Experimental Study on a Heat-Source Tower under Different Configurations

Abstract

In subtropical areas, the heat-source tower (HST) heat pumps are more competitive than air-source heat pumps because they avoid frosting and absorb latent heat from ambient air. The configurations of HST, such as spray directions (upward spray or downward spray), air flowing directions (upward flowing or downward flowing), internal structures (with or without packing), and liquid–gas ratios all have impact on the performance of heat and mass transfer. To study the impacts of these configurations on the performance of HST, the present study conducted experiments for an open-type HST working under different configurations. Then the thermal efficiencies and energy efficiency ratios of HST under different configurations were calculated and compared. Moreover, the regression analysis of thermal efficiency and energy efficiency ratio of HST was undertaken. The results showed that the performance of the upward spraying HST was better than that of the downward spraying HST. For upward spraying HST, the performance of HST with air flowing upward was higher than that of HST with air flowing downward. The performance decreased with the increase of the liquid–gas ratio, and the HST with packing was better than that without packing. The regression equations of thermal efficiency and energy efficiency ratio were in good agreement with the experimental data.