Showing posts with label heat pumps. Show all posts
Showing posts with label heat pumps. Show all posts
Sunday, 18 May 2014
Wednesday, 4 May 2011
Heat Pumps provide effective and controllable heating, whilst consuming up to 80% less power
Air conditioning being solely for cooling is a common misconception, as virtually all of today's air conditioning systems feature heat pumps which can heat as well as cool to provide total year round comfort.
This heating facility is not achieved through the use of conventional, power hungry electric heating elements, but instead through the use of highly energy efficient reverse cycle (heat pump) technology. In simple terms Heat Pumps provide effective and controllable heating, whilst consuming up to 80% less power than any other form of electrical heating.
Most of our commercial air conditioning and domestic air conditioning systems have the option of heat pump technology. All systems that include heat pumps can both heat and cool which results in less initial investment and greater simplicity for operation and maintenance. Unlike fossil fuel based systems, heat pumps extract available heat from the outside air resulting in Heat pumps offering efficiency gains of 3:1 and higher, compared to electrical heating.
This heating facility is not achieved through the use of conventional, power hungry electric heating elements, but instead through the use of highly energy efficient reverse cycle (heat pump) technology. In simple terms Heat Pumps provide effective and controllable heating, whilst consuming up to 80% less power than any other form of electrical heating.
Most of our commercial air conditioning and domestic air conditioning systems have the option of heat pump technology. All systems that include heat pumps can both heat and cool which results in less initial investment and greater simplicity for operation and maintenance. Unlike fossil fuel based systems, heat pumps extract available heat from the outside air resulting in Heat pumps offering efficiency gains of 3:1 and higher, compared to electrical heating.
Monday, 4 April 2011
Hitachi Air Conditioning Group has added a compact single fan unit to its range of Yutaki-M air-source heat pumps
Hitachi Air Conditioning Group has added a compact single fan unit to its range of Yutaki-M air-source heat pumps.
It incorporates all of the leading energy-efficient and cost-effective benefits of the MCS-approved Yutaki-M range and is only 800 mm high. Yutaki-M converts 1 kW consumption into 4 kW output and is capable of producing water temperatures of up to 60 deg C.
Available from 5 kW to 17 kW, the Yutaki-M range can reduce CO2 emissions in domestic and commercial settings by up to 50 per cent compared with boiler-led systems. It also integrates seamlessly with different types of heating systems such as traditional radiators and underfloor heating.
www.hitachiaircon.com/tomorrow
It incorporates all of the leading energy-efficient and cost-effective benefits of the MCS-approved Yutaki-M range and is only 800 mm high. Yutaki-M converts 1 kW consumption into 4 kW output and is capable of producing water temperatures of up to 60 deg C.
Available from 5 kW to 17 kW, the Yutaki-M range can reduce CO2 emissions in domestic and commercial settings by up to 50 per cent compared with boiler-led systems. It also integrates seamlessly with different types of heating systems such as traditional radiators and underfloor heating.
www.hitachiaircon.com/tomorrow
The Lux Products HP2110 Smart Temp Programmable thermostat that is designed specifically for heat pumps
Heat pumps are a marvelous invention. They are more energy efficient than other forms of heating and cooling and they are easy to install. It is important to make sure that you get the most out of your heat pump by using the right digital programmable thermostat. Although most new programmable thermostats can regulate heat pumps, it is a good idea to get a thermostat that is designed specifically for heat pumps. The Lux Products HP2110 Smart Temp Programmable Heat Pump Thermostat is an Energy Star approved device that is recommended for heat pumps.
Heat pumps work by taking heat from a ‘source’ and putting it in a ‘sink’. If the heat pump is heating a house the source is outside and the sink is inside. If it is cooling then the roles are reversed. A heat pump consists of 2 coils and a reversing valve. When a heat pump is heating the outside coil works as an evaporator and the inside coil works as a condenser. In cooling mode the coils reverse roles. The heat is carried by a refrigerant liquid similar to that used in fridges. A reversing valve determines the flow of heat.
The performance of a heating system is measured by its Coefficient of Performance (COP). This is the units of energy inputted for energy given out. For a standard electrical resistance heater the COP is 1. Namely, one unit of energy produces 1 unit of heat. For a heat pump on a mild winter’s day (10°C) the COP is 3 or 4. That means that a heat pump is 3 or 4 times more economical than a standard heater. A heat pump continues to out-perform other types of HVAC systems down to temperatures around -18°C. At this point a thermostat will normally switch to auxiliary or back up heat.
The Lux Products HP2110 Smart Temp is designed to do this at the right point. If a programmable thermostat turns to auxiliary before the COP falls below 1 then energy is being wasted.
