System Parameter Set 6
The above figure represents the discharge temperature of the refrigerant with a
sampling period of a day. The power usage by the compressors is not provided by the portal,
so it is necessary to estimate the power used from the data of pressure and temperature between
the suction and discharge points.
The simulation model is constructed based on the compressor data and the Stockholm
weather profile of ASHRAE IWEC obtained from the Climate Download Centre of Equa [77].
The Stockholm weather profile is used in place of the Uppsala weather profile due to
inaccessibility to ASHRAE IWEC weather data for Uppsala. It should be noted that the
Stockholm weather data is more similar to that of the Uppsala region as the distance between
Stockholm Arlanda and to Uppsala region is around 35 km. The heat pump system is evaluated
in different settings based on various circumstances.
Developing the simulation model for this system had difficulties due to various
complexities mainly due to the uncertainty of various settings pre-defined in the system. Due
to this reason, various assumptions were needed to properly evaluate the heat pump system in
different ambient conditions. These uncertainties also include the heat pump system to operate
in both sub-critical and trans-critical regions. The transition between these regions is dependent
on the demand side. The heating requirement in the building was not available at the time of
study since the heat pump was newly installed in the building and it takes year around data to
fully evaluate the system performance. Due to these constraints, various assumptions on the
system working and simulation model parameters were necessary to evaluate the heat pump
system.
The simulation model assumes that during the heating mode operation of the heat pump,
the gas cooler will be operated as an evaporator when the ambient temperature drops down
below 20oC. The assumption is made in the sense from the figure representing the ambient
temperature and the inlet temperature to the IHEX because the temperature inlet is high when
62
the ambient temperature is lower than 20oC stating that the system is operated mostly for space
heating purposes and the refrigerant bypasses the gas cooler line in the system.
Due to the unavailability of the heating requirement and the temperature outlet from
the space heating heat exchanger HEX 01 for a wide range of ambient temperatures,
assumptions have been made for simulating the performance of the system for the ASHRAE
weather profile. The heat pump system is assumed to operate in a way that it provides the
facility radiators with the same supply and return temperature as the district heating network
in Sweden. The supply and return temperature of the radiator were obtained from the findings
of Maria Jangsten [73].
70
60
50
R² = 0.9999
40
Supply Temp
30
Return Temp
R² = 0.9988
20
10
0
-20 -15 -10 -5 0 5 10 15 20
Ambient Temperatures
Figure 6.8: Radiator Supply and Return Temperatures
The above figure shows the supply and return temperatures for the space heating in
district heating networks for domestic facilities. The same temperatures were used for the
simulation model to analyse the system during winter periods. These temperatures are the main
parameters to determine the final temperature on the high-pressure side before throttling
through the expansion valve. Along with this, the operation of the system in both sub-critical
and trans-critical regions should also be assumed practically to evaluate the system. For this
reason, it is assumed that when the supply temperature is lower or equal to 30oC since the
critical temperature of CO2 refrigerant is about 31oC, the pressure could be lowered up to 65
bars but when the supply temperature is higher than 30oC, the discharge pressure is constrained
between 75 bars and 95 bars so that the system operates in the trans-critical region to provide
necessary supply temperature for the space heating requirements based on the ambient
temperatures. When operated in the sub-critical region, the model assumes that the
desuperheater alone supports the domestic hot water energy demand as the temperature for the
domestic hot water should be higher than 60oC on the refrigerant side.
63
The space heating heat exchanger HEX 01 is assumed to have an approach temperature
of 3 K higher than the return temperature on the gas side. The receiver tank pressure is
maintained at 40 bars as pre-defined in the system. In the actual system, the superheat value
keeps on changing depending on the evaporator temperature such that the temperature out of
the evaporator is more or less constant which can be viewed in the figure representing the
“System Parameters Set 2”. But for the model, the superheat is kept at a constant value of 10
K. The system is an air source heat pump and for the model, the evaporator temperature is
varied with the outdoor air temperature by having a difference of 7 K, i.e., Tevap = Tamb – 7 K.
The evaporator temperature is also constrained to a maximum of 0oC, this value is taken from
the median of data obtained from the portal on evaporator pressure. Also, as explained in the
figure “System Parameter Set 4”, since the evaporator pressure is lowered to operate the
evaporator at a temperature between 0oC and -5oC, the model assumes that when the ambient
temperature reaches above 25oC, the evaporator temperature is kept constant at -5oC. This is
due to the cooling demand in the facility.
As explained in the previous case studies, the optimum discharge pressure is calculated
in the model using the equation Pgc = 2.4 x Tgc_out. Also, it is assumed that when the ambient
temperature is above 20oC when the gas cooler operates and the need for space heating reaches
zero, the gas cooler outlet temperature is in the relation MAX (32oC, Tamb + Tapp), where Tapp
is 3 K. This helps the simulation to yield results based on high gas cooler outlet temperature
and limits the possibility of high heating COP values corresponding to the worst-case scenario.
The simulation model makes use of Dorin Software to measure the compressor
efficiency in relation to the pressure ratio. The results of the efficiency characteristics of the
compressor are as follows:
Isentropic and Volumetric Efficiency vs Pressure Ratio

