Applied Energy 88 (2011) 41284138

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Applied Energy
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/apenergy

Experimental research and operation optimization of an air-source heat pump

water heater
J.J. Guo, J.Y. Wu , R.Z. Wang, S. Li
Institute of Refrigeration and Cryogenics, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, 200240 Shanghai, China

a r t i c l e

i n f o

Article history:
Received 18 October 2010
Received in revised form 17 March 2011
Accepted 2 April 2011
Available online 27 April 2011
Keywords:
Air-source heat pump water heater
Experimental research
Optimization

a b s t r a c t
In order to optimize design and operation strategy of air-source heat pump water heater, an experimental
set-up and simulation model were constructed. Also, a methodology of optimizing operation, which takes
into account thermostatic and timing control patterns, was presented and applied. Experimental results
indicated that the average COP ranged from 2.82 to 5.51 under typical conditions. The recommended outside area ratio of condenser coil to evaporator is 0.140.31 when the evaporator outside area is between
6.0 and 6.5 m2 for this set-up. The optimal start-up time was between 12:00 and 14:00 if there was no
electricity price difference between day and night, or it was near 22:00. The optimal setting water temperature should be adjusted according to the variation of seasonal ambient temperature. It was suggested
that, based on this set-up, setting water temperature should be set higher than 46 C in summer and 50 C
in other seasons.
2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
The proportion of water-heating in building energy consumption is about one-third. Nowadays, with more concern is taken to
building energy-saving, considerable importance has been placed
on the energy efciency of water heater in buildings [1,2]. The
air-source heat pump water heater (ASHPWH) system, a water
heating device with about one-third energy consumption of the
conventional electric resistance water heater, has attracted more
and more interests for its high efciency, energy-saving and environmental benign recently [3,4].
The thermal performance of the ASHPWH system is inuenced
by refrigerants, system structure, ambient temperature, water
temperature, etc [512]. And many achievements have been obtained by the researchers. Mei et al. [13] investigated the difference
of R22 and R407C in the practical ASHPWH system. Afterward,
they studied the effect of different style natural convection immersed condensers to the heat pump water heater [14]. Morrison
et al. [15] presented an ASHPWH seasonal performance assessment
method based on experimental results. Their research indicated
the effect of ambient temperature (surrounding air temperature)
on the system performance is more signicantly than the effect
of initial water temperature during the heating process. Rankin
et al. [16] presented a study about demand side management for
commercial building using an inline air-source heat pump water
heater methodology. Kim et al. [17] suggested that the tank size
Corresponding author. Tel.: +86 21 3420 6776; fax: +86 21 3420 6309.
E-mail address: jywu@sjtu.edu.cn (J.Y. Wu).
0306-2619/$ - see front matter 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.apenergy.2011.04.012

should be optimized through simulation. In Japan, the scholars

[18] had studied the inuence of ambient temperatures to the
whole system, and pointed out that operation strategy of ASHPWH
system is greatly important and should be considered in their subsequent work.
However, due to the variation of the ambience and heating load,
ASHPWH systems are only optimal under certain working conditions if the structure is xed. Besides, if suitable operation strategy
is established, such as selecting correct start-up time or setting
water temperature for the system, satisfactory thermal and economic performance can be also obtained [19,20]. Rankin et al.
[16] solved the peak demand of national electricity supply grid
by controlling the operation of inline air-source heat pump water
heater and auxiliary heater simultaneously. Huang et al. [21] presented a fast response heat pump water heater by controlling different water temperatures of two tanks, and the key of its
operation strategy is to setting different priority for two tanks. As
discussed above, the operation strategy is greatly subject to the
consumers control patterns, in practical application, thermostatic
and timing control patterns are two commonly control patterns
adopted by the consumers. Thus, the operation strategy optimization should be considered according to different control patterns.
Whereas the potential of such operation strategy optimization is
far from being developed, there is lack of information about the
operation strategy optimization of ASHPWH systems, especially
in the residential buildings.
In this paper, structural and operation strategy optimization
of an experimental set-up of air-source heat pump water heater
(ASHPWH) system were investigated. Based on a simulation

J.J. Guo et al. / Applied Energy 88 (2011) 41284138

4129

Nomenclature
A
C
COP
d
f
f(t)
g(t)
h
j
k1, k2
_
m
M
n
P
p
Q_
r
s
t
T
U
v
V
Vd
W
W(t)

heat exchange area, m2

specic heat, KJ/(kg K)
coefcient of performance
diameter of copper tube, m
operation frequency of compressor, Hz
domestic hot water demand prole, kg/s
hot water ow rate from water tank, kg/s
specic enthalpy, KJ/kg
number order of time step
modifying factor of thermostatic expansion valve
mass ow rate of refrigerant, kg/s
mass, kg
polytropic index
pressure, Pa
pitch, mm
heat transfer rate, kW
latent heat, kJ/kg
revolutional slip
time, s
temperature, C
heat transfer coefcient, kW/(m2 K)
specic volume, m3/kg
volume, L
compressor displacement volume rate, cm3/rev
total input power, kW
electrical power consumption of compressor and fan,
kW

