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Energy Procedia 105 (2017) 1692 – 1699

The 8th International Conference on Applied Energy – ICAE2016

Numerical Investigation on three-fluid heat exchanger for hybrid

Energy source heat pumps
Weijia Zhang1,2,3 Shuangquan Shao1,2 Hainan Zhang1,2 Changqing Tian1,2
1. Key Laboratory of Cryogenics, TIPC, CAS, Beijing 100190, China;
2. Beijing Key Laboratory of Thermal Science and Technology, TIPC, CAS, Beijing 100190, China,
3. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences

Abstract

Hybrid energy source heat pump system is one of the best solutions to achieve efficient and stable utilization of
renewable energies such as solar energy, geothermal energy, etc. The Three-fluid heat exchanger can realize heat
transfer from the refrigerant to the outside air and the inside water simultaneously or independently, which will keep
the refrigerant well distributed under difference working modes. The simulation model is built and validated for
performance analysis of the three fluid heat exchanger based on Matlab and REFPROP. Three heat exchangers with
different flow path designs are investigated for the heat transfer and pressure loss. The results show that the heat
exchanger can give better performance by optimization of heat transfer coefficient and the pressure loss. Moreover,
the influence on the heat exchanger from the variation of the air flow speed, air temperature, water flow speed and
water temperature are also been analyzed.
© 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
Peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the 8th International Conference on Applied Energy.
Key words:hybrid energy source heat pump, three-fluid heat exchanger, simulation

1. Introduction

From 1854, the concept of the heat pump has been firstly proposed. The research of the heat pump
technique has not been in rapid development until the emergence of the energy problem and
environmental problem. By the energy source of the systems, we can divide the heat pumps into different
kinds such as ground source heat pumps, air source heat pumps, hybrid energy source heat pumps, etc.
Before 1970s, ground source heat pumps market has been slow-growing for the expensive initial
investment. This situation has not been changed until the energy crisis while people have found the energy
conservation potential of this system[1]. After that, the ground source heat pumps have been in a rapid
development especially in the 21th century for their stable performance. However, the construction of the
ground source heat pumps is easily affected by the local environment, and the unreasonable construction
also influence the local soil even the soil ecosystem.
澔
* Corresponding author. Tel.:+86-10-82543433; fax: +86-10-82543433.
E-mail address: shaoshq@mail.ipc.ac.cn (S. Q. Shao).

1876-6102 © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
Peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the 8th International Conference on Applied Energy.
doi:10.1016/j.egypro.2017.03.551
 Weijia Zhang et al. / Energy Procedia 105 (2017) 1692 – 1699 1693

Compared to ground source heat pumps, air source heat pumps have been applied more widely for their
low initial investment and ubiquitous energy source. However, the coefficient of performance (COP) and
the heating capacity of air source heat pumps can be easily influenced by the local environment.
Especially in the low temperature environment, COP and the heating capacity of air source heat pumps
become very low, furthermore, they also suffering from the frost problem which influences the efficiency
of the heat exchanger.
To sum up, it is feasible to combine the ground source heat pumps with the air source heat pumps to
build the hybrid energy source heat pumps which could run stably, economically and efficiently. Ooka et
al. built a hybrid energy source heat pumps which could simultaneously or separately use solar energy,
ground energy and air energy as energy source, and the results of the simulation and analysis show that
this system could reduce electric power outages by 44% in summer and 39% in winter[2].
Currently, the traditional way of using energy source in hybrid energy source heat pumps could be
divided into parallel mode and series mode. However, the distribution of refrigerant in heat exchanger is
difficult to control in both ways of using energy source and the hidden trouble of switching solenoid valve
cannot avoid in the traditional way of using energy source. These two problems can be avoided by using
three-fluid heat exchanger, because the three-fluid heat exchanger can achieve heat exchange between the
refrigerant and the other two fluid media in only one heat exchanger[3,4]. This paper established a
mathematical model of the three-fluid heat exchanger applied to the hybrid energy source heat based on
Matlab software and REFPROP software, and used the mathematical model to analyse the performance of
the three-fluid heat exchanger in order to establish research basis of evaluating the performance of three-
fluid heat exchanger and the hybrid energy source heat pumps.

