United States.
The U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), in collaboration with Emerson Climate Technologies, has developed a prototype air source heat pump for the colder regions of the country – one that heats better and uses much less energy.
The technology also improves the efficiency and comfort of the air source heat pump in milder climates, where heat pumps are already common, which means significant national primary energy savings (around 0.04 quads per year) and the reduction of greenhouse gases (2.4 million metric tons annually) is possible.
At the heart of the prototype is a new scroll compressor, developed by Emerson, which is optimized for low-ambient and reliable heating performance under such operating conditions. The design uses tandem compressors (single-speed, two-parallel, equal-size scroll compressors) and other features to achieve target performance. A single compressor operates cooling and heating under mild conditions, but when temperatures plummet outdoors, both compressors kick off.
The research team's innovative concept showed promising results. The prototype was tested in early 2015 in an occupied house in Sydney, Ohio, that had previously been equipped with a conventional air source heat pump. During the coldest month, the prototype maintains pleasant temperatures at home while harvesting 40% in energy savings. When the outside temperature dropped to -13 ° C, the prototype keeps the house warm without any dependence on supplemental heating by electrical resistance.
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