Subscripts
a
ambient; air
cmp
compressor
cond
condensation or condenser
consume consumed water
eva
evaporation or evaporator

model, the relationship between system thermal performance

and outside area ratio of condenser coil to evaporator was discussed. Additionally, a methodology for the operation strategy
optimization of the system was introduced and applied, and
the optimal start-up time and setting water temperature were
obtained based on timing and thermostatic control patterns,
respectively.
2. Description of system and experiment set-up
2.1. Working process of the ASHPWH system
The system is composed of outdoor and indoor units, as shown
in Fig. 1. The outdoor unit, such as compressor, lterdrier, thermostatic expansion valve (TXV) and the evaporator, is mounted
in the environmental chamber. The other parts of the ASHPWH
system, for example water tank and condenser, is installed in the
ambient out of the environmental chamber. The condenser is immersed in the hot water tank. The air temperature in the environmental chamber can be adjusted from 5 C to 40 C.
The working process undergone by the refrigerant during a
cycle can be represented by an idealized heat pump cycle as shown
in Fig. 2. Here, 12, 23, 34 and 41 represent compression, condensation, throttling and evaporation processes, respectively. After
the throttling process, the refrigerant in the evaporator will absorb
the heat from the ambient air, then after the compression process,
the heat will be released into the water tank. As the water tank

n
i
l
load
lon
o
p
r
s
set
sc
sh
tap
tp
tra
tube
v
w
wi

n
inside; inlet
refrigerant liquid
hot water load
longitudinal tube
outside
constant pressure
refrigerant
sensible heat transfer
setting water temperature
subcooled
superheated
tap water
two-phase
transverse tube
heat transfer tube
volumetric; vapor
water
initial water

Superscripts
Dt
testing time step between the initial and end time
0
testing initial time
Greek letter
d
n thickness of evaporator, mm
g
efciency
a
heat transfer coefcient, kW/(m2 K)
k
thermal conductivity, kW/(m K)
n
dehumidifying coefcient
q
density, kg/m3
gn
general n efciency
f
delivery coefcient
Ds
duration of one time step in numerical calculation

getting warmer, the working process cycle will be updated accordingly, such as 30 40 10 20 30 .
2.2. Experimental facility and procedures
An experimental set-up of ASHPWH system was developed in
the lab. Fig. 3 and Table 1 show the details of indoor and outdoor
units.
In this experiment, the evaporator, TXV and the compressor
were mounted in an environmental chamber, as shown in Fig. 3a
and b. The rated input power of the rotary-type hermetic compressor was 0.93 kW. To avoid the overload, an overheated protector
and low-high pressure cut-off switches were connected to the
compressor. The evaporator was a n-tube heat exchanger. The
condenser was made up of a smooth copper helical coiled tube
(9.90  0.75), which was immersed in the water tank. The curvature radius of the coil was 0.16 m. The lterdrier and TXV were
installed downstream the condenser. The whole system was controlled by a micro-controller.
Before the experiment, the environmental chamber was adjusted at certain value (it represents ambient temperature), and
the tap water was charged into the 150 L water tank. Then, the
water was heated after the ASHPWH system started. If the water
temperature in the tank reaches to the setting point, the system
is stopped by the micro-controller. In the process of hot water consuming, the hot water was drawn from the top of the tank, and cold
tap water was recharged from the bottom of the tank.

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J.J. Guo et al. / Applied Energy 88 (2011) 41284138

compressor

environmental
chamber

water tank

hot water
T

T
T

condenser
T

Pressure
Position

Temperature
Position

evaporator

TXV

P
P

tap water

filter-drier

Fig. 1. Schematic diagram of the ASHPWH system.

Heat to the
water tank
3'

2'

3
logP

4'
4

Ambient energy

1'

h
Fig. 2. Heat pump cycle on a logp  h diagram.

The main aim of the experimental work is to test the system

thermodynamic performance, such as the COP and the average
COP.

COP

C p;w Mw T Dwt  T 0w
R Dt
Wtdt
0

As shown in Eq. (1), the COP is the ratio of heat transfer from the
condenser to water to the electric power consumption of compressor and fan. The tank water temperature (i.e. T Dwt or T 0w ) is represented by the average value of the three platinum resistance
thermometers (i.e. Pt100) set at the bottom, central and top of the
tank, as shown in Fig. 1. 0 and Dt represent the testing initial time
and time step between the initial and end time, in which there is
3 C increment in water temperature. The heating capacity is the
time average heat transfer from the condenser to water within
R Dt
3 C increment in the water tank. 0 Wtdt represents the electrical power consumption of compressor and fan within time step
measured by power meter unit, kJ. Eq. (1) represents COP at water
Dt
0
temperature T w 2T w .
When the water in the tank is heated from certain initial temperature (i.e. Twi) to the setting point (i.e. Tset), the average COP
during the whole process is

C p;w M w T set  T wi
COP av e
Rt
Wtdt
0

Fig. 3. Experimental set-up of ASHPWH system: (a) indoor unit; (b) outdoor unit.

