Solar Energy 80 (2006) 795–803

www.elsevier.com/locate/solener

Performance of a multi-functional direct-expansion

solar assisted heat pump system
Y.H. Kuang, R.Z. Wang *

Institute of Refrigeration and Cryogenics, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200030, PR China

Received 21 October 2004; received in revised form 14 April 2005; accepted 1 June 2005
Available online 20 July 2005

Communicated by: Associate Editor Volker Wittwer

Abstract

This paper reports on the long-term performance of a direct-expansion solar assisted heat pump (DX-SAHP) system
for domestic use, which can offer space heating in winter, air conditioning in summer and hot water during the whole
year. The system employs a bare flat-plate collector array with a surface area of 10.5 m2, a variable speed compressor, a
storage tank with a total volume of 1 m3 and radiant floor heating unit. The performance under different operation
modes is presented and analyzed in detail. For space-heating-only mode, the daily-averaged heat pump COP varied
from 2.6 to 3.3, while the system COP ranged from 2.1 to 2.7. For water-heating-only mode, the DX-SAHP system
could supply 200 l or 1000 l hot water daily, with the final temperature of about 50 °C, under various weather condi-
tions in Shanghai, China. For space-cooling-only mode, the compressor operates only at night to take advantage of a
utilityÕs off-peak electrical rates by chilling water in the thermal storage tank for the daytime air-conditioning. It shows
that, the multi-functional DX-SAHP system could guarantee a long-term operation under very different weather con-
ditions and relatively low running cost for a whole year.
Ó 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Solar assisted; Heat pump; Direct expansion; Water heater

1. Introduction system, which is called direct-expansion solar assisted

Solar energy systems and heat pumps are two prom-
ising means of reducing the consumption of fossil energy
resources (coal, petroleum, etc.), and hopefully, the cost
of delivered energy for residential use. An intelligent
extension is to use refrigerant-filled solar collectors to re-
place the standard air-source evaporator in a heat pump
*
Corresponding author. Tel.: +86 21 629 33838; fax: +86 21
629 33250.
E-mail address: rzwang@sjtu.edu.cn (R.Z. Wang).
heat pump (DX-SAHP) system. An advantage from
the heat pump standpoint is that the collector/evapora-
tor can operate at a temperature higher than ambient
due to solar heating, which increases the heat pump
COP. From a solar viewpoint, the working fluid for
the collector is a refrigerant, which undergoes a phase
change at a relatively low temperature. This yields high-
er collector efficiency than that of a straight solar sys-
tem. Thus there are reasons for expecting higher
performance for such systems than conventional air-
to-air heat pumps or conventional solar systems.

