Subject: Solar thermal panels / heat pumps

From: "James W. Swonger" <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 4 Apr 1995 14:54:16 GMT

The reason to use a heat pump in conjunction with solar thermal collectors
is to produce a higher temperature from the low grade heat obtained.
A solar panel producing 150F air in large volume could be the "cold side"
for a heat pump, that heat pump could "charge" a heat battery at 300F or
higher. Such temperatures could only be obtained by using concentrator
collector systems with attendant inefficiencies of their own.

  By storing heat at a higher temperature you would gain compactness,
the potential to use a phase change medium, and the potential to use
the heat battery for things requring high grade heat energy like steam
production/distillation or absorbtion cycle refrigeration. A heat pump
being the thermal equivalent of a transformer, you are accepting some
inefficiency in order to gain a more locally useful heat/temperature
combination.

  If the panel is a forced air ducted collector, then the long plumbing
will be relatively cheap and leak-insensitive, and the heat pump can be a
remote, physically compact and robust unit.
Solar thermal panels / heat pumps