Analysis on impacts of domestic air source heat pumps to distribution networks in coal-to-electricity projects

Abstract

As an air source heat pump unit can be used for building heating at a high operating efficiency, it is used more and more widely in the coal-to-electricity project. However, due to the voltage sag, the current surge and the harmonics caused by its using, the power quality problems should be considered with the large-scale units of the air source heat pump being connected to rural distribution networks. The working principles and the types of the domestic unit are introduced. The power quality problems are discussed with the parameters and the actual measurement data of the units in the distribution networks. The starting and operational characteristics of different air source heat pumps are compared. The voltage sags in a rural distribution network are simulated and analyzed during the starting process of the air source heat pump units. The corresponding solution measures are given for the problems caused by the large-scale units of the domestic air source heat pump.