Development an‎d Validation Of A Simulation Model For Heat Pump Water Heater

A simulation model for heat pump water heater (HPWH) was developed and validated in this paper. The basic components of the HPWH, such as compressor, condenser, and evaporator, were simulated. The key point of this simulation model is using characteristic functions to describe the volumetric and isentropic efficiency of the compressor from three sets of experimental data corresponding to three sets of operating conditions. Using a small amount of experimental data in forming these characteristic functions helps save time and costs. To validate the simulation model, experiments were carried out with operating an actual HPWH. The maximum difference in the coefficient of performance (COP) between the simulation results and experimental results is 5,0%. By the results, it was found that the simulation results agreed well with the experimental results. Finally, the effects of the inlet water temperature and ambient temperature on the COP of the HPWH were studied.