Air-source heat pump LabView-based model development for NZEB applications

Abstract

Abstract A net zero-energy building (NZEB) is considered as a resident or commercial building where the energy needs are covered by using locally available renewable energy sources and technologies. Various types of heat pumps are widely used energy conversion systems for NZEB strategies implementation. This paper is focused on the development of a novel LabView-based model for an air-source heat pump system that absorbs heat from outside air and releases it inside the building as domestic hot water supply or room's space heating by using hot water-filled fan-coils. In the first research steps the mathematical background of the considered heat pump system has been developed. Then the LabView-based software implementation of the air-source heat pump and entire heating circuit model is unfolded and presented. The result is a versatile and powerful graphical software toolkit, suitable to simulate the complex heating, ventilation and air-conditioning processes in net-zero energy buildings and to perform energy balance performance evaluations. Beside the elaborated mathematical models, a concrete software implementation example and measurement data is provided in the paper. Last but not least, the proposed original model offers a feasible solution for future developments and research in NZEB applications modeling and simulation purposes.