Thermally Driven Heat Pump Based on an Integrated Thermodynamic Cycle for Low Carbon Domestic Heating (Therma-Pump)

英国制定了一个雄心勃勃的目标，到2050年将温室气体排放量相对于1990年的水平减少至少80%。目前，热量占英国能源消耗的近一半，占全国碳排放的三分之一。为了实现英国的碳减排目标，住宅供暖部门必须大幅脱碳。各种技术处于不同的发展阶段，但它们的能源效率并不都令人满意。在英国，具有成本效益的供暖技术的需求和供应之间显然存在很大差距。英国迫切需要低碳供暖技术的创新，本项目开发了一种新型燃气热泵，通过新型耦合技术将使用有机工质（即制冷剂）的小型朗肯循环发电机与蒸汽压缩热泵集成在一起。朗肯循环发电机排出的热量和热泵提供的热量都被充分利用。这种新颖的设计使得热泵的冷凝温度比单个电动热泵的冷凝温度低得多，从而导致更高的能量性能。紧凑的热交换器用于使热泵的尺寸小得多。燃烧热交换器的新颖设计实现了高效和清洁的燃烧过程。通过该项目开发的新型供暖技术比传统供暖技术效率高得多，因此如果广泛安装，可以显著减少英国住宅供暖部门的碳排放。

The UK has set an ambitious target to cut its greenhouse gas emissions by at least 80% by 2050, relative to 1990 levels. Currently, heat accounts for nearly half of the energy consumption in the UK and a third of the nation's carbon emissions. To achieve the UK's carbon reduction target, the residential heating sector has to be substantially decarbonised. A wide range of technologies are at different stage of developments but their energy efficiencies are not all satisfactory. There is clearly a big gap between the demand and supply of cost-effective heating technologies in the UK. There is a urgent need for innovation of low-carbon heating technologies in the UK.This project develops a novel, gas-powered heat pump that integrates a small-scale Rankine Cycle power generator using organic working fluids (i.e. refrigerants) with a vapour-compression heat pump by means of a novel coupling technology. Both the heat rejected by the Rankine Cycle power generator and the heat provided by the heat pump are fully utilised for heating. The novel design allows the condensing temperature of the heat pump to be much lower than that of a single electrically-powered heat pump leading to much higher energy performance. The compact heat exchangers are used to enable the heat pump much small in size. The novel design of the combustion heat exchanger enables efficient and clean combustion processes. The novel heating technology developed through this project is much more efficient than traditional heating technologies, and therefore can significantly reduce the carbon emissions from the residential heating sector in the UK, if widely installed.