2. Modeling and Simulation

The structure of the three-fluid heat exchanger applies to hybrid energy source heat pumps is shown
in Figure 1. The three-fluid heat exchanger consists of double-pipe heat exchanger with fins. The hot
water flows in the inner pipe, the refrigerant flows in the outer pipe and the air flows across the fins. In
this heat exchanger, the refrigerant can simultaneously exchange heat with hot water and air or with either
of both independently. This paper employs the distributed parameter methods to establish mathematical
model applied to the three-fluid heat exchanger and divided the three-fluid heat exchanger into cells along
the pipe like Figure 2. The mathematical model successively calculates the heat exchange capacity
between the hot water and the refrigerant in every infinitesimal along the direction of refrigerant flow,
and calculates the heat exchange capacity between the air and the refrigerant in every cell along the
direction of refrigerant flow. By this model, we can calculate the heat exchange capacity of the three-fluid
heat exchanger after inputting the parameters of inlet refrigerant, inlet hot water and inlet air.

.
Figure 1. The structure of the heat exchanger
1694 Weijia Zhang et al. / Energy Procedia 105 (2017) 1692 – 1699

Figure 2. The structure of the infinitesimal

To simplify the model and improve the computing speed of the model, it is necessary to make
following assumptions[5].
(1) The refrigerant flow is supposed to be one-dimensional flow along the pipe.
(2) Refrigerant in the connection parts which connected one pipe and another pipe, is calculated the
pressure change, regardless of the refrigerant enthalpy change.
(3) Gravitational pressure drop is only considered in connection parts which connected one pipe and
another pipe.
(4) The pressure and enthalpy of the refrigerant do not change in section orientation in one pipe.
(5) The pressure drop of the refrigerant in the superheated zone could be ignored.
The calculation flow chart of the mathematical model is described in Figure 3. The models of pressure
and enthalpy applied to refrigerant, hot water and air are described in following part.
濧濨濕濦濨

澽濢濤濩濨澔濝濢濠濙濨澔濤濕濦濕濡濙濨濙濦濧澔濕濢濘澔濡濣濘濙濠澔濧濝濮濙

澵濧濧濩濡濝濢濛澔濨濜濙澔濣濩濨濠濙濨澔濤濕濦濕濡濙濨濙濦濧

澷濕濠濗濩濠濕濨濙澔濨濜濙澔濜濙濕濨澔濕濖濧濣濦濤濨濝濣濢澔濣濚澔濨濜濙澔濦濙濚濦濝濛濙濦濕濢濨

澷濕濠濗濩濠濕濨濙澔濨濜濙澔濦濙濚濦濝濛濙濦濕濢濨澔濤濦濙濧濧濩濦濙澔濘濦濣濤澔濣濚澔濨濜濙澔濗濙濠濠

澷濣濡濤濩濨濝濢濛澔濨濜濙澔濢濙濬濨澔濝濢濚濝濢濝濨濙濧濝濡濕濠
澵濘濞濩濧濨澔濨濜濙澔
濡 濋濜濙濨濜濙濦澔濨濣澔 濜濭濤濣濨濜濙濧濝濧澔
濦濙濕濗濜澔濨濜濙澔 濤濕濦濕濡濙濨濙濦濧
濣濩濨濠濙濨
濬
澷濣濡濤濕濦濝濧濣濢澔 濡
濣濚澔濨濜濙澔濦濙濧濩濠濨濧澔
濕濗濗濩濦濕濗濭
濬
濃濩濨濤濩濨澔濨濜濙澔濦濙濧濩濠濨

澹濢濘澔
Figure 3. Algorithm flow chart
 Weijia Zhang et al. / Energy Procedia 105 (2017) 1692 – 1699 1695

2.1. The model of pressure drop and heat transfer coefficient

The pressure drop of the refrigerant can be divided into gravitational pressure drop, acceleration
pressure drop, frictional pressure drop and partial drop of pressure. The pipe was arranged horizontally,
so the gravitational pressure drop of the refrigerant in pipe was not considered[6,7]. The equations used in
the model are listed in the table 1.

