Heat pump types

The operating principle of all heat pumps is the same. The type of pump depends on the choice of pumping energy source.

a. Air - Water Heat pumps. The air pumps on water pumping energy exploit the surrounding air. The thermal medium is water that circulates in the heating system (underfloor pipes, panels, old type radiators, fan coils) or in a storage tank’s exchanger with integrated heat pump (for DHW).  They are ideal for any kind houses and workplaces as they operate at high and low temperatures down to -20 ° C.

b. Air - Air Heat pumps. This type of pumps exploits the surrounding air and attaches heating through air. In the first case exploits the ambient air (as source of energy) and in the second transfers heating to the indoor air or at the same time to a part of ambient air for simultaneous ventilation of the space.

c1. Water - Water Heat pumps (closed circuit geothermal pump). This category of heat pumps exploits the heat from the ground with horizontal or vertical exchangers which transfer the heat of the subsoil to the pump. The thermal medium in this case is the water as in the case of air-water heat pump.

c2. Water - Water Heat Pumps (open circuit geothermal pump). This type exploits thermal energy of groundwater with drilling. This pump has the same function with the previous type, except that the materials that used in the primary circuit are appropriate for open circuit. This type has the highest coefficient of performance COP.

 

The suitable type of heat pump (air, water, ground) is being chosen depending on the application so as to achieve the optimum function and so as heating-cooling performance to be the highest possible with the lowest possible operating cost.  

Further types and special characteristics of heat pumps:

Air-water heat pumps are divided into two sub-categories:

a. Heat Pumps that contain all the needed equipment to operate in one device (are called monoblock or compact) and they are installed outdoor, in order to exploit directly the energy of the surrounding air. There are of course some models that can be connected with air ducts so as to be installed indoor.

b. Heat pumps (split), that have two devices, indoor and outdoor device. In this type of heat pumps the cooler, that exploit the energy from the surrounding air, is in the outdoor device, while the indoor device contains all the hydraulic connections (most of the times is wall mounted).  

Another distinction of heat pumps is:

a. Heat pumps with technology DC inverter that are adapted to the requirements for cooling or heating continuously and as a result the operating consumption reduces remarkably.

b. Heat pumps on/off which attribute the maximum without self-adapt to the demands of heated room continuously, as in the previous type of heat pump.

Some types of heat pumps: