E7: Heat Pump Water Heater -- MAE 171B: Mechanical Engineering Laboratory Course II

Abstract

Residential water heating has become a necessity and its energy demand represents a significant percentage in energy consumption, therefore production of devices that can accomplish heat exchanging more efficiently than the current ones available could have a great positive impact on all households. The objective of this project was to setup a system that can be easily arranged for different media. The use of a refrigerator allows for these arrangements to happen, since the condenser and the evaporator can be tested in air, for which it is designed, and water. This allows for the observation of its behavior and performance for the different types of heat exchanging such as water-to-water, air-to-water, water-to-air, and the obvious air-to-air. For each arrangement, temperature difference data and power usage between the media was collected for the heating capabilities and performance of the refrigerator. A comparison of the maximum theoretical coefficients of performance between the different setups determines which is most efficient.