Thermodynamic performance evaluation of a heat pump system with textile based solar air heater for heating process

Highlights: • A heat pump with solar air collector having fabric absorber is newly proposed. • It is experimentally examined in dynamic conditions for heating process. • A comparative study was done to validate the efficiency of the proposed system. • It has 5.11 COP and 56% exergy efficiency compared to the other heat pumps. • Frost depositing on evaporator can be solved faster with use of solar air collector. In this study, a newly system is designed and tested which integrates air-to-water heat pump and solar air collector having fabric absorber for the shortcoming of frost depositing on the evaporator in heating condition. Thus, it can achieve synchronous and heat exchange in one integrated system between R410A, gaseous and liquid heat source. In addition, the system performance is evaluated in comparison with those of the standard heat pump and the flat-plate solar air collector assisted heat pump under the same climatic conditions. In this respect, experimental tests are performed for winter season and the thermodynamic inefficiencies' changes are monitored by real-time exergy analysis under climate conditions of the Muğla province/Turkey. This approximation allows the designer and the manufacturer to see the progress. The results of the study indicate that the textile based solar air collector assisted heat pump shows superior performance with 5.11 COP and 56% exergy efficiency when compared to the other two heat pumps. The equipment with the highest exergy destruction is determined as evaporator. In low temperatures, the problem of frost depositing on the evaporator is solved faster with the use of solar air collector. With the use of a textile-based solar air collector on heat pump, the electrical consumption of the compressor is reduced by 8.3%. Consequently, the proposed system clearly demonstrated its applicability as an independent and reliable system for the building heating process due to its benefits like energy saving, protection against environmental conditions and evaporator' anti-frost deposit behavior.