Understanding the working principle of a Heat-Pump Unit

January, 2024

1. Objectives
In this experiment, the students will learn the working of a heat-pump from the simple heat-
pump unit present in the “Thermodynamics Lab of the Himalaya Engineering College”. Upon
the completion of the experiment, the student should learn the following things:

(Copy this section, as objectives)

• Have a theoretical understanding on the working of heat-pump

• Have an understanding on the working of different components of the heat-pump unit.
• Have a working knowledge of the operation of the heat-pump unit present in the
Thermodynamics lab. Given a similar heat-pump unit, the students should be able to
describe each component included in the unit and correlate the theoretical working
process of a heat pump unit with its practical prototype.
• Understand the application areas of the heat-pump unit.

2. Description (Copy this section, figure not necessary)

The simple heat-pump unit (similar to the SOLTEQ heat pump unit) used for heating water,
available in the Thermodynamics lab, Himalaya Engineering College, serves its purpose of
providing an insight on the practical working procedure of the heat-pump cycle, more
specifically (Vapor-Compression Cycle) to the undergraduate students. Amid the great
demand of low-carbon heating solutions, investment on the further development of heat-
pump(s) could help us reach the target of net-zero carbon emission, the responsibility of which
falls upon the upcoming generation of engineers. This heat-pump unit, thus will be of particular
interest for the undergraduate students of the Himalaya Engineering College studying under
different Departments.

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 Expansion-valve

Condenser
Compressor
Evaporator

Figure 1: A simple Heat-Pump Unit

3. Theory

3.1 Heat-Pump (Describe in your own words taking help from this section)

A heat-pump is basically a heat engine that runs in the backward direction. In other words, a
heat pump is a device that is used to transfer heat energy to a thermal reservoir, i.e., heat
transfer occurs from a cold reservoir into a hot reservoir. However, this heat transfer does not
occur spontaneously, because it violates the elegant statement of Second Law of
Thermodynamics given by Rudolf Clausius [1], “No process is possible whose sole result is
the transfer of heat from a body of lower temperature to a body of higher temperature”. Thus,

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 for such heat transfer to occur, there would be requirement of external work input (𝑊). This
leads the heat transfer to the hot reservoir to be 𝑄ℎ = 𝑄𝑐 + 𝑊. The schematic of this heat
transfer is shown in Figure 2.

Figure 2: Schematic diagram giving an insight on heat transfer from a cold reservoir to a hot
reservoir. (The directions of 𝑊, 𝑄ℎ , and 𝑄𝑐 are opposite to what they would have been in a heat
engine).

A heat pump’s mission is for heat transfer 𝑄ℎ to occur into a warm environment, such as a home
in the winter or a swimming pool or a designated industrial area. Actually, a heat pump can be
used to both heat and cool a space. It is essentially an air conditioner and a heating unit all in one
[2]. However, in the course of this experiment, we shall concentrate on the heating mode
(specifically for heating the water). The basic components of a heat pump operating in its heating
mode is shown in Figure 3. The non-CFC working fluid is used in heat-pumps, the popular one(s)
being R-140a and R-410a.

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 𝑊

Figure 3: Simplified heat-pump cycle and the components involved

In the beginning of a cycle, the refrigerant is a cold low-pressure liquid gaseous state flowing
through the tubes that are exposed to the ambient room air. A refrigerant having the following
properties are commonly used:

i. Low boiling point

ii. High latent heat of vaporization
iii. Environmentally friendly

Since the refrigerant is colder than the ambient room air, heat transfer occurs from the ambient air
to the refrigerant. To facilitate the heat transfer, the tubes are connected to an evaporator, a heat
exchanger much like a car radiator with many outward extending surfaces called fins. These fins
are designed to increase the absorption of heat from the warm air into the cold refrigerant. A fan
is kept just adjacent to the evaporator, whose purpose it to amplify the heat absorption by the
refrigerant by increasing the flow of room air over the evaporator. Once, the refrigerant passes
through the evaporator, it becomes a warm gas, because of the thermal energy it received from the
ambient air (the refrigerant has low boiling point, so it turns into vapor even in a low temperature).
The refrigerant however still cannot warm the water, that is where the purpose of setting up a
compressor comes into fruition.

