Analysis on performance of a novel frost-free air-source heat pump system

Heating capacity of an air-source heat pump (ASHP) system often decreases due to frost on the air-side heat exchanger (evaporator) when the air temperature drops in winter. If the amount of frost accumulates to a certain value, performance of the system will degrade. Therefore, defrosting mode needs to be operated periodically. In order to solve the above problems, heat transfer enhancement or advanced defrosting methods should be adopted, but all these methods cannot solve the problems mentioned in essence. A novel frost-free air-source heat pump system is proposed, the new system can realize heating which does not need defrost in winter. In this new system, extracting heat process from environment includes two steps: the first one is extracting heat from the environment and then to the solution, the second one is releasing heat to the evaporator from the solution, avoiding frosting on the evaporator surface. A theoretical model is established to analyze the performance of the system. Results indicate that the novel system can operate more efficiently than the conventional air-source heat pump in winter. In addition, the new system does not need to run in defrosting mode periodically.