Modeling Air Source Heat Pump Performance in Cold Climates

University Of Alaska Fairbanks Campus, Fairbanks AK

Investigators

Abstract

A goal of the Tribal Colleges and Universities Program (TCUP) is to increase the science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) instructional and research capacities of specific institutions of higher education that serve the Nation's indigenous students. Expanding the STEM curricular offerings at these institutions expands the opportunities of their students to pursue challenging, rewarding careers in STEM fields, provides for research studies in areas that may be culturally significant, and encourages a community and generational appreciation for science and mathematics education. This project aligns directly with that goal, and moreover will increase the data available to industry and the general public on the feasibility of the use of air-source heat pumps (ASHPs) in cold climates. University of Alaska Fairbanks, Bristol Bay Campus will conduct laboratory tests of at least three models of ASHPs to characterize efficiency at different outdoor temperatures and heat loads. The resulting data will be used to create an ASHP performance model that will be used to identify boundary conditions for which savings in fuel are no longer achieved, considering the additional fuel that needs to be burned in a power plant to produce the electricity for the ASHP. A control strategy for turning the ASHP on and off will be created to save fuel. A long-term model will be developed that estimates the annual savings in fuel achieved by using an ASHP as a supplemental heating system controlled with the developed control strategy. The long-term model may be applied to twelve rural Alaska communities to determine the potential benefit in a variety of real-world conditions. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.