Abstract
A multi-functional heat pump system is proposed to effectively utilize waste heat and heat capacity in gray water for heating or cooling of residential buildings. Heat is also reclaimed from a plate heat exchanger installed at the discharge outlet of the compressor to provide sufficient hot water for residential use. To study the performance of this innovative system, laboratory testing has been performed with a prototype consisting of an outdoor heat pump, an indoor air handler, a gray water tank and a hot-water tank. This system is set in two environmental chambers that they mimic the outdoor and indoor environments, respectively. In this paper, the investigation of the proposed system is focused on the performance in cooling mode. The multi-functional heat pump system has been run under (i) space cooling mode and (ii) space cooling plus hot-water supply mode, with the same temperature conditions. The system performances in these two modes are compared and analyzed. The system is designed to allow four combinations of heat sinks with a water sink condenser and an air sink condenser. The four combinations are (1) air sink only, (2) water sink only, (3) air sink and water sink in parallel and (4) air sink and water sink in series, at the refrigerant cycle. Performance of the four combinations of heat sinks is experimentally investigated at a typical indoor air temperature of 26.7 °C and various outdoor air temperatures at 29.4 °C, 35 °C, and 40.5 °C. The results show that the heat sink combinations influence the cooling capacity and coefficient of performance (COP) of the system. The system performance and the optimal heat sink combination depend on the outdoor temperature. The impacts of outdoor temperature and gray water temperature on the performance of the system are discussed. The dynamic performance of the system for heating hot water from 30 °C to 48.9 °C is also studied. The proposed system has been shown providing significant energy savings in space cooling and hot-water supply. Moreover, the optimal source combination is critical in pursuing the maximum energy savings.
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