Gas-Fired Heat Pumps - Transforming the UK's Domestic Heating Sector

正在开发的技术是吸附循环热泵技术。吸附循环可用作热力驱动冰箱、空调或热泵的基础。用来驱动机器的高温热量可以来自废热、太阳能热能，或者在本应用中，燃烧化石燃料。它们依赖于被称为吸附发生器的反应器内的吸附剂的周期性加热和冷却。我们打算商业化的具体应用(产品)是一种燃气热泵，它可以用比最好的冷凝式锅炉少三分之一的天然气为房屋提供空间供暖和家庭热水。之前的资金克里托夫教授在华威的团队多年来一直从欧盟和EPSRC获得资金，最终形成了EP/C013808/1；用于超紧凑型吸附热泵的板式发电机(Platex)。在撰写提案时，有可能证明燃气热泵可以达到所需的效率。问题是，在吸附发生器中使用传统的传热和传质技术将导致系统不切实际地庞大，并相应地昂贵。声明的目标是“开发和评估比现有技术紧凑两个数量级的新型吸附发电机，从而能够推出一系列节能产品。”Platex取得了成功，因为我们在实验室拥有专利和演示系统，这些系统的紧凑度是商业设备的30倍。技术和商业潜力我们已经证明我们的发电机按设计工作，并模拟了它们在家用燃气热泵中的性能热泵可以使用外部空气、水或地面作为低温热源。合适的水源相对较少，而地面水源(垂直钻孔或水平管道)虽然能源效率高，但目前安装成本如此之高，我们不得不排除它们是可以在英国安装数百万台的系统。空气源机器几乎可以在所有位置使用，并且可以方便地打包以便于安装。我们基于中部地区年度数据的模拟表明，我们可以获得1.3到1.4的COP(性能系数=房屋的热输出/基于总热值的天然气输入)。与最好的冷凝式锅炉相比，这意味着节省了约三分之一的煤气费。如果该技术能够取代英国所有的家用锅炉，二氧化碳排放量将减少约2600万吨，占英国二氧化碳总排放量的4.8%。这是一个单一技术替代的巨大潜力，尽管当然100%替代是不可行的。在可行的市场渗透方面，每年售出超过100万台更换气体锅炉，即使只占10%的份额也足以支持规模经济。预计在欧盟其他国家也将有一个重要的市场，特别是德国，那里至少有四家暖通空调(暖通空调)公司活跃在研发领域。整个空气源蒸发器、燃气燃烧器、热泵等系统将安装在一个单独的组件中，该组件将安装在房子外面的外墙上。唯一要通过这堵墙连接的是燃气供应、附属设施的电力和冷热水管道。该系统使用“天然”环保制冷剂，吸附剂是由一家英国公司提供的活性碳。总体积不到0.4立方米。

IntroductionThe technology being developed is that of adsorption cycle heat pumps. Adsorption cycles may be used as the basis of heat driven refrigerators, air conditioners or heat pumps. The high temperature heat used to power the machines can be from waste heat, solar thermal heat or, as in this application, combustion of a fossil fuel. They rely upon the periodic heating and cooling of adsorbent within reactors referred to as sorption generators. The specific application (product) that we intend to commercialise is a gas-fired heat pump that could provide space heating and domestic hot water to a house using one third less gas than the best condensing boiler.Previous fundingProf Critoph's group at Warwick has received funding from both the EU and EPSRC over many years, culminating in EP/C013808/1; Plate-type generators for super compact adsorption heat pumps (PLATEX). At the time of writing the proposal it was possible to show that gas-fired heat pumps could be made to the efficiency needed. The problem was that using conventional heat and mass transfer technology in the adsorption generators would result in systems that were unrealistically large and correspondingly costly. The stated aim was 'to develop and evaluate new types of adsorption generator that are up to two orders of magnitude more compact than existing technology, thereby enabling the introduction of a range of energy saving products.' PLATEX has been successful in that we have both patented and demonstrated systems in the laboratory that are 30 times more compact than commercially available equipment.Technical and commercial potentialWe have proved that our generators work as designed and have simulated their performance in domestic gas fired heat pumps Heat pumps may use the outside air, water or ground as a source of low temperature heat. Suitable water sources are comparatively rare and ground sources (vertical bore-holes or horizontal tubes), whilst energy efficient, are so expensive to install at present that we have to rule them out as systems that could be installed by the million in the UK. An air source machine can be used in almost all locations and may be conveniently packaged for easy installation. Our simulations based on annual data for the Midlands show that we can achieve a COP (Coefficient of Performance = Heat output to house / Gas input based on Gross calorific value) of 1.3 to 1.4. This represents a saving on gas bills of about one third compared to the best condensing boilers. Were the technology able to replace all domestic boilers in the UK, CO2 emissions would drop by about 26 M tonnes or 4.8 % of total UK CO2 emissions. This is a massive potential for a single technology substitution, although of course 100% replacement is not practicable. Regarding feasible market penetration, there are in excess of 1 million replacement gas boilers sold every year and even a 10% share would be enough to support economies of scale. There is also expected to be a significant market in the rest of the EU, particularly Germany, where at least four HVAC (Heating Ventilating and Air Conditioning) companies are active in R&D.The whole system of air source evaporator, gas burner, heat pump etc will be housed in a single package that will be outside the house against an external wall. The only connections to be made through the wall are a gas supply, electricity for ancillaries and hot/cold water pipes. The system uses a 'natural' environmentally friendly refrigerant and the adsorbent is an active carbon supplied by a UK based company. The total volume is less than 0.4 cubic metres.