0038-092X/$ - see front matter Ó 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.solener.2005.06.003
796 Y.H. Kuang, R.Z. Wang / Solar Energy 80 (2006) 795–803
Nomenclature
COP coefficient of performance
f frequency, Hz
H daily amount of solar irradiation on the
plane of the collector, MJ m2 (or
kWh m2)
G global solar flux density on the plane of the
collector, W m2
Q heat rate, W
T temperature, K (or °C)
t time, s
W power, W
s operating period of the system, min
Subscripts
a ambience or air
av averaged value
The concept of DX-SAHP was first proposed by
Sporn and Ambrose (1955) in West Virginia. Studies
of refrigerant-filled collectors alone (Chaturvedi et al.,
1982; Aziz et al., 1999) and the resulting heat pump per-
formance with elevated evaporating temperatures (Mor-
rison, 1994; Chaturvedi et al., 1998; Ito et al., 1999;
Hawlader et al., 2001; Chyng et al., 2003; Kuang
et al., 2003) have been done theoretically and experimen-
tally. A review on such work has indicated that, the COP
values of the DX-SAHP systems range from 2 to 9, and
the collector efficiencies vary between 40% and 98% (or
even above 1) under very different climatic conditions.
Although there are some DX-SAHP water heaters
currently being marketed, the potential of such a tech-
nology is far from being realized. In some regions, air-
conditioning is the dominating energy consuming service
in buildings, but there is lack of enough information
about the application of DX-SAHP systems for air-con-
ditioning of buildings.
In the present study, a multi-functional domestic
DX-SAHP system was designed and fabricated in
Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China. During the first
half year of 2004, a series of experimental studies were
performed on such a multi-functional DX-SAHP system
at different operating modes, which aimed to investigate
the long-term thermal performance of the system and to
analysis its component matching rules. The effects of
various system parameters on the response of indoor
air temperature of the building, water temperature vari-
ation in the heat storage tank, heating or cooling capac-
ities and electrical power consumption of the system
were investigated. A lot of experimental data and prac-
tical skills including component design, system match-
ing, and operation control were obtained, which are
c cooling
comp compressor
eva evaporator
f floor
h heating
HR heating room
i inlet
NHR no heating room
o outlet
rad radiator
R room
st storage tank
sys system
t tilted surface
w water
expected to contribute to further studies and applica-
tions of such systems in the future.
2. System description
A multi-functional domestic DX-SAHP system is
shown as Fig. 1. It mainly consists of a cost-effective
simple flat-plate collector array, a variable speed com-
pressor, a water-to-refrigerant heat exchanger, a radiant
floor heating sub-system, a thermal storage tank, a hot
water tank with an immersed condensing coil, two fan-
coil units, a forced-air heat exchanger, a water circulat-
ing pump and piping.
The solar flat-plate collector array without any glaz-
ing or back insulation was used as a heat source as well
as an evaporator for the refrigerant, R22. It consists 10
aluminum absorber plates with the total aperture area of
10.5 m2, which were connected in parallel–series form, as
shown in Fig. 2. Each aluminum plate was made by a
special process, in which the piping network design
was laid between two sheets of aluminum (1 mm thick)
and retained after the sheets was bonded by rolling them
together, and then the tubes were formed by overpres-
surizing the network, with an inside diameter of
8.0 mm and a pitch between tubes of 40 mm. The collec-
tors could be integrated into the structure of a house
roof or wall so as to accord with the architecture and
to reduce total initial cost. The solar collector array
was mounted on the south-facing slope roof of a solar
energy laboratory with a floor area of 38.5 m2.
A rotary-type hermetic compressor with a rated input
power of 3 HP (abbr. horsepower) (50 Hz) was used in
the system, with the compressor volumetric displacement
 Y.H. Kuang, R.Z. Wang / Solar Energy 80 (2006) 795–803 797

8 electromagnetic valve thermometer

ball valve pressure gauge
7 check valve flowmeter
1
PC
20
EV1
3 RV
EV2
19
9
EV3
EV5
15
4 5 6

13 16 EV6

2 14
EV4

17 18
12 11
10 Space-heating-only mode
Water-heating-only mode
Space-cooling-only mode

1-solar collector/evaporator, 2-air source heat exchanger, 3-reversing valve, 4-accumulator, 5-compressor, 6-oil separator,
7-condensing coil, 8-hot water tank, 9-plate heat exchanger, 10-receiver, 11-filter-drier,
12-sight glass, 13-thermostatic expansion valve, 14-electronic expansion valve, 15-filter, 16-water pump,
17-floor heating circuit, 18-fan coil, 19-heat storage tank, 20-transducer

Fig. 1. Schematic overview of the DX-SAHP system.

Fig. 2. Front view of the solar collector array.

