Heat Pumping Technologies
The vision for the research on heat pumping technologies at KTH is to develop and demonstrate how to design heat pumping systems with considerably lower contribution to global warming than the ones used today.
Vision
The vision for the research on heat pumping technologies at KTH is to develop and demonstrate how to design heat pumping systems with considerably lower contribution to global warming than the ones used today.
Heat pumps are among the most important sources of renewable energy. In Sweden alone heat pumps each year extract about 15 TWh of solar energy stored in the ground, in lakes and the sea. With rising energy prices and decreased dependence on electricity produced by fossil fuels, increased use of heat pumps for heating in different applications can be expected.
Challenges
The energy efficiency of the heat pumping systems need to be increased. This will be reached primarily by enhancing heat transfer in the heat exchangers as the energy efficiency (COP) is mainly a function of the temperature difference between the cold and hot side of the system. This includes minimizing temperature differences in all stages from heat source to heat sink.
The use of halogenated refrigerants (HFC) having very high global warming potential should be restricted as far as possible. One step in this direction is to develop compact systems with low charge of refrigerant.
As a second step in reducing the use of HFC, the use of environmentally benign, natural, refrigerants such as CO2, ammonia and hydrocarbons, should be promoted. Research in this area has been ongoing for several years, but further research is necessary for these fluids to be used widely, safely and efficiently.
Research groups
These are the research groups in KTH's school organisation performing research related to heat pumping technologies.