Influence of Refrigerant Charge Amount on the Performance of a Water-to-Water Heat Pump with a Variation of Compressor Speed and Water Flow Rate

압축기 용량 및 유량변화에 따른 물대물 열펌프 유닛의 충전량 변화에 따른 성능 특성

The objective of this study is to investigate the effects of the refrigerant charge amount on the performance of a water-to-water ground source heat pump with a variation of compressor speed and the secondary fluid flow rate. The water-to-water ground source heat pump was tested by varying refrigerant charge amount from -40% to 20% of full charge. Compressor speed was changed from 30 Hz to 75 Hz, and the secondary fluid flow rate was adjusted from 6 LPM to 14 LPM. For all test conditions, EWT of an indoor heat exchanger and an outdoor heat exchanger were maintained at standard conditions of ISO 13256-2. The slope of the COP with the variation of charge amount is much steeper at undercharged conditions than that at overcharged conditions. For all compressor speed, the variation of the system performance according to charge amounts showed the similar trends. However, the optimum charge amount of the system increased a little with an increment of compressor speed. When the secondary fluid flow rate decreased, the system optimized at higher refrigerant charge amount conditions.