Table 1 the equations used in the model

§ C 1 ·
dp dp l ¨¨1   2 ¸¸
© Xb Xb ¹
Pressure drop of the refrigerant 0.5
§ U" · G'
Xb ¨¨ U' ¸¸
© ¹ G"
ª § U' U" · º
0.5
ª§ U' ·0.5 § U" ·0.5 º
C «1  C2  1¨¨ ¸¸ » «¨¨ ¸¸  ¨¨ ¸¸ »
«¬ © U' ¹ »¼ «¬© U" ¹ © U' ¹ »¼
C2=3.2

澳
Convection heat transfer coefficient of the
air outside the finned tube[8]
;

Convective heat transfer coefficient of the

hot water[9]
Convective heat transfer coefficient of the
refrigerant in the superheated zone[9]
Convective heat transfer coefficient of the 澳

refrigerant in the two phase state[10]

The simulation experiments have showed the effective of the mathematical model. The error range of
f6%~10%[11] could accurately simulate the three-fluid heat exchanger[12].

3. Performance analysis

The mathematical model is used to analyse the performance of the three-fluid heat exchanger applied
to the hybrid energy source heat pumps. The structure of the heat exchanger is shown in the Figure 2. The
heat exchanger was consisted of 24 1-meter-tubes arranged in two rows. Three different flow routes are
compared by the simulation analysis. And the three different flow paths are described in the Figure 4, and
the three types were named “A” (consisted of 8 single loops, and each loops had 6 tubes), “B” (consisted
of 6 single loops, and each loops has 8 tubes), “C” (consisted of 4 single loops, and each loops has 12
tubes) in turn. The operating parameters are listed in the Table 2.

Table 2. The operating parameters

Air flow speed 2.0m/s Dry-bulb temperature of the air 7.0 oC
Wet-bulb temperature of the air 6.0oC Water temperature 10 oC
Water flow speed 1.0m/s The enthalpy of the refrigerant in the inlet 270kJ/kg
The enthalpy of the refrigerant in the outlet 407kJ/kg The pressure of the refrigerant in the inlet 500kPa
1696 Weijia Zhang et al. / Energy Procedia 105 (2017) 1692 – 1699

Figure 4. Three different flow paths

Under the condition of the operation, the heat transfer rate and the pressure drop of the three different
flow routes are described in the Figure 5and Figure 6.

Figure 5. Heat transfer rate Figure 6. Pressure drop of refrigerant

From Figure 5 and Figure 6, the B type has best performance in heat transfer, and the C type has better
performance in heat transfer compared to the A type. The A type has the best performance in pressure
drop, and the B type has the better performance compared to the C type. The reason why A type has the
best performance in pressure drop is that A type had the shortest length of the single loop.
The changing rule of the heat-transfer coefficient and the temperature of the refrigerant along the tube
are described in the Figure 7, Figure 8 and Figure 9. With the decreasing of the number of the flow paths,
the heat-transfer coefficient of the refrigerant-hot water and the heat-transfer coefficient of the refrigerant-
air are increasing, and the reason is that the flow speed of the refrigerant and the flow speed of the hot
water are increasing with the decreasing of the number of the flow paths. With the decreasing of the
number of the flow paths, the pressure drop of the refrigerant is increasing which results in the increasing
of the evaporating temperature of the refrigerant described in Figure 9, and the decreasing of the mean
temperature difference. Synthesizes both influences, the B type has best performance in the heat transfer
rate.
 Weijia Zhang et al. / Energy Procedia 105 (2017) 1692 – 1699 1697

Figure 7. Variation of the refrigerant-air heat transfer coefficient Figure 8.Variation of the refrigerant-water heat transfer coefficient

Figure 9. The temperature of the refrigerant along the tube

The effect of the variation of the speed of the inlet air, the temperature of the inlet air, the speed of the
inlet hot water and the speed of the inlet hot water on the three-fluid heat exchanger have been analysed
in this paper by the simulation model. The inlet refrigerant parameters and the outlet refrigerant
parameters have retained unchanged while the external factors have been changed. And the final results
are represented in the Figure10, Figure11, Figure 12 and Figure 13. It is necessary to point out that the
“T” means total heat transfer rate, “W” means the heat transfer rate from water to refrigerant and “A”
means heat transfer rate from air to refrigerant in the flowing figures.