Rt
where t represents the duration of the whole process. 0 Wtdt represents the electrical power consumption of compressor and fan
measured by power meter unit during the whole process.
2.3. Error analysis
The power meter unit (with grade 0.5 accuracy, uncertainty
about 10 W) was used to measure the electrical power

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J.J. Guo et al. / Applied Energy 88 (2011) 41284138

Table 1
Specication of the main components of the system.
Name

Type

Remarks

Compressor
Condenser/water
tank
Expansion valve
Evaporator/fan

Rotary
Pressure
resistance
TXV
Finned tube/
axial

R22, Rated input power:0.93KW, displacement volume: 16.5 cm3/rev

150 L tank, immersed 50 m smooth copper coil (9.90  0.75 mm), polyurethane insulation (thickness 38 mm)
Interior equilibrium type
Axial fan rated input power: 35 W; front face area: 0.3445 m2, air-side area: 6.17 m2, d:0.13 mm, plon:25.1 mm, pn:1.34 mm,
ptra:25.1 mm, smooth copper tube (9.52 0.5 mm).

consumption of the compressor and fan automatically. The three

platinum resistance thermometers (i.e. Pt100, with grade A,
uncertainty of 0.2 C) inserted along the axis of the tank, were
set at the bottom, central and top of the tank. All the data were
collected by a data acquisition system and stored in a computer.
The interval of data collection can be set fteen seconds, and the
error of the data acquisition system can be ignored. Therefore,
the error analysis of the experimental results on the basis of
the uncertainties in the measurements was performed using
the Kline and McClintock relationship [22], and the relative error
of testing instrument was 9.4% for COP, 0.8% for average COP,
respectively.

In order to predict the operation performance of ASHPWH system and nd the inuence of various parameters on its operation, a
mathematical model has been formulated in this paper. Some
physical assumptions employed for the present model are:
(1) Compression of refrigerant vapor is assumed to follow a
polytropic process.
(2) Pressure drop is negligible in evaporator, condenser as well
as pipes.
(3) Expansion of refrigerant liquid is considered to be
isenthalpic.

Since the compression of refrigerant vapor is assumed to be a

polytropic process, the energy equation for the compressor can
be expressed as:

"

Pcond
P ev a

n1
n

v1

where Utp,eva and Ush,eva denote the heat transfer coefcient of the
two-phase section and superheated section in the evaporator,
respectively, which are expressed as:

U tp;ev a

atp;ev a

di;ev a
do;ev a
1
Ai;ev a
ln


2ktube
di;ev a ao;s;ev a  n  gfin Ao;ev a

!1

di;ev a
do;ev a
1
Ai;ev a

ln


ash;ev a 2ktube di;ev a ao;s;ev a  n  gfin Ao;ev a

6
!1
7

where ao,s,eva is sensible heat transfer coefcient at the outside of

evaporator, which is developed by Wang and Du [24]. atp,eva and
ash,eva represent the heat transfer coefcient of the two-phase section and superheated section at the inside of evaporator, which
are expressed in [25].

3.3. Condenser model

The condenser energy balance equation can be expressed as:

_ r r cond
_ r T 2  T cond m
C r;sh;cond m


_r
_ r r cond
C r;sh;cond m
T cond  T w
m
U sc;cond Ai;cond 
 ln

U sh;cond
T2  Tw
U tp;cond T cond  T w

#
1


3

where n is the polytropic index.

_ r ) pumped by the compressor is calThe mass of refrigerant (m
culated by [23],

f 1  sV d gv

_ r h2  h3
Q_ cond m

3.1. Compressor model

_r m
_ cmp
m

_ r T 1  T ev a
C r;sh;ev a m

U sh;ev a

3. Mathematical model and simulation process

n
_ r  P ev a  v 1 
_ r h2  h1 m
m
n1

_ r h1  h4
Q_ ev a m


_r
C r;sh;ev a m
Ta  T1
 T a  T ev a
 ln
U tp;ev a Ai;ev a 
U sh;ev a
T a  T ev a

T cond  T 3
T w
ln T Tcond
3 T w

8
where Q_ cond is the condensing heat transfer rate, Utp,cond, Ush,cond, and
Usc,cond denote the heat transfer coefcient of the two-phase section,
superheated section and subcooled section in the condenser,
respectively, which are expressed as:

where Vd is the displacement volume, s is the revolutional slip and

gv is the volumetric efciency.
3.2. Evaporator model
The physical components and working environments of the
evaporator in the ASHPWH system, though the working condition
in summer is formidable, is similar to the normal air-source unitary heat pump. So the evaporator model of the system can be presented as follow.
The energy equation for the evaporator can be expressed as


U tp;cond

atp;cond

di;cond do;cond
1 Ai;cond
ln


2ktube
di;cond aw Ao;cond

1
9
1

di;cond do;cond
1 Ai;cond
ln


2ktube
di;cond aw Ao;cond

1
1
di;cond do;cond
1 Ai;cond

ln


asc;cond 2ktube di;cond aw Ao;cond

U sh;cond
U sc;cond

ash;cond

10
11

where atp,cond, ash,cond and asc,cond represent the heat transfer coefcient of the two-phase section, superheated section and subcooled
section at the inside of condenser, and aw is the heat transfer
coefcient in the water side. The four heat transfer coefcients
are suggested as [26].

