Low-cost Online Heat Pump
The current sales of heat pumps in residential houses in Denmark are much lower than wanted. Several reasons for this have been identified, among others, the investment costs and the familiarity of the technology. In addition there is a future challenge of making consumption of electricity follow production to support integration of renewable energy and here heat pumps are a resource that can contribute if developed to do so.
The objective of this project is to develop an efficient, flexible, economic and smart heat pump which is tailored to retrofitting in the existing building mass. The heat pump shall be easy to install, able to adapt to different configurations of a heating system (storage, heat sources etc.) and controlled online to be Smart Grid Ready. The idea is to develop a modular heat pump so that residents can tailor a configuration from standard cost-effective units that fits together as well as communicates with the electricity energy system and therefore the resulting heat pump system is cost and energy-effective.
The electric heat pump is an efficient technology for utilising electricity for heating purposes, since it has a high efficiency. Furthermore, when combined with thermal storage it enables flexible electricity demand to support the introduction of Smart Grids. Thus the technology is well-suited for refurbishment of existing houses in residential areas not supplied by district heating.
This project brings a number of key actors together to develop a low-cost modular efficient heat pump that is prepared for online control optimized to refurbish existing houses. When prepared for online control the heat pump is prepared for remote optimization, monitoring and Smart Grid. The installation must be competitive with the alternatives currently available for the consumer. Also, the heat pump is built to be well suited for businesses demanding ‘plug and play’ heat pumps. Therefore the project partners will develop a simple, low-cost and flexible installation that can later be expanded in accordance with individual needs of the consumer, society, policy or other market participants.
The result of the project is that DVI has developed a new type of inverter-based (speed regulated) airwater heat pump with no storage tank with a new design, which is quiet and can retrofit existing heating plants with a flow temperature of about 50 deg. C. DVI now sells the newly developed heat pump commercially.
The heat pump can be controlled and monitored online via the Internet following the international Smart Grid communication standards, and is thus prepared for the Smart Grid and can be included in Insero Energy’s pool of leased heat pumps among house owners. This is demonstrated at Green Tech Center in Vejle.
The developed software and hardware can be used in other energy and heat pump systems and is sold separately by the companies, KPJ Supply, Liab ApS and Energy Analysis by Morten Blarke. Through the project, several concepts have been analyzed, but both socioeconomic and in terms of personal finances the inverter-based air-water heat pump with no storage tank is the most profitable. Overall, the project has been a great success for the participation companies all of which have developed
commercial products and services that are now marketed nationally and internationally, and which are prepared for the upcoming Smart Energy system.
The results and analyses of the project have been reported in several articles and has been presented at
several conferences and seminars in Denmark, and they are still demonstrated at Insero Energy’s demonstration
site at Green Tech Center in Vejle.
Key figures
Category
Dokumenter
Participants
| Partner | Subsidy | Auto financing |
|---|---|---|
| Insero Energy A/S | 1,13 mio. DKK | 1,71 mio. DKK |
| Professionshøjskolen VIA University College | 0,55 mio. DKK | 0,37 mio. DKK |
| LIAB ApS | 0,36 mio. DKK | 0,36 mio. DKK |
| KPJ supply | 0,20 mio. DKK | 0,25 mio. DKK |
| DANSK VARMEPUMPE INDUSTRI A/S | 0,57 mio. DKK | 0,70 mio. DKK |
| EA ENERGIANALYSE A/S | 0,28 mio. DKK | 0,28 mio. DKK |
