Combining Radiative Collector and Emitter with Compression Heat Pump: Numerical Analysis
Abstract
A Radiative Collector and Emitter (RCE) is a technology which combines solar collection and radiative cooling to provide both heat and cold from renewable sources. Solar collection uses radiation coming from the Sun to heat up a fluid, while radiative cooling takes advantage of the atmospheric window to emit thermal radiation to the sky with no interference with the atmosphere to cool down a fluid. However, temperatures achieved by radiative cooling are not always suitable for cooling applications. Combining the RCE with a compression heat pump (HP) can improve the coefficient of performance (COP) of the heat pump by using a colder heat sink for the condenser, the cold produced by the RCE. A numerical analysis using TRNSYS is done to determine the improvements in the COP of the HP when combined with an RCE. Results show an increase of the COP of both the heat pump and the whole system when combined with the RCE. The COP of the heat pump is the one with a higher increase, from 2.5-3.5 to 3.5-5.