J.J. Guo et al. / Applied Energy 88 (2011) 41284138

Since the expansion of refrigerant is assumed to be isenthalpic,

the TXV energy balance equation is:

h3 h4

12

_ r ) through the TXV can be calculated by

The mass of refrigerant (m
[27]

_ TXV k1 k2  T ev a 
_rm
m

q
ql P cond  Pev a

13

where k1 and k2 were found to be equal to 3.578  105 m2 and

2.442  107 m2/K for the valve considered in present study.
3.5. Water tank model
The water is insulated and the helical coiled tube type condenser is immersed in the water tank, therefore the heat loss from
the water tank to ambient is negligible. The variation of heat storage in the water tank is the combined result of condensing heat release and hot water load, see Hawlader et al. [23] for a detailed
account of the water tank model. The energy balance equation
can be obtained by

d
C p;w Mw T w Q_ cond  Q_ load
dt

14

Before the hot water is delivered to the end user, the hot water ow
from water tank and cold supply water (tap water) would be mixed.
The energy conservation equation is expressed as

C p;w  gt  T w C p;w  f t  gt  T tap C p;w  f t  T consume

15

where g(t) is hot water ow rate from water tank, which depends
on the domestic hot water demand prole f(t). Where Tconsume is
the temperature of consumed hot water, and Ttap is the tap water
temperature.
3.6. Performance index
The COP of the system performance

Pn2

jn

COP Pn21

Q_ cond j  Ds

jn1 Wj

 Ds

16

where Ds is the duration of one time step in numerical calculation.

n1 and n2 represent the n1 thn2 th time step. Q_ cond j and W(j) are
condensing heat transfer rate and the electrical power consumption
of compressor and fan at the jth time step. In order to verify the calculated results with the experimental data, 3 C water temperature
increment is chosen from the n1 th to n2 th time step. The water temperature at the n1 th and n2 th time step are T nw1 and T nw2 , respectively.
Hence, the ncalculated
COP can be regarded as the COP at water temn
T 1 T 2
perature w 2 w .
The average COP during the whole heating process,

Pn _
j0 Q cond j  Ds

COP av e Pn

j0 Wj

 Ds

17

where 0 and n are the rst and last time steps of the whole heating
process, respectively.

consumption, COP of the system and all the state points data (such
as, temperature, pressure, specic volume, specic enthalpy and
the mass ow rate), were calculated as output data. The properties
of the chosen refrigerant R22 were from REFPROP (version 6.01)
developed by NIST (National Institute of Standard and Technology).
4. Results and discussion
4.1. Experimental results and model verication
In order to learn the performance of the ASHPWH system, a series of experiments were carried out in the environmental chamber
under different ambient conditions based on the meteorological
data of Shanghai, as shown in Figs. 46 and Table 2.
In the experiments, the ambient temperature was set constant.
After the ASHPWH system starts, the 150 L water in the tank was
heated from initial temperature to 55 C, and then the system will
be stopped by the micro-controller.
Fig. 4 shows the variation of condensing and evaporating pressure when the water tank was heated from 15 C to 55 C in winter
(i.e. Ta = 5 C). The simulated results agree well with the experimental results. For the condensing pressure, the largest deviation
between the experimental and simulated results was less than
0.5Bar. For the evaporating pressure, the largest deviation between
the experimental and simulated results was less than 0.3Bar.
Fig. 5 shows the comparison of heating capacity variation when
water tank temperature was from 16.5 C to 53.5 C during operation. For winter case (i.e. Ta = 5 C), the experimental heating capacity decreased gradually from 2.46 kW to 1.99 kW. While for
summer case (i.e. Ta = 35 C), it increased from 4.18 kW to
4.57 kW rstly, and then decreased to 4.05 kW. For winter case,
with the increase of water temperature and condensing temperature, the enthalpy difference between the inlet and outlet of the
condenser was decreasing (Fig. 2), which led to lower heating
capacity. For summer case, when condensing temperature was
lower than the ambient temperature, the pressure difference between the condenser and evaporator was too small, which led to
lower heating capacity. With the increase of water temperature,
the pressure difference was increasing, and then yielded more
heating capacity. When the condensing temperature increased to
some value, the decrease of the enthalpy difference between the
inlet and outlet of the condenser dominated, which caused lower
heating capacity. Also, the gure shows that the simulation results
were in good agreement with the experimental data with maximum deviation of 9.8%. This attributed to actual pressure drop
and heat loss of the system.

Experimental
Simulated

24
21
18

3.4. TXV model

Pcond, Peva (10 Pa)

4132

15
12

Pcond

Peva

3.7. Computing procedure

Based on the mathematical model developed for this ASHPWH

system, a simulation program was developed to estimate the thermal performance of the system. The input data for simulation were
the structural parameters, meteorological data and the initial
water temperature in water tank. The heating capacity, electrical

3
15

20

25

30

35

Tw (

40

45

Fig. 4. Pcond, Peva vs. Tw in winter (Ta = 5 C).