1
0.9
0.8
R² = 0.9757
Efficiency
0.7
0.6
R² = 0.6279
0.5
0.4
0 1 2 3 4 5 6
Pressure Ratio
Figure 6.9: Compressor CD 1400H Efficiencies
64
The volumetric efficiency of the compressor is taken based on the trendline equation
from the chart above whereas due to the lower R2 value of the trendline representing the
isentropic efficiency, the average value of 64% is taken as constant for the simulation model.
The model is simulated based on the assumption that all three compressors are operated unless
otherwise denoted. This is said because there are a lot of combinations possible with the three
compressors, and among these three two of them have been provided with an inverter system
as explained before. For the simulation model, the compressors are assumed to experience 10%
of heat loss to the environment.
The temperature difference in the internal suction heat exchanger IHEX is followed
based on the trendline shown in the figure “System Parameter Set 5”.
6.4 Results
The heating capacity and the heating COP of the heat pump system are not available
directly from the portal. Those values must be calculated based on the values for the portal. So,
this section not only provides the results of the simulation model but also the actual heating
capacity and the heating COP of the system.
Heating Capacity
140
120
100
80
60
40
20
-20 -15 -10 -5 0 5 10 15 20
Figure 6.10: Static Heating Capacity Simulation of Heat Pump System
The above figure shows the result of heating capacity in a simple static simulation of
the heat pump system. The static simulation means that no dynamic assumptions have been
considered for this result. The simulation takes only the compressors, and the outlet
temperature of the gas cooler is considered a constant value of 33oC. This figure is a simple
representation of the heat pump system heating capacity. When the ambient temperature
increases above 25oC, the evaporator temperature is maintained at -5oC, leading to an increase
in pressure ratio which further leads to reduced volumetric efficiency and hence there is a
reduction in the heating capacity of the heat pump. Alike, the below figure is a simple
illustration of the heat pump system heating performance (heating COP).
65
COPhp
4
3.5
3
COP
2.5
1.5
-20 -15 -10 -5 0 5 10 15 20
Figure 6.11: Static Heating COP Simulation of Heat Pump System
This static simulation describes how the heat pump performs when the gas cooler outlet
temperature is kept at a constant average temperature. In these results, there is a drop in both
heating COP and the heating capacity when the ambient temperature is higher than 25oC. This
is due to the consideration that the evaporation temperature is reduced in the system for the
purpose of space cooling needs above 25oC.
Heating Capacity
160
140
120
100
80
60
40
20
0
-20 -15 -10 -5 0 5 10 15 20
Figure 6.12: Dynamic Heating Capacity Simulation
The above figure represents the dynamic results of the heating capacity of the heat
pump based on all the assumptions considered in the simulation model. When the ambient
temperature is above 7oC, there is a slight change in the profile, and this is owing to the reason
that the evaporator temperature reaches its maximum value of 0oC. Also, when the ambient
temperature is around 13oC, there is a drop in the heating capacity of the heat pump. This is
because when the outdoor temperature is above 13oC, the supply temperature to the radiator is
lower than 30oC, opening the possibility of sub-critical operation. So, in the sub-critical
66
operation, the enthalpy is constrained by the temperature before the expansion valve leading to
the sudden drop in heating capacity. When the ambient temperature is 20oC and above, the gas
cooler starts operating constraining the gas cooler outlet temperature to 32oC leading to trans-
critical operation and reduction in heating capacity. Whereas, when the outdoor temperature is