of 47 cm3. The compressor speed variation was achieved
through a variable frequency drive (VFD), to avoid the
mismatch between the variable load on the system and
the constant capacity of the compressor. In the present
set-up, a VFD capable of adjusting the frequency from
30 to 90 Hz was employed. A refrigerant receiver and
accumulator were included in the system to help in con-
trolling the refrigerant distribution, while the thermal
expansion valve with an external pressure equalizer reg-
ulates refrigerant flow to the evaporators, in order to
maintain constant superheat at the compressor inlet.
The heat pump has two condensers, one of which is
made of a copper tube coil and immersed in a 200 l
hot water tank, and the other is a water-to-refrigerant
plate heat exchanger. A forced-air heat exchanger was
coupled to the solar collectors as a backup evaporator
during times of nun or low solar insolation. The energy
rejected by the plate condenser contributed to space-
heating load requirements through a radiant floor heat-
ing unit in winter, whereas two fan-coil units were
installed parallel to carry the cooling load of the build-
ing in summer. The storage tank is made of sheet iron
with a capacity of 1.0 m3, and was linked to the plate
heat exchanger and the floor heating tubing in a closed
loop. A detailed overview of the heat pump system is
shown in Fig. 3.
798 Y.H. Kuang, R.Z. Wang / Solar Energy 80 (2006) 795–803
Fig. 3. Overview of the major components of the system.
3. Data acquisition and processing system
The pressures, temperatures and flow rate of working
fluid (water) were measured at the locations shown in
Fig. 1. Also, the ambient temperature, relative humidity
and its velocity, the incident solar insolation, the collec-
tor surface temperature, indoor air and floor tempera-
tures were measured. Pressures were measured with
pressure gages. Temperatures were measured with cop-
per–constantan thermocouples and platinum resistance
thermometers (RTDs). A solar pyranometer was
mounted on the roof to measure the instantaneous solar
radiation. A turbine flow meter was used to measure the
water flow rate. Two digital power meters were used to
measure the power consumptions of the compressor
and the whole system including compressor, fans, pumps
and electrical valves, respectively. All above measuring
processes were monitored and controlled by a personal
computer-based data-acquisition system. The data was
recorded at every 5 min interval in a data logger, which
was later used for analysis.
4. Experimental methods and procedure
In general, the multi-functional DX-SAHP system
can offer three fundamental operating modes, i.e.
space-heating-only mode, water-heating-only mode and
space-cooling-only mode, and if necessary, it can also
produce domestic hot water at space-heating mode or
space-cooling mode. The switching between those modes
is by means of valve position and on–off controls. There
are a four-way reversing valve, five electromagnetic
valves on the refrigerant pipes and an electromagnetic
valve on the water pipe at the locations shown in
Fig. 1. A control box was employed to control the oper-
ating modes of the system, which provided with digital
outputs to take care of compressor frequency, on–offs
of valves, fans and water pump.
For about four months from February to June 2004,
experiments were carried out for the three fundamental
operating modes to investigate the long-term perfor-
mance of the multi-functional DX-SAHP system in dif-
ferent seasons. The following parameters have been
measured: electric power consumed by the compressor
and the whole system including compressor, pump, fans
and other electric power consuming elements; tempera-
tures of both water and refrigerant at different locations
of the two loops, the absorber plate, the water in thermal
storage tank, indoor and outdoor air; flow rate of the
water loop; insolation incident on the collector/evapora-
tor; pressures of refrigerant at inlets and outlets of com-
pressor, evaporator and condenser. All above
parameters were scanned and recorded each 5 min in
an automatic scan.
4.1. Space-heating-only mode
This mode serves the cold season when heating of the
room air is required. At this mode, the refrigerant-filled
solar collector array on the roof serves as an evaporator,
while the plate heat exchanger works as a condenser.
The refrigerant vapor from the compressor enters the
plate heat exchanger directly, without passing through
 Y.H. Kuang, R.Z. Wang / Solar Energy 80 (2006) 795–803
the immersed condenser coil in the hot water tank. The
