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A modular thermal hub for building integrated energy systems.

Author(s) : DETERMAN M. D., GARIMELLA S.

Summary

A thermally activated hub for modular, scalable, distributed cooling and heating in buildings that can run on thermal energy from combustion, low-grade waste heat, or solar energy is developed in this study. The concept capitalizes on several-fold enhancements in coupled heat and mass transfer possible in microscale passages to potentially remove significant hurdles that have hindered the implementation of thermally activated heat pumps for more than a century. Cooling capacities of 100 W - 10s of kW are possible through minor changes in component geometry. These mass-producible miniaturized systems can be packaged as monolithic full-system packages or as discrete, distributed hydronically coupled components, enabling integration into residential and commercial buildings. Reversible operation enables space cooling and heating, coupled with water heating to yield high overall system efficiencies. The conceptualization, design, fabrication and successful experimental demonstration of the key system component, a thermally activated microscale absorption heat pump as a miniaturized thermally activated cooling system, is reported here. A 300 W nominal cooling capacity ammonia-water absorption heat pump with overall dimensions of 200 × 200 × 34 mm and a mass of 7 kg was fabricated and successfully tested over a range of heat sink temperatures from 20 to 35°C and desorber thermal input rates ranging from 500 to 800 W. Measured evaporator coolant heat duties ranged from 136 to 300 W, while system COPs ranged from 0.247 to 0.434.

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Pages: 175-183

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Details

  • Original title: A modular thermal hub for building integrated energy systems.
  • Record ID : 30001190
  • Languages: English
  • Source: Sources/sinks Alternative to the Outside Air for Heat Pump and Air-conditioning Techniques (Alternative Sources - AS), Padua, Italy, April 5-7, 2011. / International Sorption Heat Pump Conference (ISHPC11), Padua, Italy, April 6-8, 2011.
  • Publication date: 2011/04/06

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