On side refrigerant measurement of heat pump seasonal performances

Cong-Toan Tran (1) , Philippe Rivière (1) , Dominique Marchio (1) , Christine Arzano-Daurelle (2) , M. Coevoet (2)

1 CEP/Paris
2 EDF R&D ENERBAT - Energie dans les Bâtiments et les Territoires

Heat pump systems have become very popular for space heating in the residential sector in Europe. However, there is no data available on the in situ seasonal heating performances of air-to-air heat pumps. This is due to the difficulty of measuring their thermal capacity on field over a long period. Several methods relying on air flow rate and enthalpy measurements are being considered for in-situ measurement for air-to-air heat pumps. But accuracy and reliability of these methods are still unknown. In this paper, we show the results of a method based on intrusive measurements (on the refrigerant side) adapted to the dynamic behavior. This method uses Coriolis flow meters measures for the refrigerant flow rate and for enthalpies. Results confirm that the refrigerant density measurement with a Coriolis flow meter can help to predict the refrigerant vapor quality with a satisfying accuracy if the quality is not too high. The method is validated by testing an air-to-water heat pump in laboratory and by using the water enthalpy method as a reference. The experimental results show that the method is reliable in dynamic conditions (including during the defrosting periods). This internal method can be used as a reference to check the air enthalpy method for air-to-air heat pumps.

Mots clés: heat pump; HSPF; enthalpy measurement methods; experimentation; Coriolis flow meter; ultrasonic flow meter; refrigerant

Domaines: Sciences de l'ingénieur [physics]; Energétique

Cong-Toan Tran, Philippe Rivière, Dominique Marchio, Christine Arzano-Daurelle, M. Coevoet. On side refrigerant measurement of heat pump seasonal performances. 10th International Energy Agency Heat Pump Conference 2011 - HPC 2011, May 2011, Tokyo, Japan. CD-ROM, paper 00051. ⟨hal-00770179⟩