above 25oC, the evaporator is maintained at -5oC, further reducing heating capacity (as
explained in the static simulation results) and the heating COP.
COPhp
6
4
COP
0
-20 -15 -10 -5 0 5 10 15 20
Figure 6.13: Dynamic Heating COP Simulation
The same explanation is valid over the heating COP profile of the heat pump system. It
should be noted that the heating COP of the system is higher when operated during the
subcritical region due to a reduction in the power consumption.
Heating Capacity
180
160
140
120
Q1 Sim 50 Hz
100
Q1 Sim 30 Hz
80
Q1 Sim 60 Hz
60 Q1 Sim 30 Hz
Comp 1
40
20
0
-20 -15 -10 -5 0 5 10 15 20
Figure 6.14: Heating Capacity of the System at Different Operations
67
The above figure shows the heating capacity of the heat pump system at different
operations like operating the system at a different frequency and with one compressor alone
(Sky Blue). When the system is operated with only one of the compressors with a frequency of
30 Hz, the heating capacity could be limited to as low as 20 kW. But the heating COP of the
system remains the same.
Figure 6.15: Parameter Set with Sampling Period Day
The above figure represents the various measured parameters taken in the estimation of
the heat pump system with a sampling period of a day and sampling type of median. The
parameters are Discharge pressure (Light Green), Discharger temperature (Blue), Inlet
temperature to the expansion valve (Yellow), Ambient temperature (Red), Evaporator pressure
(Sky Blue), Temperature out of Evaporator (Green), Inlet temperature to the compressor
(Orange), Frequency of Compressor 1 (Purple) and 2 (Pink).
Heating Capacity
140
120
100
80
60 Q1 val
40
20
0
0 5 10 15 20
Figure 6.16: Heating Capacity measured from the System Data
68
The above figure depicts the heating capacity calculated based on the measured values
in the considered time period with sampling over a day. The heating capacity is based on the
compressor frequency of compressors 1 and 2, the temperature inlet to the expansion valve,
and the assumption that the third compressor is always working since data could not be
obtained on the operation of the third compressor without an inverter system from the Itop
portal. The heating capacity is lower during the lower ambient temperatures, this might be due
to lower heating requirements in the facility.
Heating COP
7
4
COP
3
COP
measured
2
values
1
0
0 5 10 15 20
Figure 6.17: Heating COP measured from the System Data
The above figure illustrates the heating COP of the system calculated based on the
median of the measured values over the same time period with sampling over a day. It should
be noted that the above estimations on measured values are based on the same isentropic
efficiency as in the simulation model rather than taking the discharge temperature from the
compressor directly. This is due to the reason that it was observed that the estimations on the
power of the compressor yielded higher isentropic efficiency in the range between 100% and
150%, which is not possible in real-time, also the direct energy meter reading on the
compressors was not available in the portal to confirm the data. So, the most plausible reason
for this might be due to loss of heat to the surroundings. But the loss to the surrounding is also
considered in the estimation as similar to the assumption made on the heat loss for the
simulation model. It can be seen that the heating COP of the system is lower between 1 and 2
during the ambient temperature lower than 20oC. The observed reason is due to the high outlet
temperature from the space heating owing to reduced space heating requirements and the
discharge pressure is also handled at lower pressure ranges. This also shows how the
performance of the system is affected due to high temperatures in the inlet of the expansion.
The high temperature of the inlet of the expansion valve can be referred from the figure
“Parameter Set with Sampling Period Day”, where the yellow line represents the expansion
