PVT and ETC Coupling for Annual Heating and Cooling by Absorption Heat Pumps

Marco Noro and Renato Lazzarin
Additional contact information
Marco Noro: Department of Management and Engineering, University of Padova, 36100 Vicenza, Italy
Renato Lazzarin: Department of Management and Engineering, University of Padova, 36100 Vicenza, Italy

Sustainability, 2020, vol. 12, issue 17, 1-17

Abstract: Until recently, solar assisted heat pumps have used solar collectors as a cold source. Solar collectors provide, when possible, direct heat, otherwise they offer temperature levels to the heat pump evaporator higher than the outside air. At the same time, solar thermal cooling exploits the solar collectors and the absorption chiller only in hot months. Photovoltaic/Thermal (PVT) modules have been available on the market in recent years for solar cogeneration, but their utilization can be problematic due to PhotoVoltaic (PV) cell damage in cases where there is no heating request. This paper considers the possibility of coupling evacuated tube collectors and photovoltaic/thermal modules to drive an absorption heat pump-based plant operating as an absorption chiller in the summertime. The cold source is the solar energy and the ground, which is recharged by the solar thermal and photovoltaic/thermal collectors and by the cooling of the absorber-condenser in mid-seasons and summer. This study analyzes the system behavior in yearly operation and evaluates the role of suitable storage tanks in two different climates, varying the size of the two solar fields and the generator tank. In the best plant configuration, a primary energy ratio of 26.6 in colder climates with cloudy skies and 20 in hotter climates with clearer skies is obtained.

Keywords: absorption/adsorption heat pump; evacuated tube collectors; solar assisted heat pumps; photovoltaic/thermal modules; ground assisted heat pumps; multi-source heat pumps (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/17/7042/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/17/7042/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:12:y:2020:i:17:p:7042-:d:405806

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().