Performance analysis of a combined solar-assisted heat pump heating system in Xi'an, China

This study proposed a combined solar-assisted heat pump (SAHP) system that could operate in the serial mode or parallel mode. For this proposed system, a stable year-round operation could be achieved without the assistance of electric heating or low-temperature heat pump. By analyzing the heat balance equations, a correlation of the combined SAHP system for the two modes switched was obtained, which provided a theoretical basis for the optimal operation of this system. In addition, the performance of the proposed system applied in a university bathroom in Xi'an district was investigated using TRNSYS. The results illustrated that compared to the serial and parallel systems, the proposed system exhibited a good performance on energy efficiency. The annual average coefficient of performance (COP) of the proposed system was 5.7, obviously higher than those of the serial system and the parallel system, which were 3.3 and 4.3, respectively. Therefore, the results in this study could provide the theoretical guidance and reference for practical engineering design.