valve inlet gas temperature. The graph shows that the temperature reaches up to about 50oC
thereby reducing the performance of the system considered.
69
Heating Capacity
180
160
140
120
100 Q1 Sim 50 Hz
80 Q1 val
60
Q1 Sim 30 Hz
40
Q1 Sim 60 Hz
20
0
-20 -15 -10 -5 0 5 10 15 20
Figure 6.18: Comparison of Heating Capacity Results between Simulation Model and Measured Values
From the above figure, the validity of the simulation model and the combination of both
simulation and measure value results can be observed. This figure shows how the results are
similar when the inlet gas temperature to the expansion valve is lower as considered in the
model. But there is a huge difference between the results when the inlet gas temperature to the
expansion valve is higher. This is due to the reason that the demand side requirements of the
facility are not considered in the simulation model. Also, it can be seen that the simulation
results based on compressors operating at 30 Hz frequency are more similar to that of the
measure values. This is because of the fact that the most of time the compressors are operated
at a lower frequency than 50 Hz, which can be referred to in the figure “Parameter Set with
Sampling period Day”. The figure also shows the potential of the heat pump to provide
maximum heating capacity if the pressure is optimized depending on the inlet temperature of
the expansion valve.
Heating COP
7
4
COP
3 COP Sim 50 Hz
COP val
2
0
-20 -15 -10 -5 0 5 10 15 20
Figure 6.19: Comparison of Heating COP Results between Simulation Model and Measured Values
70
In the above figure, it is easily seen that the simulation model results are similar to that
of measured values in all cases when the inlet gas temperature to the expansion valve is lower
and the pressure is also optimized depending on the inlet gas temperature to the expansion
valve as considered in the model. Whereas when the ambient temperature is between 10oC and
20oC, there are points where the measured values indicate lower heating COP. This was
observed due to the operation of the heat pump at trans critical operation, and the heating
requirement was lower between these temperatures, which increased the inlet temperature to
the expansion valve reducing the heating COP of the heat pump.
Cooling COP
6
4
COP
3
Measured COP
2 Sim COPref
0
20 22 24 26 28 30 32
Figure 6.20: Measured and Simulated Cooling COP of the System
The above figure illustrates the cooling COP of the heat pump system calculated based
on the measured values from the portal “Itop” and includes the simulated cooling COP values.
The cooling COP of both simulated and measured values seems to be more similar. This further
validates the simulation model's integrity over the performance of the heat pump. The higher
values between the ambient temperatures 20oC and 22oC might be due to varying superheat
and evaporation temperatures in the evaporator.
6.5 Conclusion
The results of the study show the performance of the CO2 heat pump system in real-
time facilities compared with the simulation results based on formulas. It can be validated that
the CO2 heat pump system could perform at higher COP levels in real-time as denoted in the
simulation results. This case study is also an important validation of the simulation model used
in the studies. It should also be noted that if the whole year data was available, then the
complete results could be checked with the simulation results, validating the results over the
entire weather conditions prevailing in Uppsala. This also provides the possibility for the future
scope of the study after a year of operation of the heat pump system.
6.6 Limitations
• The study included only short-term measured values from the heat pump system.
• The demand side heating and cooling requirements were not considered in the study.
71
Chapter 7
Case Study 4: Commercial Swimming

