Solar assisted heat pumps

Solar Assisted Heat Pumps have the potential to provide low carbon heat for domestic hot water generation and low temperature heating. They have advantages over conventional solar thermal systems because they can generate heating and hot water during periods of low or zero solar, whist still maintain the advantage of not needing to be connected to the gas grid. They are simple in nature and can be installed in a wide range of applications. They are also currently uncommon in the UK so a thorough understanding of the operating performance and characteristics is required. This is potentially an important energy technology that can be used to reduce heating energy consumption and reduce CO2 equivalent emissions in buildings. The paper describes the technology and presents an investigation in an office application. It describes an experimental investigation of solar assisted heat pumps which gives the relative performance compared to conventional methods.