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The compressor (electrically driven) raises the pressure of the gas, as a result of which temperature
of the refrigerant increases as well. The compressor then forces this high temperature refrigerant
at high pressure to another heat exchanger called the ‘condenser’. The condenser is in contact with
the fluid (water) and the hot gas (refrigerant) now gives off its heat (𝑄ℎ ) to the colder water. As
heat leaves the gaseous refrigerant, it cools off below its condensation point and changes from a
gaseous state to a high-pressure liquid state. This phase change of the refrigerant from gas to liquid
causes the large transfer of heat energy to the cold water (Remember: refrigerant has high latent
heat of vaporization), facilitating us with the warm water in the outlet which is the desired output
of the heat pump.

How you shall approach this theory portion:

(1) Definition of heat-pump

(2) Types of heat-pumps
(3) Application areas of heat-pump
(4) Why heat pump is considered a prominent technology in reaching net-zero carbon emission
(5) Schematic diagram of a heat-pump (Figure 2): A brief description in your words
(6) Schematic diagram of a heat-pump unit with components (Figure 3): A brief description in
your words

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 3.2 Pressure enthalpy and Temperature-entropy diagram for an Ideal
Vapor-Compression Cycle (Mention Figure(s) 4 and 5 in your manual
and if possible try to explain in your words)
Pressure (P)

Enthalpy (h)
Figure 4: A representative pressure-enthalpy diagram for a refrigeration/heat-pump cycle [3]

Figure 5: A representative pressure-enthalpy diagram for a refrigeration/heat-pump cycle [4]

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4-1: The refrigerant initially in low pressure and liquid-vapor mixture phase passes through the
evaporator. The ambient atmospheric air being warmer than the refrigerant allows for the heat
transfer to be directed towards the refrigerant. The heat-addition process continues until the
refrigerant becomes a saturated vapor. Since heat (𝑄𝐿 ) is being added from the ambient
environment into the refrigerant, the enthalpy of the system increases. This heat addition process
occurs at constant pressure (isobaric process).

1-2: The saturated refrigerant is compressed in the compressor to the condenser pressure. The
external work (𝑊𝑖𝑛 ) is supplied for the operation of the compressor in the form of electrical energy
input. During the compression process, the pressure inside the compressor increases which causes
the temperature of the refrigerant vapor to increase. The compression process in ideal scenario is
isentropic in nature (reversible and adiabatic), i.e., the entropy of the system remains constant.

2-3: The superheated vapor is then directed to the heat-exchanger device called the condenser. The
superheated vapor initially gets converted to the saturated vapor, as shown in step 2-2’. During
this process, the temperature and entropy of the system decreases. The condensation process (2-3)
occurs at constant pressure where only the state of the refrigerant changes from saturated vapor to
saturated liquid, and heat (latent heat of vaporization) (𝑄𝐻 ) gets rejected to the designated place
(e.g. room, swimming pool, industrial area, etc.). Since heat is being rejected, the temperature and
hence the entropy of the system decreases.

3-4: The refrigerant then enters the expansion valve, where it expands and releases pressure.
Consequently, the temperature drops at this stage. With these changes incorporated, the refrigerant
leaves the expansion valve as a liquid vapor mixture (mostly liquid), typically in the proportion of
around 75 % and 25 % respectively [5]. This refrigerant in low pressure and predominantly in
liquid phase is then brought to the evaporator again for the continuation of heat-transfer process,
and repetition of another cycle.

5. Conclusion

(Briefly describe the overall things you learned during the thermodynamics lab in your own
words).

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 References

[1] A. Bejan, "Thermodynamics today," Energy, 2018.

[2] "Applications of Thermodynamics: Heat Pumps and Refrigerators," Lumen Learning,

[Online]. Available: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/suny-physics/chapter/15-5-
applications-of-thermodynamics-heat-pumps-and-refrigerators/. [Accessed 1 January 2024].

[3] B. O. Bolaji, "Theoretical assessment of new low global warming potential refrigerant
mixtures as eco-friendly alternatives in domestic refrigeration systems," Scientific African,
vol. 10, p. 4, 2020.

[4] Y. A. Cengel and M. A. Boles, Thermodynamics: An Engineering Approach, Boston: Mc-

Graw-Hill College, 2006.

[5] Araner, "The Vapor Compression Refrigeration Cycle, Step by Step," [Online]. Available:
https://www.araner.com/blog/vapor-compression-refrigeration-cycle. [Accessed 05 January
2024].