Pool
This case study examines the performance of a water-to-water CO2 heat pump installed
in an indoor commercial swimming pool building and compares the same with other
refrigerants. The swimming pool building is located in Filipstad, a municipality in Sweden,
and the heat pump is installed with the purpose of providing space heating, space cooling, and
hot water. The system available in the building is a closed system i.e., the heat pump system
absorbs heat from the zones requiring space cooling and expels the heat for both space heating
and hot water.
The CO2 heat pump system is a single-stage heat pump with a flash tank. The system
uses 2 CD 2400H Dorin compressors for its operation and both compressors have variable
speed drive and so the volume flow rate can be varied accordingly. The heat pump system, as
explained earlier, provides both heating and cooling needs. But when there is a need for more
heat, the system makes use of district heating for excess heat requirements. Since the system
operates in a closed system setting, the analysis could not be performed over a yearly weather
profile as the weather does not impact the heat pump but only impacts the heating and cooling
demands in the building. So, the system is analyzed at the design specifications and compared
with other refrigerants Propane (R-290) and R134a. Other refrigerants like ammonia,
isobutane, and R32 were not considered for the analysis because ammonia is only used for
commercial purposes and the data on compressors for isobutane and R32 was not available
during the study, and the condensation temperature of the refrigerant R22 is limited to 60oC.
The simple system diagram of the heat pump system is shown in the below figure.
72
Figure 7.1: System Diagram of Swimming Pool Heat Pump System
In the above figure, the desuperheater and gas cooler are shown separately. The
desuperheater is used for hot water and to heat up the water accumulators. The temperature
range in the desuperheater is between 60oC and 70oC. The gas cooler supports the space heating
requirements in the building and the temperature range for which the space heating is provided
is 30oC and 55oC. The capacity of the desuperheater is 46 kW at the design specification and
the capacity of the gas cooler is 132 kW. The cooling capacity of the evaporator at the design
specification is 131 kW. The evaporator temperature is kept constant at 3oC as the supply and
return temperatures for the space cooling are 7oC and 13oC. The space cooling is provided for
zones with technical equipment. The discharge pressure of the compressor is kept constant at
92 bars.
The simulation model is designed based on the Dorin compressor data and the heat
pump configuration. For other refrigerants, the theoretical simulation of the heat pump is first
simulated for heating capacity, using which the swept volume is estimated. Using this swept
volume data, an appropriate compressor is selected from Dorin Software v22.06. Then the
compressor technical data is used to compute the isentropic and volumetric efficiency of the
compressor. By using the actual efficiency and swept volume the actual performance of the
heat pump is computed. Unlike other case studies, the efficiencies have not been estimated for
various pressure ratios since the system is assumed to operate at fixed design conditions. As in
previous case studies, this simulation model also uses heat pump formulae to estimate the
performance of the heat pumps. The simulation model is simulated with superheating of 10 K
and the simulation does not include any sub-cooling for refrigerants operating under the critical
point. The gas cooler outlet temperature for the CO2 heat pump is taken as 33oC, given that the
required space heating fluid temperature of 30oC and assuming 3K approach temperature.
The CO2 heat pump operates above a critical point and so there would be a temperature
glide which helps in providing different temperatures to the building. But the other refrigerants
operate under the critical point and undergo latent heating in the condenser. So, the simulation
73
model considers two types of heat pumps when other refrigerants are used, one which provides
space heating at 55oC and the other that operates at 65oC providing hot water. Here the
condensation temperature of other refrigerant heat pumps is limited to 65oC instead of 70oC
because the Dorin compressors do not operate above 65oC, according to the technical
datasheets. The simulation model considered a 10% loss of heat from the compressor. The
following table shows the details of compressors used for different refrigerant heat pumps.
Table 7.1: Selected Compressor for different refrigerants
Refrigerant Compressor
CO2 (R-744) CD 2400H
HEX 2201CC (Hot Water)
Propane (R-290)
HEX 6000CC (Space Heating)
H 3000CC (Hot Water)
R134a
H 7501CS (Space Heating)
7.3 Simulation Results
The simulation analyzed the performance of the CO2 heat pump over the fixed design
conditions as discussed. The following were the results of the simulation:
Performance of Refrigerants
7
6.3 6.31
6.05
5.8 5.83
6
5
Overall COP
0
Refrigerants
CO2 Propane R134a Propane (Sub cool) R134a (Sub cool)
Figure 7.2: Overall COP of refrigerants
The above figure shows the result of the simulation. The overall COP of the CO2 heat
pump is higher than both Propane and R134a without subcooling but lower when sub cooling
was considered for both the refrigerants.
74
7.4 Discussion
As seen from the results, the CO2 refrigerant heat pump performed better than other
refrigerants considered because the COP of other refrigerants decreases as the condensation
temperature increases. But the CO2 heat pump was outperformed by other refrigerants when
sub-cooling was considered for the other refrigerants from condensation temperature to lower
space heating temperature of 33oC. The COP of the CO2 refrigerant is comparable to other
refrigerants considered in this case because the domestic hot water demand in this case study
is limited to 46 kW, which is only about 34% of total heating capacity. As explained in the
literature review by Jørn Stene [76], the performance of the CO2 heat pump increases as the
domestic hot water heating demand increases. This is better explained in the figure 2.18. This
case study emphasizes the fact that the performance of CO2 heat pump highly depends on the
domestic hot water heating requirement than space heating requirements.
7.5 Conclusion
The study investigated the performance of water-to-water CO2 heat pumps in a