50

55

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J.J. Guo et al. / Applied Energy 88 (2011) 41284138

5.5
5.0

Heating capacity (kW)

average COP in the whole year, respectively. The experimental

average COP was lower than the simulated average COP. This
was due to the pressure drop and heat loss during actual operation,
which in turn caused more compressor work and lower efciency.
The maximum deviation between the experimental and the simulated results was less than 10%.
The cases study showed good agreement between the experimental data and the simulation results. Hence, the model was reliable for further analysis.

Experimental
Simulated

4.5
4.0

Ta= 35

3.5
3.0

4.2. Optimization analysis based on structural parameters and control

patterns

2.5
2.0

Ta= 5
15

20

25

30

35

Tw (

40

45

50

In order to have a more understanding on the factors affecting

the performance of the system and to be able to optimize its performance, more theoretical work was done. Based on the simulation model, the effect of structure parameters and two different
control patterns were analyzed in the following section.

55

Fig. 5. Heating capacity vs. Tw in summer and winter condition.

4.2.1. Optimization analysis based on structural parameters

As discussed above, such a system is most suitable for residential buildings in mild weather and domestic hot water is needed all
year round. To ensure well performance of the system, it is necessary to learn the effect of variation of the evaporator and condenser
coil area on the system performance. As shown in Fig. 7, the 150 L
water in the tank was heated from 15 C to 55 C. It could be seen
that, initially, the average COP increased with the increase of the
evaporator and condenser coil outside area obviously. However,
if the evaporator outside area increases beyond a certain value,
the slope of average COP trends to be at. This indicated that the
effect of evaporator and condenser coil outside area on average
COP became less sensitive, based on this kind of heat exchanger.
It also indicated that it was unnecessary to enlarge heat exchange
area excessively when a relatively high average COP has been obtained. Considering the actual nite assembling room and material
saving, satisfactory performance can be obtained when the evaporator outside area is between 6.0 and 6.5 m2, and the recommended outside area ratio of condenser coil to evaporator is
between 0.14 and 0.31.

10

Experimental
Simulated

9
8

COP

Ta= 35

6
5
4
3

Ta= 5

15

20

25

30

35

Tw (

40
)

45

50

55

Fig. 6. COP vs. Tw in summer and winter condition.

As described above, the heating capacity of the ASHPWH system

in the experiments varied with the water temperature and ambient temperature, which led to the variation of COP. Fig. 6 shows
the experimental and simulated COP variation with the water temperature from 16.5 C to 53.5 C during operation. The COP decreased with increasing water temperature for both summer and
winter cases. The maximum deviation between experimental and
simulated results at the same water temperature was less than
10%.
Table 2 shows the comparison of the experimental and simulated results of system average COP during the whole heating
process, under typical working conditions. The experimental
results show that the average COP during the whole heating
process was 5.51 in summer (Ta = 35 C, Twi = 10 C) and 2.82 in
winter (Ta = 5 C, Twi = 25 C), which was the peak and valley of

4.2.2. Relationship between thermostatic and timing control patterns

In order to optimize the operation strategy, selecting correct
control pattern is a premise. In practical application, thermostatic
and timing control patterns are two common control patterns.
For the ASHPWH system, the thermostatic control pattern is very
widely used, in this pattern, water temperature of the ASHPWH
system is set at Tset (setting water temperature). If the water temperature is lower than Tset, the ASHPWH system will turn on automatically, and the ASHPWH system turns off until water
temperature reaches to Tset [11]. The advantage of this pattern is
simple and convenient. While, the disadvantage of this pattern is
that water tank is almost kept at Tset, as a result, the ASHPWH system always operates when condensing pressure is high, which
lowers the system average COP. For the timing control pattern,
when the ASHPWH system turns on, water is heated from initial

Table 2
Comparison of experimental and simulated average COP with variable Ta and Twi.
Ta

5
15
25
35

Twi = 10 C

Error (%)

Exp

Sim

3.32
4.02
4.80
5.51

3.45
4.13
4.98
6.00

3.9
2.7
3.8
8.9

Twi = 15 C

Error (%)

Exp

Sim

3.21
3.72
4.60
5.42

3.33
3.88
4.71
5.64

3.7
4.3
2.4
4.1

Twi = 20 C

Error (%)

Exp

Sim

3.00
3.62
4.31
5.01

3.10
3.75
4.48
5.31

3.3
3.6
4.0
6.0

Twi = 25 C

Error (%)

Exp

Sim

2.82
3.41
4.01
4.80

2.91
3.51
4.22
5.04

3.2
3.0
5.2
5.0

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J.J. Guo et al. / Applied Energy 88 (2011) 41284138

4.2

Ta=15

; Twi=15

4.0

)
Ta (

COPave

3.8
2

Ao, cond= 0.93m

3.6

Ao, cond= 1.24m

3.4

Ao, cond= 1.56m

Ao, cond= 1.87m

3.2
3.0

5.0

5.5

6.0

6.5

7.0

7.5

39
36
Stage B
33
30
0.044US$/kWh
27
24
21
Summer
18
15
12
9
6
3
0
0 2 4 6

StageA

0.088US$/kWh
stage B

Transitional season

Winter

10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24

Time of day (hr)

Ao,eva (m )

Fig. 8. Ta in a typical day of Shanghai (1US$ = 6.853RMB).