Figure 10. The influence of the air speed Figure 11. The influence of the air temperature
1698 Weijia Zhang et al. / Energy Procedia 105 (2017) 1692 – 1699

Figure 12. The influence of the water speed Figure 13. The influence of the water temperature
Results 1: While the speed of the inlet air increase, the quantity of exchanged heat from air to the
refrigerant and the total exchanged heat are increasing. Because the parameters of the inlet refrigerant and
the outlet refrigerant need to maintain unchanged, the flow rate of the refrigerant increase which increase
the coefficient of heat transfer, the quantity of exchanged heat from water to the refrigerant also increase.
Results 2: The features of the simulated results which only changed the temperature of the inlet air
kind of like the reluts1.
Results 3: While the speed of the inlet water increase, the quantity of exchanged heat from water to
the refrigerant and the total exchanged heat are increasing. Because the parameters of the inlet refrigerant
and outlet refrigerant need to maintain unchanged, the flow rate of the refrigerant increase which increase
the coefficient of heat transfer. However, the length of the overheated zone increase from the simulated
results which increase the mean temperature difference. In Figure 12, the quantity of exchanged heat from
air to the refrigerant is initially increasing until the speed arrive to the 1.1m/s. And from that, the quantity
of exchanged heat from air to the refrigerant is decreasing.
Results 4: The features of the simulated results which only changed the temperature of the inlet
water kind of like the results 3.
It is obvious that the quantity of the total exchanged heat increase while the temperature of the inlet
heating media or the speed of the inlet heating media increase. However, while the speed or the
temperature of the inlet water increase, the quantity of the exchanged heat from air to the refrigerant is
initially increasing and decreasing finally. And from the simulation results, the variation of the heating
medium temperature affects more obviously on the quantity of the exchanged heat than the variation of
the heating medium speed.

4. Conclusion

This paper establishes the simulation model with the distributed-parameter method to analyse the
performance of the three-fluid heat exchanger applied to hybrid energy source heat pumps. Moreover, the
accuracy of the simulation model is verified experimentally. The different flow path designs of the three-
fluid heat exchanger are analysed by the simulation model. The results show that with the decrease of the
number of flow paths, the length of each flow path increases, and the mean heat transfer coefficient
increases, while the pressure loss of the refrigerant increases, which results in the decrease of the mean
temperature difference for heat transfer. So synthesizing both influences of the heat transfer coefficient
and the pressure loss is required in designing the three-fluid heat exchanger, and the type B of the three-
fluid heat exchanger reaches the best heat transfer capacity. Moreover, the influence on the heat
exchanger from the variation of the air flow speed, air temperature, water flow speed and water
temperature are analysed in this paper. And the results show the while the temperature or the flow speed
of the heating medium increase, the heat transfer rate of the heat exchanger is increasing. The simulation
 Weijia Zhang et al. / Energy Procedia 105 (2017) 1692 – 1699 1699

model and the results in this paper laid the foundation to the simulation modelling of the hybrid energy
source heat pumps system and the optimization of the system.

Acknowledgements

The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support from Key International Program of Chinese
Academy of Sciences (CAS-DOE, 1A1111KYSB20150014).

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Biography
Shuangquan Shao was born in 1975. He received his Ph.D. in 2005 from Tsinghua
University. He is now an Associate Professor of the Technical Institute of Physics and
Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Prof. Shao’s research interests include heat
pump, thermal management, building energy saving, et al.