Modelling and simulation of a heat pump for simultaneous heating and cooling

The heat pump for simultaneous heating and cooling (HPS) carries out space heating, space cooling and hot water production for small office and residential buildings. It works under heating, cooling and simultaneous modes to produce hot and chilled water according to the thermal demand of the building. A subcooler connected to a water tank is placed after the condenser to recover some energy by subcooling of the refrigerant during a heating mode. The water loop at a higher temperature than ambient air is used subsequently as a source for a water evaporator. Average winter performance is improved compared to a standard reversible heat pump (HP). The air evaporator is defrosted by a two-phase thermosiphon without stopping the heat production. The operation of the HPS is modelled using TRNSYS software. The model is validated using results of an experimental study carried out on a HPS prototype working with R407C. Annual simulations of the HPS coupled to a hotel are run in order to evaluate annual performance and energy consumption of the system. The results are compared to the ones of a standard reversible HP. Depending on the scenario, savings in electric energy consumption and annual performance improvement can reach respectively 55% and 19%.