Flexible Air Source Heat pump for domestic heating decarbonisation (FASHION)

英国已经设定了到2050年实现净零排放的目标。供热占英国能源消耗的近一半。在几种可能的解决方案中，热泵被认为是使家庭供暖部门脱碳的最有前途的技术之一。在所有热泵中，空气源热泵（ASHP）是家庭最具成本效益的选择。气候变化委员会（CCC）建议大规模部署热泵以实现净零目标，其“进一步雄心”的净零目标包括到2050年在家庭中部署1900万台热泵。然而，目前热泵在英国的使用率非常低。2018年，英国的热泵销量约为27,000台（大多数是空气源热泵），明显低于其他欧盟国家。这对政府、工业、商业和研究界都是一个巨大的挑战。有许多技术和非技术障碍阻碍了热泵的广泛采用，特别是空气源热泵在英国。目前的空气源热泵产品与现有的基础设施和属性配置之间存在不匹配。在英国，超过80%的家庭使用燃气锅炉进行空间供暖，因此他们的热辐射器（即散热器）是为使用燃气锅炉进行高温供热而设计的。然而，市场上大多数可用的空气源热泵具有相对较低的产热温度。其次，空气源热泵容易受到环境条件的影响。随着环境温度的下降，它们的热容量和性能系数急剧下降。此外，当气温降至6摄氏度左右时，室外机表面开始结霜，因此室外机必须定期除霜。非技术壁垒也在热泵吸收量低的背后发挥了重要作用。目前英国热泵市场遭受高资本成本和低认知度的产品。本项目基于PI正在申请的专利（申请号：2015531.3），旨在开发一种新型灵活的多模式空气源热泵（ASHP）。这提供了无能量的除霜，并且能够在结霜期间连续加热，从而消除了当前空气源热泵所需的备用加热器。我们将通过跨学科创新解决关键的技术和非技术挑战。我们的项目也得到了主要工业公司的大力支持（例如压缩机）。开发的技术提供无能源除霜，可以在不同的模式下运行，以受益于非高峰电力和/或白天的温暖空气。它将比目前的产品更加节能，因此可以促进空气源热泵的快速吸收，为英国国内供暖部门的脱碳做出重要贡献。

The UK has set a target to reach net zero emissions by 2050. Heat accounts for nearly half of the UK's energy consumption. Among several possible solutions, heat pumps are considered as one of the most promising technologies for decarbonising the domestic heating sector. Among all heat pumps, air source heat pumps (ASHP) are the most cost-effective option for householders. the Committee on Climate Change (CCC) recommends mass deployment of heat pumps to comply with the net zero target, and their net zero 'Further Ambition' scenario includes the deployment of 19 million heat pumps in homes by 2050. However, the uptake of heat pumps in the UK is very low at present. In 2018, heat pump sales in the UK were around 27,000 units (most are ASHPs), significantly lower than other EU countries. This represents a grand challenge for the government, industry, business, and research communities. There are a number of technological and non-technological barriers hindering the wide uptake of heat pumps, particularly air source heat pumps in the UK. There is a mismatch between the current ASHP products and the existing infrastructure and property configuration. Over 80% of houses in the UK use gas boilers for space heating, so their heat emitters (i.e., radiators) are designed for high temperature heat supply using gas boilers. However, most ASHPs available in the market have a relatively low heat production temperature. Secondly, ASHPs are vulnerable to ambient conditions. Their heating capacity and coefficient of performance drop dramatically as the ambient air temperature falls. Furthermore, frost starts to build up at the surface of the outdoor unit when the air temperature drops to around 6 C, so the outdoor units have to be regularly defrosted. Non-technical barriers have also played an important role behind the low uptake of heat pumps. The current UK heat pump market suffers from high capital cost and a low awareness of the product. This project, based on the PI's pending patent (Application number: 2015531.3), aims to develop a novel flexible, multi-mode air source heat pump (ASHP). This offers energy-free defrosting and is capable of continuous heating during frosting, thus eliminating the backup heater that is required by current ASHPs. We will address the key technical and non-technical challenges through interdisciplinary innovations. Our project is also supported by leading industrial companies with substantial contributions (e.g. the compressor). The developed technology offers energy-free defrosting and can be operated at different modes to benefit from off-peak electricity and/or warm air during the daytime. It will be much more energy-efficient than the current products, and thus could facilitate rapid uptake of air source heat pumps, making an important contribution to the decarbonisation of the domestic heating sector in the UK.