The minimisation of the power consumption of a thermodynamic heat pump by a microprocessor based control system. Final report

To study the performance of a variable capacity heat pump and to implement control strategies that will minimize the energy consumption of the system over a range of operating conditions, an electrically driven air to water heat pump has been designed and tested. The performance characteristics of this advanced system when operating both under full load and part load conditions have been established and its ability to conserve energy when compared to a conventional system has been demonstrated. Results show that an improvement in energy savings of around 9% can be achieved. Further to the energy savings of the system, lower power consumption is required at start up when using a capacity controlled heat pump, thus increasing its possible application in the domestic sector.