Sun Powered Heat Pumps

Solar energy is fast becoming an alternative source of energy, and companies in the US are innovating solar-electric heat pump systems for residential and light-commercial space heating and cooling, and water heating. Solar-powered heat pumps can not only cool and heat residential spaces, and heat water, but can also provide emergency back-up power during blackouts and after earthquakes. Solar-boosted heat pumps would not only reduce electric power costs but can also help in reducing the frequency and duration of blackouts by reducing peak demand.

Sun-powered heat pumps are fitted with a solar collector panel and an evaporator on the roof, and a tank on the ground; the refrigerant is pumped to the evaporator and gets heated by air, solar radiation and even rain. The hot air then flows back into the condenser, which is a coil of tubing wrapped around the tank. Some solar-photovoltaic heat pumps also incorporate air conditioners that provide robust cooling in residential and light commercial applications. These devices use photovoltaic-made electricity and can be substituted directly as the input power for existing air conditioners, without making any major changes in the AC to adopt a solar-powered electric unit.

Sun-powered electric heat pumps are generally manufactured in 1- and 1.5-ton capacities, with eight 60-W and 80-W PV modules that operate in a vapor-compression cycle powered by a DC motor. A switch in the pump activates a reversing valve to pump refrigerant in the opposite direction, to turn the solar cooler into a solar heater in cold weather and back into solar cooler in the summer season. In order to maximize a heat pump’s efficiency, one can also connect a 4.5-COP-rated heat pump to passive solar storage cylinders or drum walls.

In today’s modern world, energy conservation is key, and solar-powered heat pumps are an excellent way to help solve global energy crisis.