radiant floor heating sub-system was used to dissipate
the heat to the room air, and meanwhile fan-coil units
do not operate at all. As a part of the control strategy,
the heat pump operate only from 9:00 to 17:00, because
at low radiation levels, the collector temperature is sig-
nificantly below the ambient temperature and the system
COP drops. From 17:00 to 22:00, the water circulation
pump continues to operate and the water loop with-
draws the heat from the thermal storage tank, which
has been stored during the daytime. In the second half
of the night, it is the stored heat of indoor floor that
maintains the temperature level of the room air.
At the space-heating-only mode, there is no hot water
producing function, and the system COP at any time in-
stant (t) is defined as
Qh ðtÞ
COPh-sys ðtÞ ¼ ð1Þ
W ðtÞ
where Qh(t) is the heat exchange rate in the plate con-
denser, and W(t) is the system input power. If W(t) is de-
fined as the compressor power input, the rate from Eq.
(1) is called heat pump COP.
Within an operating period of duration s, the average
COPh-sys is defined as
Rs
Q ðtÞ dt
COPh-sys;av ¼ R0s h ð2Þ
0
W ðtÞ dt
4.2. Water-heating-only mode
This mode is used for hot water production only. At
this mode, the four-way valve is positioned as before and
the refrigerant-filled solar collector also serves as an
evaporator. The immersed condenser coil dissipates heat
to the bath (tank) of water. The water-to-refrigerant
plate heat exchanger and the water loop are not included
in this operation through bypassing the refrigerant flow,
and meanwhile the water pump on the loop is power-off.
The compressor is shut down once the water tempera-
ture in the tank exceeds the load temperature (50 °C).
When the DX-SAHP system continues to operate, the
working temperature of the water-bath condenser rises
and the system efficiency declines accordingly.
At this mode, the system COP varies sensitively with
the change in water bath temperature. The COP for
water-heating mode is defined as
Qw ðtÞ
COPw-sys ðtÞ ¼ ð3Þ
W ðtÞ
and
Rs
Q ðtÞ dt
COPw-sys;av ¼ R0s w ð4Þ
0
W ðtÞ dt
where Qw(t) is the heat exchanger rate at the water stor-
age tank.
799
4.3. Space-cooling-only mode
In summer, the DX-SAHP system can be switched to
the space-cooling-only mode. By reverting the refriger-
ant flow direction at the four-way valve, the refriger-
ant-filled solar collector works as a condenser or
radiator, which rejects the condensing heat to the sur-
rounding by night radiation cooling. The water-
to-refrigerant plate heat exchanger produces the cooling
water by working as an evaporator. The fan-coil units
are used to cool the indoor air. The compressor operates
only from 22:00 pm to 6:00 am, when the local power
companies offer an ‘‘off-peak’’ electric rate that is nearly
50% of the standard electric rate in Shanghai. During
the daytime, the water loop withdraws the chilled water
from the thermal storage tank for air-conditioning, un-
der the operation of water circulation pump.
At the space-cooling mode, the COP is defined as
Qc ðtÞ
COPc-sys ðtÞ ¼ ð5Þ
W ðtÞ
and
Rs
Q ðtÞ dt
COPc-sys;av ¼ R0s c ð6Þ
0
W ðtÞ dt
where Qc(t) is the heat exchanger rate in the plate
evaporator.
5. Experimental results and analysis
5.1. Space-heating-only mode
The DX-SAHP system was tested under various
weather conditions at space-heating mode from 13 to
17 February 2004, with the daily-averaged outdoor air
temperatures (Ta,av) ranging from 7.9 to 12.1 °C and
the insolation incident on the collector varying from
10.4 to 42.8 kWh/day. The experimental data listed in
Table 1, which reveal that the daily-averaged indoor
air temperatures (Ta-HR,av) varied from 16.7 to 19.1 °C,
and the values of heat pump COP (COPh-hp,av) and sys-
tem COP (COPh-sys,av) were 2.6–3.3 and 2.1–2.7, respec-
tively. In order to investigate the space-heating
capability of the DX-SAHP system evidently, tempera-
tures of indoor air and floor in an adjoining room had
also been tested and recorded during the testing period,
which has a floor area of 18.5 m2 without any heating
equipment. In the present study, the data from a typical
sunny day in winter has been chosen for analysis.
Fig. 4 shows the variations of the meteorological data
(Ta, Gt), indoor air and floor temperatures (Ta-HR,
Ta-NHR, Tf-HR, Tf-NHR) in both the heating room (HR)
and the non-heating room (NHR) with time of day on
February 10, 2004. It is seen that, in the non-heating
room, Ta-NHR and Tf-NHR were always below 15 °C
800 Y.H. Kuang, R.Z. Wang / Solar Energy 80 (2006) 795–803

