Dual source solar assisted heat pump model development, validation and comparison to conventional systems

This paper presents a new SAHP system integrated with hybrid photovoltaic/thermal panels (PVT). The main components of the system developed are a dual-source HP, PVT panels and two storage tanks. The use of two storage tanks allows to directly store the hot water for DHW if water temperature reaches the set-point or to send it to the cold storage. On the other side, the use of two heat exchangers on source side, allows the system to switch from air to the cold tank increasing system’s performances. In this work the developed system is compared with two conventional systems: an AWHP integrated with standard photovoltaic panels and an AWHP integrated with hybrid PVT panels for DHW production only. Those systems were investigated for a single family house, through one year simulation in the TRNSYS software. Control strategy, size of the tanks and number of panels were investigated with parametric studies. Thanks to the good results of the simulations, an experimental prototype has been designed and built. Data observed from first monitoring campaign highlighted better performances than expected. After a season of investigation and data analysis for the system, new findings will be illustrate.