Indirect expansion solar assisted heat pump system: A review

Abstract

Benefiting of the advantages of low CO2 emission and high energy performance, indirect expansion solar assisted heat pump system (IDESHP) is one of the most promising and widespread solutions to achieving the global carbon peak and carbon neutral. To the authors’ knowledge, despite many valuable studies on the IDESHP, including the technical performance and economic feasibility of the single source solar assisted heat pump system, the solar assisted air source heat pump system, and the solar assisted ground source heat pump system, a comprehensive review which surveys and summarizes those studies and identifies the research gaps in this field has not been published to date. This paper aims to present a comprehensive review of the research conducted on IDESHP systems with the perspective of the system configuration, operating principle, mathematic simulation model, experimental performance, simulated result, and economic analysis. The analysis has focused on the effect of the component structure, thermal storage technology, operating modes, and control strategy. Based on these review data, the advantages and disadvantages of each system have been summarized. In addition, based on the literature review, the technology outlook of IDESHP systems in future research is also presented.