Experimental and analytical study of an innovative integrated dual-source evaporator for solar-assisted heat pumps

Energy efficiency is an effective way to produce energy reducing the impact of fossil fuels in the energy sector. A promising solution for residential application consists of producing domestic hot water and space heating using Solar-Assisted Heat Pump. This work analyzes the performance of a Solar-Assisted Heat Pump with an innovative Integrated Dual-Source Evaporator connected to Photovoltaic/Thermal modules. The concept is firstly validated in laboratory where the Solar-Assisted Heat Pump is operated in real environmental conditions. Then, a numerical model is developed in Matlab® to identify the optimal design of the Integrated Dual-Source Evaporator. Numerical results show that the performance of the system are significantly affected by the solar irradiance and in a wide operating range the photovoltaic production overcomes the Heat Pump consumptions. Compared to a standard Air-Source Heat Pump, the proposed concept shows up to 14% higher Coefficient of Performance