Paper No 1067 – On the Use of CO2 as a Heat Distribution Fluid for Sustainable Ammonia Heat Pump Solutions – 14th IEA Heat Pump Conference, Chicago, USA
Supercritical CO2 is receiving increased interest as a heat transfer fluid, particularly in heat pump applications, due to some favorable physical properties. While supercritical CO2 is traditionally circulated via compressors, it may be possible to use centrifugal pumps as an alternative. This could lead to substantial energy and cost savings. The design and evaluation of a pumped supercritical test loop is reported in this work. Upon verifying supercritical CO2 could be circulated with the pump in the given setup, conditions were varied to understand the behavior of the pump and the potential for acting as a heat transfer loop between an outdoor heat pump and the indoor space. These results are presented along with suggestions for improved performance and problems that were encountered in the work.