TO-22-C069 - Efficiency and Capacity Performance of a Stirling-Cycle Water-to-Water Heat Pump

The performance of a 10 kW (34,000 Btu/hr) heat pump has been modeled using Schmidt’s method (Urieli, 1984). The method has been modified to account for losses due to pumping of the gas flow, thermal conduction, regenerator effectiveness, and irreversibility in the heat exchangers. The key outputs of the model were the heating and cooling efficiencies and the capacity of the device. These parameters were determined across a wide range of source temperatures (15 to 35C [59 to 95F]) and sink temperatures (45 to 90C [113 to 194F]). For these operating parameters, results indicate that the COP for heating ranges from 3.96 to 6.69. These preliminary modeling results present the Stirling cycle heat pump as an attractive tool for the decarbonization of residential, commercial, and industrial HVAC&R applications. However, the results of the modeling effort presented need to be validated experimentally. Experimental testing will be started soon.