commercial swimming pool building with that of other refrigerants and the results illustrate the
betterment of CO2 heat pumps in terms of overall COP over other refrigerants without sub-
cooling when the required temperature is higher than usual condensation temperature for
refrigerants like R134a and Propane. But also explains the influence of domestic tap water
heating demand on the performance of CO2 refrigerant over other refrigerants such as Propane
and R134a.
7.6 Limitations
The study was limited to a fixed design condition but in reality, the demand would be
changing which might affect the performance of all the refrigerants considered. But to consider
the demand change, the demand in the entire building over the climate profile must be
simulated to understand the performance of the heat pump over the complete weather profile.
7.7 Scope for future work
The study could be extended to consider the demand change in the building over the
yearly weather profile and the performance of the heat pump over the demand curve could be
analysed.
75
Chapter 8
Conclusion
The CO2 refrigerant has a lot of good thermophysical properties that are beneficial in
the heat pump perspective when used properly. In this comprehensive study, the CO2 heat
pump performance and benefits were analyzed in four different applications.
It was found that the CO2 heat pump is advantageous when used for combined purposes
for space heating, space cooling, and domestic hot water in comparison to other refrigerants.
This is mainly due to the reason that the trans-critical CO2 refrigerant could provide high
sensible heat during the gas cooling process instead of the latent condensation process like in
other refrigerants. When used in combined processes requiring high temperatures, the overall
COP of the CO2 heat pump is much higher than that of other refrigerants. So, it is necessary to
select the type of refrigerant for a considered application.
Each of the cases illustrated in the study shows the in-depth analysis of the CO2 heat
pump and provides the instances where the performance of CO2 precedes the performance of
other refrigerants. The study sees the potential of CO2 heat pumps over other refrigerants not
only in terms of Global warming and Ozone depletion potential but also in terms of
performance and cost. The heat pump with other refrigerants in domestic buildings does not
provide heating for the domestic hot water but the CO2 heat pump could be designed to provide
domestic hot water requirements.
The requirement for domestic hot water in buildings has been constant in the world and
this is expected to be the same or increase depending on the population. So, the requirement of
domestic hot along with space heating and space cooling in countries would be a great potential
for the penetration of CO2 heat pumps in the world. But various research is required on the CO2
compressor to reduce the cost of the compressor to aid in increasing the usage of CO2 heat
pumps.
8.1 Future Work
The study could be further extended with year-around field measurement data and
considering the demand side during the study which would provide better performance analysis
over the heat pumps with CO2 and other refrigerants. The demand side is also a key parameter
in studying the performance of the heat pumps. In addition, the change in climatic conditions
in upcoming years would affect the need and performance of the heat pumps and would be of
great interest in the future.
76
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81
Appendix
Case Study 1
Figure A1: Design specification at -15 degrees Celsius
82
Figure A2: Design specification at 32 degrees Celsius
Case Study 2
Figure A3: Fenagy C300 system specifications
83
Case Study 4
Figure A4: Design specification
Figure 5: Desuperheater specification
84
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DEGREE PROJECT IN SUSTAINABLE ENERGY ENGINEERING

