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how does heat pump work?
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Heat pumps are like a big version of your fridge.
They have 2 sides, a cold side that absorbs heat (like the inside of your fridge)
& a hot side that gives off heat that has been absorbed from the cold side. (the back of your fridge)ie radiator
both devices on each side can act in either way depending upon what direction the fluid inside the pipes are pumped.
They are really just radiating surfaces, normally with lots of fins that give plenty of surface area to contact the surrounding air or water.
At some point the pipes change size, from small to large, or large to small
It is at that transition where heat is either absorbed or released
so the cycle is as follows:
Gas is compressed by a pump from a large pipe into a small pipe
the compression gives off heat, which is usually blown into the desired area by a fan ie the head unit inside the house.
the gas is transformed into a liquid when it is compressed.
the liquid flows to the other device (the external radiator/absorber) at which point the pipe expands from small to large.
when the liquid reaches this point the pressure is reduced (like water squirting out from a hose) and the liquid expands back to a gas. to do this it takes in heat - usually from the air.
the gas is sucked back to the pump.
the whole process can be reversed so a radiator becomes an absorber, ie aircon
this principle is used whether either side interfaces with air or water.
for most domestic heat pumps the transfer is from air to air
but the aborber can be in the form of a solar panel, or from a pool of water
and the radiator can be in the form of a fan heater, or water radiator
hence we get devices such as standard domestic heatpumps, heatpump water cylinders, solar panel heatpumps, and if we used radiators like the UK & Europe we would have heatpump central heating systems.Last edited by Keithw; 07-04-2011, 08:46 AM.
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