Solar driven heat pump

The solar driven heat pump concept consists of combining the heat pump technology with solar collectors to enhance the system performances (both electric and thermal). At the SolarTechLab, two prototypes of solar driven HP are installed:

The first one is based on commercial heat pumps made by IMAT with the PVT supplying the evaporator heat duty. This system is now in operation

The second one which will be start-up soon is based on direct expansion concept: the PVT is the evaporator of the heat pump (see picture below).

Together with experimental measurements, detailed modeling is also carried out to optimize the system operation and its integration in different applications.