Water to water heat pump minimum charge of propane.

This paper describes the technology for an environmentally friendly ground source heat pump for a single family home, characterized by using pure water as coolant and propane as refrigerant. The objective was to build a test system, operating under realistic conditions, using less than 150 g of propane, providing at least 5 kW heating capacity with reasonable efficiency and without freezing the coolant water. The borehole heat exchanger was of coaxial type, providing about half the thermal resistance compared to a standard U-tube collector (Acuña 2010). The evaporator and condenser where asymmetrical plate heat exchangers with small channel height (< 1 mm) on the refrigerant side. They were developed and manufactured exclusively for this project with a new type of press pattern, including a special, small volume sub-cooling section at the end of the condenser. A DC-motor scroll compressor for AC in electric vehicles was used, characterized by small internal volumes, small oil charge and wide capacity range (800-9000 rpm). A PAG-type oil was used, which however seemed to cause some problems with heat transfer and pressure drop in the evaporator. The system also included a specially built mini channel liquid/suction line heat exchanger and a standard thermostatic expansion valve. The paper presents test results for a heating capacity range of 2-10 kW. The performance was reasonable in this range with a charge of 100 g of propane (-1