2.0

5.5

1.8

5.0

1.6
4.5

1.4
1.2

4.0

1.0

3.5

0.8

Energy consumption
Fee
COPave

0.6
0.4
0

10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24

COPave

-1

6.0

3.0
2.5
2.0

Fig. 9. Energy consumption, fee and average COP in a typical day (summer).

2.2

6.0

2.0

5.5

1.8

5.0

1.6
4.5

1.4

4.0

1.2

COPave

-1

4.2.3. Optimization analysis based on timing control pattern

In this pattern, the start-up time determines the thermal and
economic performance of the ASHPWH system. From energysaving concern, higher COP can be obtained with the higher ambient temperature during the heating process [15]. So it seems that
the optimal start-up time should be when the ambient temperature is higher. While, subject to the solar radiation, the diurnal
ambient temperature is not always kept constant during the heating process, such as in Shanghai, China. Additionally, the policy of
peak and valley electric power price was carried out in some cities,
which impelled the electric consumption at night. However, the
COP of the ASHPWH system drops for the lower ambient temperature at night. Energy-saving and money-saving are not always
coincident, so that the two factors (uctuation of ambient temperature and policy of peak and valley electric power price) should be
synthetic considered in timing operation pattern. In order to illustrate the effect of two factors to the whole ASHPWH system, the
case of Shanghai was discussed as following.
Fig. 8 shows the ambient temperature of a typical day in Shanghai, the Stages A and B represent peak and valley time of a whole
day with different electric power prices 0.088 US$/kWh and
0.044 US$/kWh. Figs. 911 show the energy consumption, electric
fees and average COP during the whole heating process when 150 L
water of the ASHPWH system was heated from 15 C to 55 C from
certain time in a typical day. Fig. 9 shows the case in summer. It
could be seen that the valley energy consumption, electric fees
and highest average COP during Stage A were 1.3 kWh, 0.113 US$

2.2

Time of day (hr)

Energy consumption(kWh), Fee(10 US$)

water temperature to Tset and then turns off before domestic hot
water withdrawal. After the withdrawal, the water temperature
in the tank is lower than Tset until next start-up of ASHPWH system. As to the start-up times, it depends on the practical total
hot water consumption volumes of consumers. Since water in
the tank is always heated from initial water temperature to Tset,
but not almost kept at Tset like in the thermostatic control pattern,
thus, it is more energy-saving because higher system COP can be
obtained at relative lower water temperature [28]. The timing control pattern is suitable in some special sites (such as the consumer
has the xed domestic hot water consumption habit, the withdrawal frequency is low and interval between twice withdrawals
is long).
Therefore, the optimization operation strategy should be based
on different control patterns, and a methodology of optimization
analysis based on these two control patterns will be depicted in
the subsequent contents.

Energy consumption(kWh), Fee(10 US$)

Fig. 7. Effect of evaporator and condenser coil area.

3.5

1.0
0.8
0.6
0.4
0

Energy consumption
Fee

3.0

COPave

2.5

10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24

2.0

Time of day (hr)

Fig. 10. Energy consumption, fee and average COP in a typical day (transitional
season).

and 5.43 respectively when water tank was heated from 14:00
for the highest ambient temperature, and the system got the highest performance, while the valley electric fees of the whole day was
0.065 US$ at 22:00 for the valley electric power price. For the same
reason, the valley electric fees were 0.079 US$ and 0.094 US$
respectively, as shown in Figs. 10 and 11, both at 22:00. It was

4135

6.0

14

2.0

5.5

12

1.8

5.0

1.6

4.5

1.4
4.0

1.2

3.5

1.0
0.8

Energy consumption
Fee
COPave

0.6
0.4
0

10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24

Flow rate (L/min)

2.2

COPave

-1

Energy consumption(kWh), Fee(10 US$)

J.J. Guo et al. / Applied Energy 88 (2011) 41284138

(a)

10
8
6
4

3.0

2
2.5

0
00

2.0

03

06

09

12

15

18

21

24

18

21

24

18

21

24

Time of day (hr)

Time of day (hr)

14

Fig. 11. Energy consumption, fee and average COP in a typical day (winter).

(b)

suggested that the optimal start-up time was near 22:00 for the
lowest electric power fees. However, if the electric power price
of the day and night was equal, the optimal start-up time should
be chosen between 12:00 and 14:00. It could be derived that the
operation strategy is affected by the price difference of peak and
valley electric power price. The smaller the price difference of peak
and valley, the more economic the operation is in the daytime. The
curves of fee in Figs. 911 also show that the electric power fee was
very near when the start-up time was from 22:00 to the next 4:00
in summer and transitional season, and from 22:00 to the next
2:00 in winter. According to the current policy of peak and valley
electric power price, the start-up time of ASHPWH system is better
to selected as close as possible to these time ranges. As to the startup times and total energy consumption, it depends on the practical
hot water consumption volume in some special sites.

