HYBRID SOLAR HEAT PUMP SYSTEM FOR WATER HEATING

ABSTRACT A comparative test of water heating between the hybrid system - solar collector with heat pump - and a system with conventional supplementary heating - with high electric power - was performed. For this, a small capacity heat pump was installed, which was later installed together with a solar heating system, composed of a 250 L thermal reservoir and three thermoplastic collector plates. Tests were carried out to evaluate the COP of the heat pump and the energy consumption of the solar heating system operating with the heat pump and with an electrical resistance of 3000 W. In the laboratory tests, the heat pump presented an average COP of 2.15. In the field tests, the energy consumption of the solar system with heat pump was 54.9% lower when compared to the tests in which electrical resistance was used as a source of supplementary heating.