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The Effects of Outdoor Heat Exchanger Hydrophobic Treatment on the Performance of an Air Source Heat Pump
Abstract
The effects of outdoor heat exchanger hydrophobic treatment on the performance of an air source heat pump were investigated. The base case tests used a bare aluminum outdoor heat exchanger in the experimental setup. The base case test results were compared to tests that utilized coated aluminum outdoor heat exchangers. The overall performance of each test was analyzed. These tests were carried out for cooling and heating mode conditions. The adhesion strength of water droplets to a bare aluminum surface, a silicone resin coated aluminum surface, and an acrylic resin coated aluminum surface were catalogued and compared. The angle at which the water droplet released from the surface was used as the measure of adhesion strength. The adhesion strength was measured through a range of temperatures. At 1.1C the adhesion strengths of the droplets were found to be 590 for bare aluminum, 34' for acrylic coated aluminum, and 24' for silicone coated aluminum. Hence, water droplets would release from the surface quicker for silicone resin surface than for the other two surfaces. The coatings were not found to have any detrimental effects on the cooling performance parameters of the heat pump. For the cooling mode testing condition, the coatings were within 2.4% of the base coil for the system EER, power consumption, and the system capacity. For frost/defrost testing conditions, it was generally found that the coated outdoor heat exchangers produced longer frost/defrost cycle times than the base coil. In general, the defrost times were found to be less for the coated coils than the base coil. During the heating mode, the coating did not significantly effect the integrated capacity, integrated total system power consumption, or the integrated cyclic coefficient of performance of the heat pump. Overall, the results of this study showed that hydrophobically coating the outdoor heat exchanger of a split system heat pump could be used to increase the heating performance by decreasing the frequency of defrost cycles. Potentially, if the coating could be applied thin enough, increased heating performance could be obtained from the heat transfer enhancement of the outdoor heat exchanger.
Description
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Citation
Parker, Brandon DeWayne (1995). The Effects of Outdoor Heat Exchanger Hydrophobic Treatment on the Performance of an Air Source Heat Pump. Master's thesis, Texas A&M University. Available electronically from https : / /hdl .handle .net /1969 .1 /ETD -TAMU -1995 -THESIS -P375.
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