Solar heat pump

4 Posts
Sep 30, 2009 08:35 pm
Solar heat pump

I'm looking for people who would be interested in a solar powered heat pump for their home. This would work similar to a conventional heat pump, heating the house in winter and cooling the house in summer, except that it would be powered from solar collectors (not photovoltaics) and consume no (or almost no) electricity.  The patents on this technology expired a long time ago, but for a variety of reasons, units are not being commercially manufactured.
I'm not interested in trying to set up a manufacturing concern to commercially market mass produced units (yet). This would be more like an architectural feature built onto the house (or added later) that would significantly cut winter heating and summer cooling needs.
If you enjoy tinkering with your home's HVAC system and would like to try to revive this technology, please leave a reply to this post. If you are an HVAC contractor and would like to add a new technology to your list of services, I would also like to hear from you.
 
99 Posts
Jan 5, 2010 03:29 pm
Re: Solar heat pump

I was thinking of using the absorption method (Einstein method) for powering my refrigeration using solar heat.  Do you have a different method in mind?
 
4 Posts
Jan 5, 2010 07:25 pm
Re: Solar heat pump

The Einstein refrigeration cycle is exactly what I have in mind. AS you can see, there haven't been many responses. How far are you in your planning of this project?
 
6 Posts
Jan 8, 2010 04:59 am
Re: Solar heat pump

Heat pumps are used to save energy. The free Energy element for the heat pump can come from a number of sources. The most common are from the air and from the ground.
 
7 Posts
May 8, 2010 09:47 am
Re: Solar heat pump

Heat pumps are used to save energy. The free Energy element for the heat pump can come from a number of sources. The most common are from the air and from the ground.

Yes, you are right as the most common are from the air and ground. As, heat pumps are the best in use for saving energy.

Thanks

energyboom.com
 
99 Posts
Feb 6, 2011 04:11 am
Re: Solar heat pump

I'm still interested in this if anyone wants to help develop solid plans.  I'll be doing my refrigeration in a few months and would love to experiment with this.
 
462 Posts
Feb 7, 2011 02:09 pm
Re: Solar heat pump

Thomas, where do you live? If you are trying to get refrigeration from renewables, and you live in a cold climate part of the year, then an air to air exchanger may work for you. Using PV, battery and inverter the rest of the year may work cheaper and easier. You can also add extra insulation to your refrigerator, if possible, or build your own. 
 
99 Posts
Feb 7, 2011 02:21 pm
Re: Solar heat pump

I'm already planning all of those things.  My refrigerator is a 10'x10' pantry insulated with 5.5" of spray foam and 2" of polyisocyanurate board.  I'm installing a root cellar inspired cold trap which will pull in air from outside whenever it is colder out than in (3-4 months out of the year here in PA).  I also have a DC compressor powered from my batteries. 

What I'm interested in is an Einstein cycle system for using during the heat of the summer.  While photovoltaics powering my batteries will work, it is not the most efficient or reliable method of harnessing the sun for cooling purposes.
 
351 Posts
Feb 7, 2011 05:01 pm
Re: Solar heat pump

Here are a few links that may be of interest.

www.me.gatech.edu/energy/pubs/SLA_2.pdf

http://engineering.ucsb.edu/~yuen/references/rer-8.pdf

www.free-energy-info.co.uk/P13.pdf

Ken
 

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