Flow rate (L/min)

12
10
8
6
4
2
0
00

03

06

09

12

15

Time of day (hr)

14

(c)

4.2.4. Optimization analysis based on thermostatic control pattern

In the thermostatic control pattern, the water temperature in
the tank is controlled according to Tset (setting water temperature).
Usually, Tset is set to be a xed value, such as the ASHPWH system
with R22, it is always set to 55 C for hot water consumption habit
concern. Whereas, from the viewpoint of energy-saving, decreasing
the Tset will improve the COP of the whole system. Additionally, a
too low Tset will lead to the hot water shortage if the hot water consumption volume is large. Therefore, there must be a compromise
between Tset and consumed volume of domestic hot water. However, the consumed volume of domestic hot water as well as the
consumption pattern with time varies from household to household [29], it is therefore difcult to dene general domestic hot
water demand proles [3032]. Considering the diurnal and seasonal variation of domestic hot water consumption, Roman Spur
et al. [33] presented a typical scheme which could contain wide
scale of domestic hot water usages in household, as shown in
Fig. 12. The consumption volume of domestic hot water was
non-homogeneous during the typical day, and the domestic hot
water demand prole was classied into three levels: heavy, medium and light [33]. Similarly, domestic hot water demand of a common family is usually the highest in winter, followed by
transitional season and summer, which also indicates three levels
of hot water consumption. Thus, the three levels domestic hot
water demand proles presented by Spur were assumed the daily
hot water consumption of a family in winter, transitional season
and summer in this study.
In order to learn the effect of Tset on the ASHPWH system performance, so as to establish suitable operation strategy, a case of a
family in Shanghai was investigated. The ambient temperature
was based on the description in Fig. 8. The (a), (b) and (c) in

Flow rate (L/min)

12
10
8
6
4
2
0
00

03

06

09

12

15

Time of day (hr)

Fig. 12. Hot water demand prole of a typical day: (a) light; (b) medium; (c) heavy
[33]. (The width of each column in this gure indicates the duration of each
withdrawal. The duration of each withdrawal corresponds to the ow rate 1, 6, 8
and 14 L/min is 1, 1, 5 and 10 min, respectively.)

Fig. 12 were assumed a typical day hot water demand prole f(t)
in summer, transitional season and winter, respectively. The heating performance of the ASHPWH system was shown in Figs. 1315,
which represent the typical seasonal performance.
An evaluating indicator called delivery coefcient (i.e. f) was
introduced, and it was dened as the ratio of actual heat the user
consumed hot water to the domestic hot water demand during a
day time, as below

R 86400 _
Q cond dt
0
f
C p;w V consume qw T consume  T tap

18

where the Vconsume represents 100 L, 180 L and 320 L when it is in

summer, transitional seasons and winter, respectively. The

4136

J.J. Guo et al. / Applied Energy 88 (2011) 41284138

(a)

Electric consumption (Winter)

Electric consumption (Transitional season)
Electric consumption (Summer)

3.6
3.2

46
44

Tset=46

42

Tset=48

2.8
2.4
2.0
1.6

Tset=50

40
46

38

Tw,consume ( )

Tw,consume ( )

Electric consumption (kWh)

4.0

36
34

1.2

44
42
40

32

0.8
46

48

50

52

54

06

07
Time of day (hr)

08

30

56

00

Tset ( )

03

06

09

12

15

18

21

24

Time of day (hr)

Fig. 13. Daily electric consumption vs. Tset.

46
44

Tset=46

42

Tset=48
Tset=50

40

46

Tw,consume ( )

36

Tw,consume ( )

46

38

34

44
42
40
38
06

07

08

44
42
40
38

19

Time of day (hr)

32
00

03

06

09

12

Time of day (hr)

15

20

18

21

24

18

21

24

Time of day (hr)

(c)

46
44
Tset=46

42

Tset=48

40

Tset=50
Tset=52

38
46

36
34
32

Tw,consume ( )

Tw,consume (

temperature of tap water and consumed domestic hot water are

15 C and 45 C, respectively, in the simulation.
Fig. 13 shows the inuence of Tset on the electric consumption of
the system. With the decrease of Tset from 55 C to 46 C, the electric consumption of the system during a typical day in summer,
transitional season and winter decreased by 20.1%, 20.6% and
22.8%, respectively. It seems that a lower Tset should be a better
choice for improving the system performance. Nevertheless, such
a strategy may lead to the hot water supply trouble, as discussed
before, the hot water shortage. Such an effect was depicted in
Fig. 14 detailedly.
Fig. 14 shows the user consumed water temperature under different Tset during a typical day in different seasons. The region size
with temperature below 45 C (the required temperature of
domestic hot water) indicated the shortage extent of hot water.
It can be seen that hot water shortage extent was quite different
with different Tset and different seasons. The hot water shortage extent can be characterized by two parameters: the shortage time
and the temperature valley value of user consumed water, which
somewhat like the bottom and height of a triangle. With a same
Tset, the shortage time was shortest in summer and longest in winter, and the temperature valley value was highest in summer and
lowest in winter. The case in transitional season was in the middle
of summer and winter. With the increase of Tset, the hot water
shortage will be relieved.
In summer, the hot water load is relatively light, thus even a
very low Tset can achieve the goal of hot water supply. As shown
in Fig. 14a, even when the Tset was set as low as 46 C, which
was very close to the required temperature 45 C, the shortage
time in the whole day was less than fteen minutes and the temperature valley value was higher than 40 C. In this case, the hot
water shortage extent was less than 1%, which can be seen in
Fig. 15 (delivery coefcient f > 99%). Such a light shortage can be
neglected and is acceptable for the user. Therefore, the Tset could
be set as low as 46 C in summer. In winter, the hot water load is
relatively high, thus a low Tset might be unable to afford the hot
water requirement. As shown in Fig. 14c, if the Tset was set as
46 C (same as the case in summer), the hot water shortage will
be very large. In this case, the shortage time lasted about 1.5 h
and the temperature valley value was as low as 33 C. Such a hot
water shortage was too heavy and unacceptable. Therefore, a higher Tset was required. As shown in the gure, when the Tset was set as
52 C, the hot water shortage will be eliminated.
According to above discussion, the Tset inuenced both the energy performance and the hot water supplement performance of
the system, and these two effects contradicted each other. The Tset

