PART 1B EXPERIMENTAL ENGINEERING

SUBJ ECT: FLUID MECHANICS & HEAT TRANSFER EXPERIMENT T1

(SHORT)
LOCATION: HOPKINSON LABORATORY
1


HEAT PUMP
I OBJ ECTIVE

To investigate the performance of a practical cyclic heat pump, and to deduce how its performance
compares to an ideal (reversible) device.

II INTRODUCTION

The device under investigation in this experiment is representative of any plant which uses
thermodynamic principles to exchange heat and work continuously with the environment. All cyclic
devices, from the steam cycle used in a power station, to the refrigeration cycle used in a domestic
freezer must obey the same overall thermodynamic constraints.

Heat Sink (Th)
Heat Source (Tc)
W
Qh
Qc
T
S
Isothermal
isothermal
isentropic
Isentropic


Figure 1. The ideal heat pump, a Carnot cycle running in reverse.

In this experiment the cyclic heat and power plant is a commercially available heat pump. This heat
pump uses a work input (W) to pump heat (Q
c
) from the cold source at temperature T
c
(in this case air
drawn over evaporator), to a heat sink (in this case hot water) at temperature T
h
. These Air source heat
pumps could potentially be used to reduce the amount of CO
2
released owing to our demand for heating.

An ideal heat pump is equivalent to a Carnot cycle heat engine running in reverse. For the ideal
reversible heat pump, a coefficient of performance (COP) can be defined as


This represents the maximum COP which can be achieved by any real heat pump, and is a function of
the source and sink temperatures.

The heat pump in this experiment uses a standard vapour compression cycle, with R134a (a hydro-
fluorocarbon) as the working fluid. The working fluid is evaporated at low pressure (taking in heat),
then compressed to a higher pressure; condensation of this higher pressure fluid releases heat. The
liquid is then returned to a lower pressure via a throttle valve.

Figure 2. Flow diagram for a simple vapour compression cycle

A piping and instrumentation diagram for the heat pump, and the water circuit is shown below in figure
3. This water circuit is a mock up of a domestic heating system. However, due to the limited area
available for heat exchanges in the lab, the domestic radiators have been replaced with a compact,
water-to-air heat exchanger cooled by a fan. Thermocouples have been installed at various points to
give the temperature of the working fluid inside the heat pump, and the water in the water circuit; the
temperature of the air passing over the evaporator is also measured. The pressure of the working fluid of
the heat pump is measured at the inlet and exit of the compressor. The flow rate of water is measured by
an orifice plate, in conjunction with a differential pressure transducer. All these measurements are
displayed on the laptop provided.

3
Condenser
Figure 3. Piping and instrumentation diagram for the heat pump experiment

Additionally, the power input to the heat pump can be measured using a power meter.

III PRELIMINARY EXPERIMENT Heating up


1. Examine the pipe-work and ensure that you understand the water circuit.
2


3

2. Make sure the fan is turned off. Turn on the rig via the power switch at the socket. Both the water
pump and the heat pump should turn on. The heat pump should not be active if there is no water
circulating.

3. Open the bleed valve near the radiator to release any air that is trapped in the water circuit.

4. The heat pump is connected to the electricity supply via a power meter, so that the work input to the
device can be measured. After, the defrost cycle, the heat pump should begin to pump heat from the air
to the water circuit. You should be able to feel where the heat is being extracted from, and rejected to.
During this heat up phase, monitor the temperature of the water leaving the tank, the temperature
difference across the fan and the electrical power used by the heat pump. Record your data in the table
given below. You should also plot the change in temperature of the water in the tank on the graph below
(you may assume that the water leaving the tank is at the same temperature as the water in the tank).

How does the pressure of the condenser vary during heat up, and why? [You could plot the condenser
pressure on the same graph as the water temperature]. What does this tell you about the choice of the
working fluid in the heat pump?

5. When the temperature water temperature reaches ~45-50 C, turn on the fan, and adjust the fan speed
to allow the system to settle down to a steady state.

6. Whilst you are waiting for the system to reach steady state, work out the COP for the system during
one point during the heating phase. The calculation is given below. Each member of the group should
use a different time, so that (as a group) the COP at 4 different sink temperatures (i.e. water
temperatures) can be calculated. These should be filled in the table below. How does the ideal COP
differ from the measured values?