Table 1
Performance of DX-SAHP at space-heating-only mode in winter
Weather pattern Ht Ta,av fcomp Ta-NHR,av Ta-HR,av Qh,av COPh-hp,av COPh-sys,av
(kWh m2) (°C) (Hz) (°C) (°C) (kW)
Clear day (04-02-13) 3.25 12.1 40 13.2 17.7 5.8 3.0 2.3
Clear day (04-02-14) 3.58 7.9 50 13.1 16.7 6.2 2.7 2.2
Clear day (04-02-15) 4.08 9.0 60 13.0 17.8 7.6 2.8 2.5
Clear day (04-02-16) 3.86 11.4 Variable speed 13.6 19.1 6.6 3.3 2.7
Cloudy (04-02-17) 1.00 10.1 50 13.3 17.7 6.0 2.6 2.1

30 10 6
Tf-HR , Ta-HR 800 Feb. 14, 2004 Qh
Ta-NHR, Tf-NHR space-heating-only mode W comp
25 5
Ta , Gt 8 fcomp = 50 Hz COPh-hp
600

Solar radiation, W/m

Temperature,°C

20
4
6

Power, kW
400
15
3

COP
10 200 4
2

2
5 0
Feb. 14, 2004 2
1
space-heating-only mode
0
11:30 14:00 16:30 19:00 21:30 0:00 2:30 5:00 7:30
0 0
Time, hh:mm
10:05 11:15 12:25 13:35 14:45 15:55
Time, hh:mm
Fig. 4. Comparisons between indoor floor and air temperatures
of heating room (HR) and those of non-heating room (NHR) Fig. 5. Variations of heating power, compressor power input
under the same climatic conditions. and heat pump COP with time of day.

during the whole day, with a very little fluctuation. In the radiation drops off, while the floor temperature keeps
heating room, the floor and air got heated up with the in- increasing, and hence, the Qh decreases continuously.
crease in solar radiation in the morning. Later, as the so- In order to overcome the mismatch between the variable
lar radiation decreased after the noon, Ta-HR and Ta-NHR load on the collector and the constant capacity of the
reached their peak values respectively at around compressor in DX-SAHP systems, a variable speed com-
17:00 pm. After the compressor switched off, Ta-HR and pressor and an electronic expansion valve in the system
Ta-NHR began to decrease till the heat pump system re- is recommended to be included.
started in the next morning. It is interesting to note that, Fig. 6 reveals the effect of compressor capacity mod-
the variation trends of Gt, Ta, Tf-HR and Ta-HR are simi- ulation on the system performance. At the beginning,
lar, but their peak values appeared lingeringly one by the compressor operating frequency was kept at 40 Hz,
one, which is due to the delay of heat transfer processes. and it was raised to a higher level of 50 Hz after
Fig. 5 shows the variations of heating power (Qh), 11:00 am, and after 15:00 pm it was reduced to the lower
compressor power input (Wcomp) and heat pump effi- level of 40 Hz again. This three-step capacity modula-
ciency (COPh-hp) with time of day on February 10, tion enabled a relative stable and higher COPh-hp.
2004. At a given speed, the electrical power consumed
by the compressor was stable, but Qh and COPh-hp in- 5.2. Water-heating-only mode
creased rapidly initially after the system started to oper-
ate, and then decreased gradually until the system The experimental data listed in Table 2 are taken at
switched off. This is mainly because that, for a compres- water-heating-only mode. In this case, the total volume
sor of a given capacity, the COPh-hp mainly depends on of hot water is about 200 l, with the final temperature
the difference in temperature between evaporating and chosen to be 50 °C. It can be seen that, the daily opera-
condensing processes. With the rapid increase in solar tion time (s) is less 1 h on a typical sunny day in spring,
radiation in the morning, leading to a rapid increase in and the DX-SAHP operated longer on a cloudy day,
evaporating temperature, a relatively smaller increase about 2 h. It is important to note that, the operation
in floor temperature causes a reduction in compressor time s depends much on the compressor capacity. The
work and a higher COPh-hp. After the noon, the solar larger compressor capacity enables a bigger mass flow
 Y.H. Kuang, R.Z. Wang / Solar Energy 80 (2006) 795–803 801

10 6 40 1200
Feb. 16, 2004 Qh June 30-31, 2004
space-heating-only mode
W comp 5 1000
32

Solar irradiation, W / m 2
8 COPh-hp

Temperature,°C
4 800
Power, kW

6 24

600

COPh
3
f:
16
4 40 Hz (9:00 -11:00) 400
50 Hz (11:00-15:00) 2
Ta
40 Hz (15:00-17:00) 8
2 Gt 200
1

0 0
0 0 1:28 3:58 6:28 8:58 11:28 13:58
10:20 11:40 13:00 14:20 15:40 17:00
Time, hh:mm
Time, hh:mm
Fig. 7. Variations of solar radiation intensity and outdoor air
Fig. 6. Effect of compressor capacity modulation on the system
temperature with time.
performance.