This Lux Products programmable thermostat is a 5-1-1 device. This means it has 3 programs to set up: one for weekdays, one for Saturday and one for Sunday. For each of the 3 programs there are 4 periods of heating/cooling to program. If you keep regular hours at your job during the week but like to do different things at the weekend this thermostat is powerful enough for you to avoid heating or cooling an empty house.
There is also an adjustable swing control on the Lux Products HP2110 to let you set up a range around which the thermostat doesn’t activate the heat pump. This prevents the heat pump from becoming damaged from short cycling.
The thermostat is easy to install and has a backlit digital display. It is easy to program. There is the Lux Products patented speed dial to help you set the three programs up quickly. The thermostat also comes with default Energy Star settings to guide you in choosing the most economical set point temperatures. The display also has a filter change warning and a battery change warning.
There is also a temporary hold to make quick changes and a vacation mode so you can set the heat pump on a timer so the house is comfortable when you return from holiday.
Finally, the Lux Products HP2110 for heat pumps also has a program lock to protect your settings from being changed by others.
When you consider this thermostat costs about $60, you realize that it is money well spent to get the most of out of your heat pump.
Reviews of the Lux Products HP2110 Smart Temp
Reviews of the Lux Products HP2110 Smart Temp Programmable Heat Pump Thermostat are nearly unanimous in praising the thermostat. Out of 19 reviews on Amazon, 12 people give the thermostat the top rating of 5 stars. Only 1 person rated the thermostat with a single star.
Most reviews mention how well the Lux Products HP2110 does at regulating a heat pump. That it doesn’t keep turning to auxiliary prematurely, and that it holds the room temperature well. Mention is also made of how handy the swing control is.
The only minor note of criticism on Amazon reviews is that you have only 1 minute to complete a battery change before the settings are lost. Overall, reviews of the Lux Products Smart Temp for heat pumps show that this is a reliable and accurate thermostat.
List of Functions
5-1-1 Programmable thermostat with 4 periods per program
Designed specifically for heat pumps
Swing control
Energy Star default settings
Battery powered
Mercury free digital display with backlight
Lux Products patented speed dial
Temporary hold
Vacation mode
Filter change warning
Battery change warning
Compatible with heat pumps that have up to 2 stages of heating and 1 stage of cooling
Energy Star approved
1 year warranty
Program lock to protect settings
Settings stored even after a power outage
Real time display
Armchair programming
Friday, 18 March 2011
Heat pumps are bringing benefits to our Commercial buildings
With the excitement being created by rapidly growing application of heat pumps in the residential sector to replace conventional central heating boilers, it is often mistakenly thought that this is a recent innovation, this is not the case; heat pumps have been with us for over 50 years, indeed they are a dominant feature in the commercial buildings sector.
What we are seeing in the residential sector is the emergence of air or ground source-to-water heat pumps, which can satisfy space heating and domestic hot water requirements utilising conventional heat emitters - radiators, fan coil units or underfloor heating and hot water storage cylinders. Heat Pumps being part renewable, part electric technology, achieve far greater operating efficiencies than all electric or fossil fuel (gas or oil), combustion based boilers. Heat pumps have been recognised as being capable of helping us reach our carbon emission reduction targets not to mention greatly reducing our household heating bills.
In the commercial sector the pre-eminent heat pump is the air source air-to-air type, which can satisfy the space heating and cooling requirements, however, the sanitary hot water services are still mainly provided by secondary systems such as all electric or gas/oil fired boilers.
Pre 1990's most commercial buildings were cooled by air or water-cooled chillers circulating chilled water to wall mounted or ducted fan coil units and heated by conventional 'wet' central heating systems, either utilising the same fan coil units or radiators. In the mid 1980's, Daikin Industries developed an ingenious new heat pump technology called Variable Refrigerant Volume or VRV. This revolutionised the commercial air conditioning market because, for the first time there was a single system that could efficiently cool and heat commercial buildings, reducing dependence on energy guzzling boilers, which would now only be needed, in smaller capacities, for providing hot water.
What's more, VRV could offer simultaneous cooling and heating from the same system by re-distributing waste or rejected heat that would otherwise discharged to atmosphere! VRV offered many other benefits apart from superior energy efficiency, it was a modular concept so proved much more flexible in terms of the space it occupied and in programming the installation works.
Daikin Air Heat Pumps
Electrical loads were reduced and the speed with which VRV was able to respond to demand was far quicker than any chilled water/secondary heating system.
No surprise then that modular VRV (and later derivatives known as VRF) overtook central chiller systems in terms of popularity in the commercial sector.
However, certain commercial applications remain better suited to chiller systems, for example in large areas with a single temperature set-point or where response times are less critical, spaces with larger cooling loads or very high ceilings.