Tw,consume ( )

(b)

44
42
40
38
36
06

30
00

03

07

08

Time of day (hr)

06

09

09

12

15

Time of day (hr)

Fig. 14. User consumed water temperature during a typical day: (a) summer; (b)
transitional season; (c) winter.

can not be too high and too low, and there will be an optimum value of Tset in every season for the ASHPWH system. Fig. 15 shows
the inuence of Tset on the daily average COP and delivery coefcient during a whole day of the system. According to the denition,
the delivery coefcient reects the hot water load satisfaction degree. If there is no hot water shortage during the whole day, the
delivery coefcient will be 100%, otherwise, the delivery coefcient
will be smaller than 100%. As shown in Fig. 15, the daily average
COP increased with the decrease of Tset for the lower water temperature and condensing temperature. While the delivery coefcient

J.J. Guo et al. / Applied Energy 88 (2011) 41284138

5.1

(Winter)
(Transitional season)
(Summer)

COPave

4.8

COPave
COPave

4.5

108
104
100

3.9
96

3.6

(%)

COPave

4.2

92

3.3
3.0

88

2.7
84

2.4
46

48

50

Tset (

52

54

56

4137

(4) Based on the thermostatic control pattern, an evaluating

indicator delivery coefcient and the optimum setting water
temperature were introduced. The optimum setting water
temperature should be adjusted according to the variation
of seasonal ambient temperature. It was suggested that,
based on this system, setting water temperature should be
set higher than 46 C in summer and 50 C in other seasons.
Acknowledgments
This research is supported by Hi-Tech Research and Development Program of China (Grant No. 2007AA05Z220). Authors are
particularly grateful to Dr. Qiang Ma for his technical support
and to Mr. Yuxiong Xu and Yunkang Sun for their help in the
experimental work.

)
References

Fig. 15. Daily average COP, delivery coefcient vs. Tset.

declined with the decrease of Tset. Considering that the delivery

coefcient should be over 99%, which ensures the shortage time
for the user to wait less than 20 min, the Tset should be set above
46 C, 49 C and 51 C, in summer, transitional season and winter,
respectively. These values were the optimum Tset of the system for
different seasons, and it was obvious that the optimum setting
water temperature should be adjusted according to the variation
of seasonal ambient temperature. If the Tset was lower than these
values, the hot water supplement can not meet the hot water
requirement. In these cases, it was not suitable to evaluate the system performance by the daily average COP. Under the optimum
conditions, the daily average COP of the system were 4.3, 3.2 and
2.6, for the summer, transitional season and winter, respectively.
5. Conclusions
An experimental set-up of air-source heat pump water heater
(ASHPWH) was constructed and tested. Based on a simulation
model, the optimization analysis of structural parameters was employed. Also, a methodology of optimizing operation, which takes
into account thermostatic and timing control patterns, was presented and applied. The detailed conclusions are as follow:
(1) The experimental results of this experimental set-up indicated that the average COP of the system under typical
meteorological conditions of Shanghai ranged from 2.82
(Ta = 5 C, Twi = 25 C) to 5.51 (Ta = 35 C, Twi = 10 C) when
water was heated to 55 C.
(2) The effect of evaporator and condenser coil outside area on
average COP becomes less sensitive if outside area of condenser coil and evaporator increases beyond certain value.
The recommended outside area ratio of condenser coil to
evaporator is between 0.14 and 0.31 when the evaporator
outside area is between 6.0 and 6.5 m2 for this set-up.
(3) As for the timing control pattern, the optimal start-up time
was affected by uctuation of ambient temperature and
the price difference of peak and valley electric power. The
smaller the price difference of peak and valley, the more economic the operation is in the daytime. The analysis about
the typical day in Shanghai suggested that the optimal
start-up time was between 12:00 and 14:00 if there was
no electricity price difference between day and night, or it
was near 22:00 for the lowest electric power fees. As to
start-up times, it depends on the practical hot water consumption volume of consumers in some special sites.

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