Study and design of a residential heat pump integrating latent heat storage

The introduction of intermittent renewable energies, the implementation of a thermal regulation, which decreases heating needs of a factor between 5 and 10, causes a redesign of heating systems integrating energy efficiency and the cut-off of domestic equipment during peak hours. This thesis involves the study and design of a heat pump incorporating a latent thermal storage in its condenser. This storage will allow a cut-off during at least two hours. The heating needs of a low-energy consumption house (BBC) have been estimated as well as the heat amount to be stored so as to ensure such a cut-off. A study on the phase-change phenomenon and the PCM has been carried out in order to select suitable materials for this application. A dynamic model of the phase change was also developed. Four candidate materials were selected and analyzed by tuned Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) with adjustment by the inverse method. Several storing-exchanger structures have been proposed, simulated, and optimized; two of them have been realized. Both heat exchangers have been tested alone and then integrated into a heat pump system. The final generation gave very promising results for the development of an efficient heat pump with storage. Finally, the heat storage effect has been evaluated in terms of energy efficiency and CO₂ emissions. This heat pump presents potential improvement of the seasonal COP between 20% and 30% compared to air-to-water and air-to-air heat pumps because of the smart monitoring of the energy storage/delivery due to the heat pump operation during the most favorable hours of the day and by avoiding short cycles operation corresponding to low heating needs. (author)