Today’s heating supply calls for concepts that are based on renewable energies and are profitable as energy prices increase. A heat pump is a great example for this. It only requires very little electrical energy to make the multitude of heat available from the ground, ground water or outside air usable.
This is how: In a closed circuit, ambient heat is transferred to a refrigerant in the evaporator and becomes a gas. In the electric compressor, the gaseous refrigerant is then compressed, heating it. In the condenser, the hot gas then heats the water in the heating circuit or the hot water tank. The gaseous refrigerant condenses again and returns to the evaporator via the expansion valve and the cycle is repeated. A temperature of -20 degrees Celsius is sufficient for the refrigerant in air-to-water heat pumps to operate the circuit efficiently.
The refrigeration circuit described above is the heart of a heat pump. Heat pumps extract about three quarters of the required energy from the environment. In the best case, the remaining energy also comes from renewable energy sources. Systems consisting of a heat pump and photovoltaic system work largely independently of rising electricity prices and thus save on operating costs. As a rule, the electric compressor requires the most additional energy inside the heat pump. But other components such as the fan also consume electricity and can therefore help to save energy and money.
Various fans are used in heat pumps, e.g. axial or centrifugal fans. Centrifugal fans are used for indoor installations, as they are suitable for higher pressure requirements, whereas quiet-running axial fans are used for outdoor installation. The low noise level is very important here. Axial fans that can be operated at low speed thanks to EC motors and that enable quiet operation even in partial-load operation mean that the heat pump does not have to be switched off at night. If the heat pumps are in the front of a house, the evaporator is a separate unit outdoors and a refrigerant pipe leads inside.
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