Regional suitability of heating tower heat pumps based on technical and economic performance maps

Abstract Heating tower heat pump (HTHP) technology is evolving rapidly owing to its good performance in summer and frost-free operation in winter. However, a lack of comprehensive comparisons between the HTHP and conventional methods, such as the air-source heat pump (ASHP), and the chiller and boiler, significantly limits its applications. To solve this problem, this paper analyzes the technological and economic performance of these three types of systems at 353 locations over China. The principle of energy saving and potential of the HTHP are presented, based on which a comparison of economic performance is conducted by considering the efficiency of energy conversion and cost of the three systems. The results show that the HTHP is superior to the ASHP at most locations in China, with a 10% to 20% higher annual performance factor (APF). For locations in southwest China, this improvement is less than 10% owing to the large regeneration penalty in winter, and minor differences between dry-bulb and wet-bulb temperatures in summer. The APF of the HTHP is 10% to 23% higher than the chiller and boiler system in the hot summer and cold winter zone as well as the cold zone. However, the HTHP exhibits no advantage over this system in the severe cold zone because of the low efficiency of the heat pump in winter, or in the hot summer and warm winter zone owing to the small heating load. The results are used to develop technical and economic performance maps to guide the application of the HTHP in different climatic regions.