rate of refrigeration, which leads to a higher compressor A- Start cold thermal storage
work and a larger heating power, thereby resulting in a B- End cold thermal storage
Ta
35
shorter s and a lower COPw-sys,av. As indicated in Table C- Start cold consumption
2, for a fixed compressor capacity, the system perfor- A C
Ta-R
Temperature,°C

mance is governed strongly by the change of solar radi- 28

ation and ambient air temperature. For example, the

COPw-sys,av is much improved with the increase in solar Tw-st
21
radiation and ambient temperature. In order to main-
tain the COPw-sys,av in a reasonable range, it is suggested
14 C
to keep the compressor working frequency below 45 Hz. June 30-31, 2004 B
space-cooling-only mode
5.3. Space-cooling-only mode 7 fcomp = 30Hz

1:28 3:58 6:28 8:58 11:28 13:58

At the mode, refrigerant flow direction is reverted by
the four-way valve, and the refrigerant-filled solar col-
lector works as a condenser, which rejects heat to the
night sky by radiation cooling. Meanwhile, the plate
heat exchanger works as an evaporator to produce the
chilled water for air-conditioning.
Fig. 7 shows the typical meteorological data of June
30–31, 2004, which had averaged outdoor temperature
of 26.7 °C during the operation period of the compressor
(23:00–8:30). As shown in this figure, the temperature
reached the maximum of 36.3 °C at around solar noon.
In Fig. 8, the outdoor temperature (Ta), indoor tem-
perature (Ta-R) and water temperature in the energy
storage tank (Tw-st) are plotted with time of day in the
experiment study. To begin with, the compressor oper-
Time, hh:mm
Fig. 8. Variations of outdoor air temperature, indoor air
temperature and water temperature in the tank with time.
ated at a constant frequency of 30 Hz at about
23:00 pm, when the initial temperature in the tank was
about 28.7 °C (point ‘‘A’’). At about 8:30 am, the com-
pressor switched off and the water temperature in the en-
ergy storage tank reduced to 15.9 °C (point ‘‘B’’). Hence,
the total net cold energy stored in the tank was only
about 14.9 kWh during that period (point ‘‘A’’ to
‘‘B’’), while the total cooling output of the DX-SAHP
was about 49.5 kWh, which indicates that the system