SECOND CYCLE, 30 CREDITS

Performance Analysis of CO2

Examiner and Supervisor

Denna studie fokuserar på att undersöka prestandan hos CO2-värmepumpar i olika

Resultaten av studien visar fördelarna med CO2-värmepumpar när de används för

CO2 Värmepump, COP, Fjärrvärme, kommersiella byggnader, bostadshus,

Figure 1.1: Energy consumption by sector [5]

Due to these complications over the greenhouse gas emissions contributed by

The methods used in the study include:

The specific objectives of the thesis are:

Analyse the performance of CO2 refrigerant through COP simulation

Figure 1.2: Methodology

2.2 Role of Heat Pumps in Building Energy

Air Source Water Source Ground Source Sorption Hybrid Solar

Swallow Ground Adsorption

Figure 2.3: Types of Heat Pumps

Figure 2.4: Environmental Properties of Refrigerants. Source [51][52][49]

Figure 2.18: Heat pump performance with respect to DHW [76]

where the 𝜂𝑖𝑠𝑒𝑛 is the isentropic efficiency of the compressor.

Case Study 1: Residential Heat Pump

Figure 4.1: Residential Heat Pump System

Figure 4.12: P-H Diagram of Single-stage and Two-stage process

Heat Energy Consumed in the Building

Figure 4.3: Heating Demand in the Building

Figure 4.4: Cooling Demand in the Building

Figure 4.5: Approach Temperature at the Evaporator

Figure 4.6: Radiator Supply and Return Temperatures

Figure 4.8: Isentropic Efficiency of LT and MT Compressor

Figure 4.9: Volumetric Efficiency of LT and MT Compressor

Figure 4.10: Heating Capacity of the Heat Pump

Figure 4.12: Cooling Capacity of the Heat Pump

Figure 4.13: Cooling COP of the Heat Pump

Figure 4.16: Comparison of heating COP at optimized and high-pressure conditions

4.5 Cost Benefit Analysis

Cooling 149 149

Cost for Heating 423,368 kr 250,748 kr 42,770 kr 293,518 kr

Cost for Cooling 47,000 kr 39,390 kr

Total Cost 470,360 kr 332,908 kr

Savings per year 137,452 kr

Figure 4.18: Histogram of Heating Demand in kW

Cooling 149 149

Cost for Heating 423,368 kr 263,390 kr 41,788 kr 305,179 kr

Cost for Cooling 47,047 kr 48,554 kr

Total Cost 470,415 kr 353,733 kr

Savings per year 116,681 kr

Case Study 2: Heat Pump Connected

Preceiver = √𝑃𝑔𝑐 ⋅ 𝑃𝑒𝑣𝑎𝑝 [71] (18)

Pr vs Volumetric and Isentropic Eff - Refrigerants

Figure 5.1: Compressor Efficiencies vs Pressure Ratio CO2

5.3.1 Simulation Model

5.3.2 Simulation Results

Figure 5.4: Heating Capacity of CO2 Heat Pump

Figure 5.5: Heating COP of CO2 Heat Pump

Preceiver = √𝑃𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑑 ⋅ 𝑃𝑒𝑣𝑎𝑝

5.5 R717 (Ammonia-NH3)

5.5.1 Simulation Model

Pr vs Volumetric and Isentropic Eff - NH3

0.4 R² = 0.6761 Isen Eff

Figure 5.7: Compressor Efficiencies vs Pressure Ratio NH3

HEATING CAPACITY NH3

Figure 5.8: Heating Capacity of R717 Heat Pump

Figure 5.9: Heating COP of NH3 Heat Pump