Experimental assessment of a residential latent storage heat pump

The European project "Integrated Thermal Energy Storages for Zero Emission Buildings" aims to develop and optimize a compact, efficient, and cost-effective latent storage heat pump system. This study specifically analyses the operation of a HP/AC unit with a nominal cooling capacity of 5 kW during summer conditions when paired with an 18 kWh thermal storage unit composed of a bio-based PCM with a melting temperature of 9°C. The performance of this system was experimentally analysed. First, the storage was characterized fed by a thermostatic bath, then the storage was connected to a HP/AC unit and numerous parameters were evaluated, such as the stored energy, temperature field and cooling capacity. The results of this study want to emphasize the need to design in an integrated way the heat pump with the storage and can contribute to optimizing the overall system design, leading to energy savings and promoting the integration of renewable energy sources