Industrial Heat Pumps--Types and Costs

Abstract

Many potentially beneficial applications for industrial heat pumps are not being pursued because of confusion regarding both energy savings and economics. Part of this confusion stems from the variety of heat pumps available and the fact that the measure of merit, the coefficient of performance (COP) is commonly defined in at least three different ways. In an attempt to circumvent this problem, a simple categorization was developed based on the commonly accepted COP definitions. Using this categorization, the cost of recovering waste energy with heat pumps was examined. Examples were evaluated in which the cost of energy delivered was calculated based on estimates of capital cost, operating costs, and maintenance costs. Heat pumps from the various categories were then compared on the basis of economics.