Modular heat pump system with natural refrigerant as a replacement for gas boilers in multi-family houses

Description

Despite the uncertain supply situation and short-term price shocks, natural gas remains the largest primary energy source for heating and cooling in Europe. In large cities such as Vienna, around half of all households continue to use gas boilers for heating or domestic hot water preparation. On the way to a climate-neutral city the transition from gas to environmentally friendly heat pumps is unavoidable – also for large multi-family houses. The FFG-project “Gasthermenersatz” aims to solve this problem by developing a functional model of a decentralized, sound-optimized heat pump solution.
The innovative solution consists of series- and parallel-connected refrigeration circuit modules. Depending on the interconnection of a certain number of such hermetically sealed refrigeration circuit modules, the resulting heat pump is a drop-in alternative to the gas boiler in large multi-family houses. In operational use, access to the heat source is crucial and obtained either from the outside air or geothermal heat. Both can be connected to the heat pump system via the now unused chimney. The temperature level of the installed heating system should be reduced to maximize the efficiency of the heat pump. Still, the impact on the installed heating system can be minimized with market available solutions if the overall heating demand of the building is decreased by improving the insulation of the building.
The results include a laboratory validated and tested concept of a novel decentralized heat pump. In addition, the analysis is supported via log(p),h-diagrams, which allow to illustrate the design of the system. To compare this solution with other concepts or heat pumps, the seasonal coefficient of performance is calculated.
A successful implementation of the concept will lead in the medium term to a holistically optimized, highly efficient technical solution for providing heating, cooling and hot water as an alternative to gas boilers in densely populated urban areas.

Period	24 Sept 2024
Event title	73. Jahrestagung der Österreichischen Physikalischen Gesellschaft
Event type	Conference
Location	Linz, AustriaShow on map
Degree of Recognition	International