2017 ASHRAE Annual Conference

A hybrid-GSHP project currently being developed will investigate the economic and technical feasibility of a system using a water-to-air heat exchanger as an ancillary heat exchanger. The project has been planned to be developed in three phases, in order to have one year data for each phase. This paper describes the research facility, the concept of the hybrid-GSHP to be developed in three phases, and the energy performance of the system in Phase I from the data collected.

Residential zero net energy/low energy buildings require integrated renewable energy air conditioning systems especially in harsh climates such as Phoenix, AZ. In this paper, the thermal as well as economic performances for three types of residential-scale solar-powered heat pump systems is compared. The systems selected for this study were silica gel-water adsorption, single-effect LiBr-water absorption (both thermally driven), and solar photovoltaic (PV) powered vapor compression systems. An hourly building simulation model was developed for a single-family house in the Phoenix, Arizona, USA metropolitan area and performance of each of these systems was determined to satisfy the hourly cooling demand. The effect of solar collector area and storage capacity was also investigated.

Residential air conditioning represents nearly half of peak electrical demand on the Texas electricity grid during the summer, so finding ways to reduce peak demand have significant value for homeowners and grid operators. Thermal storage systems provide a means of shifting air conditioning load off-peak while maintaining cooling operation and thermal comfort levels, but are typically not deployed at the residential level due to cost constraints. This paper discusses the design and pilot testing of an integrated thermal energy and rainwater storage system (or ITHERST) for a small residential house. The paper summarizes the system design, describes the testing process and preliminary results, and concludes the report with a discussion on lessons learned and future work.