Experimental performance analysis of a multiple-source and multiple-use heat pump system: a predictive ANN model of sky-source heat pump

In this study, an artificial neural network (ANN) was used to model the thermal performance of a novel direct-expansion solar-assisted sky-source heat pump (SSHP) during winter. The input parameters of the ANN take into account the weather conditions, water loop characteristics, and the compressor characteristics of the SSHP. The following four output parameters were adopted to evaluate the SSHP performance: the outlet water temperature of the water loop, electricity consumption, heat production, and the coefficient of performance. To increase the accuracy of the ANN and simultaneously investigate the effects of each of the input parameters on the performance of the SSHP, the combination of input parameters for the validation data set was varied in multiple case studies. Additionally, learning curves were introduced to clarify the relationship between the training data size and the generalization performance of the ANN. Finally, the ANNs with the best performance were selected and evaluated based on the test data set by using metrics such as the root mean square error. The reported results demonstrated that the ANN model has comparatively high SSHP winter performance prediction accuracy.