Air source heat pump product prospects

The scenic East Lake Shore, built in the early 1950s, is known as "Hubei Zhongnanhai," and Wuhan East Lake Hotel was previously successfully rehabilitated by the HVAC system: the long-serving Carrier Helix refrigeration unit and gas were removed. The vacuum hot water boiler is equipped with a domestic brand triple air supply unit and a waste water source heat pump hot water unit. According to estimates, this system can save more than 1.5 million yuan per year compared to previous years. For the hotel with a building area of ​​22,000 square meters, the data is gratifying, and the contributions of air source heat pump products behind it are indispensable.

It is precisely because such successful cases continue to emerge that the market has gradually accumulated higher expectations for air source heat pump products. However, no matter whether it is from the government's decision-making or implementation to the technical level of products, air-source heat pump products still need to wait for the time and patiently accumulate experience, only to accumulate.

Characters

In the context of “building energy consumption accounting for 30% of the total social energy consumption, and HVAC system energy consumption accounts for half of the former”, the air energy, like other new energy sources, has been hoped for in its development and utilization in China, especially in the southern region.

According to experts, air energy is a widely available and freely available low-grade energy source. Through the principle of heat pump technology against the Carnot cycle, a small amount of electric energy is passed through the heat pump working medium to absorb the low-temperature thermal energy in the air. After being compressed by the compressor, it becomes high-temperature thermal energy and is transmitted to the water to heat the hot water. Air source heat pump technology has therefore been regarded by the industry as a new energy-saving and environmentally-friendly technology with great potential for development and application.

However, unlike the shallow geothermal energy, solar energy, wind energy, bioenergy, etc., which have been successively named by the government and are becoming more and more popular in the market, the role of air energy has been ambiguous. On the one hand, the government is ambivalent about whether it recognizes the legal status of new energy sources for air energy, and there are few incentive policies and economic measures. On the other hand, the strong voices of companies and even experts have come and gone.

"The kinetic energy in air energy is wind energy. But the heat energy and chemical energy in the air are not as important as kinetic energy. The wind is the moving air. In other words, wind energy is the moving air energy." Xu Wenfa, chairman of the Heat Standardization Technical Committee and vice president of the Building Energy Conservation Professional Committee of the China Construction Association, explained that air-source products now use heat from the air. Some industries use compressed air to achieve the triple supply of cold, hot and cold gas, which is to increase the oxygen content of the gas turbine and use the chemical energy of the air to do work.

He emphasized that any equipment that uses air energy should enjoy the same policies as wind energy and other energy sources.

“Air-source heat pump technology has become a mainstream technology in the field of building energy efficiency.” Ma Chongfang, professor at Beijing University of Technology, highly agrees with this view. “It's like there is no 'quasi-life permit' for the air source heat pump. It has passed over 10 years now, and the technology has already passed. Mature and mature, is it right to give people a legal 'identity'?"

Technology to be perfected

People in the industry believe that the government has not loosened its knowledge of air-energy heat pump technology and products. Apart from the differences in views, it is to some extent an anxiety that the technology is not mature enough.

For example, ordinary air source heat pump products on the market have not yet resolved the impact of changes in outdoor climate conditions on their own: in summer, as the outdoor air temperature rises and the cooling load increases, the cooling efficiency decreases significantly; winter heating also has the same problems. At the same time, the problem of frosting in evaporators of air source heat pump products has not been completely overcome. This drawback will not only lead to a decrease in the heating performance of the system, but also will have adverse consequences for important components such as compressors and even damage critical components such as compressors, which will cause the system to fail to operate normally and increase operating costs. Despite many efforts in the industry over the years, there are still many examples of failures in the market. These defects need to be explored in both "prevention and treatment".

In addition, as the core component of the air source heat pump product, the compressor is a long-term constraint on the development and production of domestic enterprises. This situation has not seen fundamental changes so far. Ma Chongfang said that domestic companies should focus on increasing research investment in this area, developing technologies with independent intellectual property rights, and breaking foreign monopolies, which have important practical significance for the development of air source industry. “We (Beijing University of Technology) are actively conducting related topics. Research and develop products with leading levels."

The outlook is still promising

In recent years, South China Heating has received public opinion and attention from the government at large. This is another reason why air source heat pump products have become a hot spot in the market and companies are rushing to the world.

“The Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development has not stipulated conditions that are not suitable for heating and heating. We need to consider what kind of heating method is used under what kind of conditions.” Xu Wenfa said that the air source heat pump unit is particularly suitable for higher than zero The use of a low-temperature environment at 5°C is equivalent to demarcation at 38°N latitude in the winter in China, which means that the air source heat pump unit is suitable for use in the vast area south of the latitude. These places are just the areas with the greatest demand for heating, cooling, and domestic hot water. Air source heat pump products will have a broad market prospect here. “Especially suitable for the heating of individual individuals in the south, which is conducive to the promotion of heating reform in the southern region. ".

“Our current air conditioning traditional practice is to use a primary energy source such as coal and natural gas to heat water to 70°C to heat, or to bake water and convert it into steam to generate electricity for cooling. This actually lowers energy quality. Use, to some extent, cause energy waste." Xu Wenfa said, "This kind of thinking needs to be changed."