Energy and exergy analysis of multi-functional solar-assisted heat pump system

This paper reports the exergetic modeling and performance evaluation of a novel multi-functional solar-assisted heat pump (SAHP) system based on an experimental study. Comparisons between the multi-functional SAHP system and conventional hot water heating systems, i.e. electric water heater, gas-fired water heater and air source heat pump, are made with respect to energy and exergy efficiencies. The results show that the multi-functional SAHP system has the highest energy performance, average 2.98. In addition, the multi-functional SAHP system offers the highest exergy efficiency among the four kinds of hot water heating systems. Copyright The Author 2010. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org, Oxford University Press.