So has chiller development learned any lessons from the success of VRV? - Heat pump chillers have also been available for some years but at a premium that hindered their success. Such chillers could only operate in cooling or heating. In heating mode, there were limitations and in certain conditions a secondary heating source would still be required to satisfy the heating demand. This has been largely resolved with the more recent introduction of inverter technology (which VRV/VRF had adopted years earlier). Inverter technology enables the heat pump chiller's compressor/s to be boosted, in more extreme conditions, with a frequency increase that exactly follows the required thermal load, resulting in a wider operating range and reducing or eliminating the need for secondary heating.
Heat recovery, heat pump chillers manage to get a little closer to VRV/VRF capabilities because, the chillers offer cooling and heating as before - but - in cooling mode, heat absorbed from the conditioned space and from the compressors, instead of being rejected to atmosphere, is recovered and directed to a second heat exchanger. The recovered heat energy can then be used in areas calling for heating or passed to a thermal storage facility for hot water. In this way chillers can offer simultaneous heating and cooling, a common requirement in commercial buildings, at remarkably high efficiencies.
To manage the heating and cooling requirements of our commercial buildings it's not so much a question of why install heat pumps rather than other technology? More the fact that no other systems offer anything like equivalent energy efficiency and cost effectiveness. A fact that we in the industry trust will be acknowledged in the government's soon to be announced Renewable Heat Incentive.
What we are seeing in the residential sector is the emergence of air or ground source-to-water heat pumps, which can satisfy space heating and domestic hot water requirements utilising conventional heat emitters - radiators, fan coil units or underfloor heating and hot water storage cylinders. Heat Pumps being part renewable, part electric technology, achieve far greater operating efficiencies than all electric or fossil fuel (gas or oil), combustion based boilers. Heat pumps have been recognised as being capable of helping us reach our carbon emission reduction targets not to mention greatly reducing our household heating bills.
In the commercial sector the pre-eminent heat pump is the air source air-to-air type, which can satisfy the space heating and cooling requirements, however, the sanitary hot water services are still mainly provided by secondary systems such as all electric or gas/oil fired boilers.
Pre 1990's most commercial buildings were cooled by air or water-cooled chillers circulating chilled water to wall mounted or ducted fan coil units and heated by conventional 'wet' central heating systems, either utilising the same fan coil units or radiators. In the mid 1980's, Daikin Industries developed an ingenious new heat pump technology called Variable Refrigerant Volume or VRV. This revolutionised the commercial air conditioning market because, for the first time there was a single system that could efficiently cool and heat commercial buildings, reducing dependence on energy guzzling boilers, which would now only be needed, in smaller capacities, for providing hot water.
What's more, VRV could offer simultaneous cooling and heating from the same system by re-distributing waste or rejected heat that would otherwise discharged to atmosphere! VRV offered many other benefits apart from superior energy efficiency, it was a modular concept so proved much more flexible in terms of the space it occupied and in programming the installation works.
Daikin Air Heat Pumps
Electrical loads were reduced and the speed with which VRV was able to respond to demand was far quicker than any chilled water/secondary heating system.
No surprise then that modular VRV (and later derivatives known as VRF) overtook central chiller systems in terms of popularity in the commercial sector.
However, certain commercial applications remain better suited to chiller systems, for example in large areas with a single temperature set-point or where response times are less critical, spaces with larger cooling loads or very high ceilings.
So has chiller development learned any lessons from the success of VRV? - Heat pump chillers have also been available for some years but at a premium that hindered their success. Such chillers could only operate in cooling or heating. In heating mode, there were limitations and in certain conditions a secondary heating source would still be required to satisfy the heating demand. This has been largely resolved with the more recent introduction of inverter technology (which VRV/VRF had adopted years earlier). Inverter technology enables the heat pump chiller's compressor/s to be boosted, in more extreme conditions, with a frequency increase that exactly follows the required thermal load, resulting in a wider operating range and reducing or eliminating the need for secondary heating.
Heat recovery, heat pump chillers manage to get a little closer to VRV/VRF capabilities because, the chillers offer cooling and heating as before - but - in cooling mode, heat absorbed from the conditioned space and from the compressors, instead of being rejected to atmosphere, is recovered and directed to a second heat exchanger. The recovered heat energy can then be used in areas calling for heating or passed to a thermal storage facility for hot water. In this way chillers can offer simultaneous heating and cooling, a common requirement in commercial buildings, at remarkably high efficiencies.
To manage the heating and cooling requirements of our commercial buildings it's not so much a question of why install heat pumps rather than other technology? More the fact that no other systems offer anything like equivalent energy efficiency and cost effectiveness. A fact that we in the industry trust will be acknowledged in the government's soon to be announced Renewable Heat Incentive.
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