Experimental research on a solar air-source heat pump system with phase change energy storage

A solar air-source heat pump system with phase change energy storage is investigated in this paper. By employing phase change storage in this system, it overcomes the frosting problem in the evaporator and improves the COP of heat pump under the extreme weather condition. The system is constructed and the experiment is carried out in Shijiazhuang. The testing results reveal that the average COP of the heat pump is around 4.92 in the clear days, 1.79 in extreme weather conditions, and 2.12 in the rainy or snow days, which is much higher than the traditional heating mode. Through economic analysis, it is found that the operating cost of the whole heating season is around 22.5% of the oil-fired boiler, 55.4% of the gas boiler, 27.1% of the electric boiler, and 65.6% of the air source heat pump. With the help of phase change storage, solar energy and air source can be utilized to the maximum extent to achieve the purpose of energy-saving and emission reduction in the extremely cold area.