How is the heat pump air conditioning work?
Answers:
A heat pump is like a conventional air conditioner except it also can provide heat in winter. In the summer, the heat pump collects heat from the house and expels it outside. In the winter, the heat pump extracts heat from outside air and circulates it inside the house. The heat pump works best when the outdoor temperature is above freezing. Below that, supplementary heat often is needed. A heat pump can save 30 to 60 percent less energy to supply the same heat when compared to an electric furnace with a resistance heating element.
COOLING CYCLE -- Refrigerant passes through the indoor coil, evaporating from a liquid to a vapor. As the liquid evaporates, it absorbs heat, cooling the air around the coil. An indoor fan pushes this cooled air through ducts inside the house. Meanwhile, the vaporized refrigerant laden with heat, passes through a compressor which compresses the vapor, raising its temperature and pressure. The reversing valve directs the flow of hot, high pressure vapor to the outdoor coil where the heat released during condensation is fanned into the outdoor air, and the cycle begins again.
HEATING CYCLE -- Note that the slide inside the reversing valve has shifted, causing the refrigerant flow to reverse. Liquid refrigerant now flows to the outdoor coil picking up heat as it evaporates into a low pressure vapor. The vapor travels through the compressor where it is compressed into a hot, high pressure vapor, then is directed by the reversing valve to the indoor coil. The vapor turns into liquid as it passes through the indoor coil, releasing heat that is pushed through the ducts by the indoor fan.
Heat pumps transfer heat from one place to another--providing both heating and cooling. They work on the fundamental principle that heat exists in air even at extremely low temperatures--down to -460 degrees F. In the winter, a heat pump extracts heat from outside air and delivers it indoors. To cool a house on hot summer days, it works in reverse, extracting heat from room air and pumping it outdoors.
The typical heat pump installation consists of two units, a compressor unit located outside the building, and a coil unit located inside. During very cold days, the heat pump must work very hard to extract heat from the cold exterior air, so some interior coil units include an electrical heating element to assist in the heating process. In most cases, the interior coil unit is attached to a duct and blower system to assist in the even distribution of cool and warm air.
In simple terms a heat pump is very similar to a refrigerator. Where the 'frige' takes heat from the food and passes to the air via the thin black tubes at the back a heat pump takes the heat from the air outside and then passes to the room. A fan forces the outside air over the 'freezer' tray part and another blows air over the coils ( a heat exchanger) into the room.
Think of a fridge
Cold inside with a radiator on the back which is warm.
So stick the cold bit outside and the warm bit inside - hey presto
a heat pump.
PS even if its freezing outside heat can still be transferred.
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