“Experimental and Simulated Assessment of Charge-Optimized R290 Heat Pumps for Residential Heating Applications”
As part of the LCR290 project, three different R290 heat pump solutions for multi-family homes were being planned, simulated, tested, and evaluated. The main area of attention for simulations and measurements in the project were, refrigerant charge, seasonal efficiency and impact of different operation parameters. As part of the project the generated datapoints were used in designing and planning real use cases provided by project partners, representing the German housing industry. This contribution will show general behavior of the two brine to water heat pumps, with heating capacities of 6kW and 30kw. SCOP55’s varied from 3.4-3.8 and additional requirements set by the 12 partnered heat pump manufacturers were met. Brine heat pumps achieved charge efficiencies of <25g/kW. The heat pump performance and qualitative charge behaviors were replicated in the simulation environment IMST-ART, where the comparison with the measurement results yielded valuable insights into the significance of individual component models and parameters. The main goal of providing market ready <150g R290 brine to water heat pump was achieved, as well as charge reduced larger capacity versions of the most commonly used systems. Furthermore, the comparison can be used to increase the quality of heat pump simulations.