A Status-transition Model for CO2 Heat Pump Water Heater Based on Modified Lorentz cycle

Abstract

Energy management is a systematic activity for improving energy performances of a target system, and an energy management system is expected to solve operational planning problems and report or suggest opportunities for performance improvement. An equipment model is required to reflect the characteristics of the actual equipment’s performance and to have a simple structure to apply to operational planning problems. The model should be able to diagnose changes with performance degradation over time. In this study, we proposed a thermodynamically-sound model of a CO2 heat pump water heater, suitable for solving operational planning problems and diagnosing degradation of equipment. The proposed model consists of a heat pump unit (HP) and a hot water storage tank (ST). The HP model is a status-transition model, constructed based on the Lorentz efficiency, which is identified by experimental values and a theoretical maximum coefficient of performance (COP) for a trans-critical heat pump cycle. The ST model is simplified and can describe temperature distribution in the ST because the unit COP of the HP influences the thermal stratification of the ST. The proposed model is preferable in its simplicity and robust performance for a wide temperature range by comparison with a conventional statistical regression model.