Time (min)
Water Temperature,
T
1
(C)

Power used by heat
pump (kW)

Air temperature in, T
4

(C)

Air temperature
out,T
3
(C)

Condenser Pressure
(bar)

Ideal COP


Measured COP


4



Plot the temperature of the water as a function of time on the graph paper provided. Choose a time to
calculate the COP and find the local rate of rise of water temperature.

= _______________C/min =_______________C/s

Heat output (Q
h
) = =_______________ W

Work Input (W) =_______________ W

Heat input (Q
c
) = =_______________ W

First Law W+Q
c
Q
h
=_______________W


Second Law, COP =Q
h
/W =________________

Ideal COP =T
h
/(T
h
-T
c
) =________________


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IV OPERATION AT STEADY STATE

7. Once the temperatures have stabilised, record the temperatures and pressures around the cycle in table
2 (overleaf). You should also record the temperature of the water entering and leaving the heat pump,
and its mass flow rate.

8. Use the steady flow energy equation to work out the power output of the heat pump (i.e. from the
difference in enthalpy of the water entering and leaving the heat pump), and use this to calculate the
COP at steady state.

______________________W

Power Input, = ______________________ W

COP = = ________________________

Applying the steady flow energy equation to the heat pump as a whole, i.e.

Heat input (Q
c
) = =_______________ W

First Law W+Q
c
Q
h
=_______________W


9. Using your thermofluids data books, work out the enthalpy and entropy of the working fluids at each
point in the cycle. You will need to make some assumptions about the cycle to fill in the table. Plot the
conditions you have measured on the P-H diagrams provided.

10. From your P-H diagram (or using the method below) calculate the COP of the heat pump.

=______________ kJ /kg

=______________ kJ /kg


The COP of the heat pump can be found by combining the first and second laws, i.e.

=______________



11. Why might the value of COP calculated in (10) differ from that calculated from the water circuit?

12. Using your P-H diagram, suggest how the COP would change if the heat source was air outside the
building in winter, compared to that in summer.


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Table 2.


Within the heat pump
Temperature (C)
Pressure (bar)
Enthalpy (kJ /kg)
Compressor Inlet
Entropy (kJ /kg/K)
Temperature (C)
Pressure (bar)
Enthalpy (kJ /kg)
Compressor outlet
Entropy (kJ /kg/K)
Temperature (C)
Pressure* (bar)
Enthalpy (kJ /kg)
Condensor outlet
Entropy (kJ /kg/K)
Temperature (C)
Pressure* (bar)
Enthalpy (kJ /kg)
Evaporator Inlet
Entropy (kJ /kg/K)
Water circuit
Temperature of water into heat pump (C)
Temperature of water out of heat pump (C)
Pressure drop across orifice plate (bar)
Mass flow of water (kg/s)
Heat transferred to the water (W)
Power input to heat pump (W)
* =Not measured directly. Need to make an assumption

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V SUSTAINABILITY

13. Open the web browser and go to www.realtimecarbon.org. This site tells you how much CO
2
is
emitted for every kWh of electricity taken from the plug socket. It changes throughout the day as the
loads on different power stations are altered to meet our electricity demands (e.g. gas power is much
cleaner than coal power). The heat pump can deliver 4kW of heating to a domestic house. A gas boiler
can deliver heat with a CO
2
footprint of 0.064 kgCO
2
per MJ of heat
1
. What would the COP of the heat
pump need to be for it to save CO
2
as compared with a gas boiler?

14. At what times of the year should the heat pump be used?

SAS/LX Sept., 2013
ADDITIONAL DATA

The mass flow rate of air through the fan is ~1 kg/s
The system contains 30L of water
The heat capacity of water is 4.2 kJ /kg K
Theheat capacity of air is 1.01 kJ /kg K
The volumetric flow through an orifice is given by

Where
Q =volumetric flow through the orifice (m
3
/s)
=internal diameter of the pipe (m)
=diameter of the orifice (m)
=the pressure drop (Pa)
=density of the water flowing through the orifice(kg/m
3
)
=0.755 =the discharge coefficient of the orifice plate (-)



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1
From the ELCD database. http://lca.jrc.ec.europa.eu/lcainfohub/datasets/html/processes/db009010-
338f-11dd-bd11-0800200c9a66_02.01.000.html