Table 2
Performance of DX-SAHP at water-heating-only mode in spring
Rs Rs
Weather pattern fcomp (Hz) s (min) Gt,av Ta,av Tw,i Tw,o 0 Qw ðkWhÞ 0 W comp ðkWhÞ COPw-sys,av
(W m2) (°C) (°C) (°C)
Cloudy (04-04-10) 30 120 136 15.0 14.9 48.3 7.79 3.73 2.1
Partly cloudy (04-04-19) 30 60 563 27.9 18.3 47.8 6.88 1.97 3.5
Clear day (04-04-20) 35 45 675 32.7 19.5 46.1 6.19 1.90 3.3
Clear day (04-04-21) 40 35 697 31.0 19.3 45.0 6.01 1.78 3.5
Clear day (04-04-24) 45 50 682 19.6 20.7 48.1 6.65 2.67 2.5
802 Y.H. Kuang, R.Z. Wang / Solar Energy 80 (2006) 795–803
90
June 30-31, 2004
space-cooling-only mode
75 fcomp = 30 Hz
Trad,i
Temperature,°C
60
45
30 Trad,o
Teva,o
15
Teva,i
0 For the DX-SAHP system, the match between differ-
0:28 1:58 3:28 4:58
Time, hh:mm
Fig. 9. Variations of inlet/outlet refrigerant temperatures of
radiator and evaporator with time.
has a poor cold storage efficiency of about 30%. The
COPc-hp,av was about 2.9 for this nighttime operation.
This problem can be overcome by optimizing the struc-
ture of the whole system, shortening the length of piping
between components, strengthening the insulation of en-
ergy storage tank and chilled water loop. It can also be
seen that, at about 15:00 pm, the water temperature in
the tank was above the indoor air temperature, which
implies the cold energy stored during the nighttime
was unable to meet the whole daily cooling load. Thus,
it is necessary to employ a back-up condenser when the
compressor has to work in daytime.
Fig. 9 shows the variations of the inlet/outlet refriger-
ant temperatures of the radiator/condenser (Trad,i,
Trad,o) and the inlet/outlet refrigerant temperatures of
the water-source evaporator (Teva,i, Teva,o) with time as
shown in the figure, during the most of operation time,
the experimental values of Trad,i, Trad,o and Teva,i kept
about 65 °C, 28 °C and 5 °C respectively, while Teva,o de-
creased gradually as the operation time continued. It indi-
cates that the bare collector/evaporator works well as a
radiator/condenser at space-cooling mode, but its func-
tion is limited by the meteorological parameters, such as
outdoor temperature, wind speed and cloud cover in the
night sky. It is suggested to take some methods to enhance
the heat transfer on the surface of the radiator.
6. Discussions
A multi-functional domestic DX-SAHP system has
been investigated experimentally in the present study.
At space-heating or water-heating mode, the refriger-
ant-filled collector works as an evaporator, while at
space-cooling mode, it works as a condenser. It is ex-
pected that the collector would have high heat gain/
rejection efficiency, which may impose higher require-
ments for its design and manufacture. Moreover, it is
needed to do further research on spectrum-selective
coating for such a collector.
In the DX-SAHP system, the energy storage tank is
used to store hot water for space heating in winter,
but it is also used to store chilled water for air-condition-
ing in summer. Both the volume and insulation of the
energy storage tank will influence the whole system per-
formance significantly. So the selection and design of the
energy storage tank should consider synthetically the
first-loaded cost and annual operation cost of the whole
DX-SAHP system.
6:28 7:58
ent components is critical for its good performance,
especially the match between compressor capacity and
solar collector area. It is recommended to apply certain
proper strategies for system operation control. That is,
inclusion of a variable speed compressor and an elec-
tronic expansion valve with a controller in the system
would positively improve the annual system thermal per-
formance of the DX-SAHP system. Although our objec-
tion is to conduct experiments to prove the prospective
advantage of DX-SAHP system, only some primary re-
sults are presented in this paper, which shows the system
performance was not so good as expected. It is because,
at the time of writing, the system has not been operated
in an automatic control means to adapt well to the large
fluctuation of solar radiation, which affected the system
performance greatly. The experiments are still being car-
ried out to fully realize the system match in various cli-
mate conditions.
Several previous studies have employed chlorofluoro-
carbons (CFCs) as the collector fluid, such as R11,
R114, R12 and R22. However, the discovery concerning
harmful effects of CFCs on the stratospheric ozone layer
has led to international agreements and legislative ac-
tions banning the future use of fully halogenated CFCs,
while R22, a widely used hydrogenated CFC (HCFC)
with an ODP of 0.055, is slated for phase out by the year
2040 in all countries. Thus several new refrigerants such
as R134a, a non-azeotropic mixture of R22 and R142b,
and a mixture of R123 and R134a have been proposed
to substitute CFCs for the DX-SAHP applications (Aziz
et al., 1999; Chyng et al., 2003). So it is very necessary to
redesign the system components and recognize the influ-
ence of such new refrigerants on system performance by
theoretical and experimental methods in further studies.
7. Conclusions
In the present study, a DX-SAHP system was de-
signed and fabricated, which consists of a refrigerant-
filled collector array, a variable speed compressor and
a radiant floor heating unit. It can offer multi-fold func-
tions for residential uses, i.e. space heating in winter,
 Y.H. Kuang, R.Z. Wang / Solar Energy 80 (2006) 795–803
air-conditioning in summer and hot water supply in
whole year. During the first half year of 2004, a series
of experimental studies were carried out on the DX-
SAHP system. Experimental results show that the sys-
tem operating in space-heating-only mode can provide
comfortable space heating in winter, with the daily-aver-
aged heat pump COP varying from 2.6 to 3.3 and the
system COP ranging from 2.1 to 2.7. For water-heat-
ing-only mode, the DX-SAHP system can supply 200 l
hot water with the final temperature of about 50 °C daily
under various weather conditions. For space-cooling-
only mode, the compressor operates only at night to
take advantage of a utilityÕs off-peak electrical rates by
chilling water in the thermal storage tank for the day-
time air-conditioning. It is important to note that, the
multi-functional DX-SAHP system could guarantee a
long-term operation under very different weather condi-
tions and relatively low running cost during the whole
year, but its advantages should be proved fully by much
more experimental and theoretical studies in the future.
Acknowledgements
This work was supported by the National Key Fun-
damental Research Program under the contract no.
G2000026309 and also Shanghai Commission of Science
& Technology under the contract of 03dz12012. The
authors thanks the helps from Prof. J.Y. Wu, senior
engineer Mr. Y.X. Xu, and also Mr. Y.K. Sun.
803
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