3.1 Heat Pump
A heat pump as shown in Figure 3.1 is a device that provides heat energy from a source of heat to a destination called a "heat sink". Heat pumps are designed to move thermal energy opposite to the direction of spontaneous heat flow by absorbing heat from a cold space and releasing it to a warmer one. A heat pump uses some amount of external power to accomplish the work of transferring energy from the heat source to the heat sink.
While air conditioners and freezers are familiar examples of heat pumps, the term "heat pump" is more general and applies to many HVAC (heating, ventilating, and air conditioning) devices used for space heating or space cooling. When a heat pump is used for heating, it employs the same basic refrigeration-type cycle used by an air conditioner or a refrigerator, but in the opposite direction - releasing heat into the conditioned space rather than the surrounding environment. In this use, heat pumps generally draw heat from the cooler external air or from the ground. In accordance with heat pump center in heating mode,
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3.1.4 Energy Sources
The prevalent natural heat sources and heat sinks in heat pump applications are outdoor air, ground (soil or bedrock) and water (river, lake, sea, ground water or waste water from industrial applications or sewage).
But in my thesis I have used an underground water tank, combined with solar thermal system for heat recharging, as a heat source for water source heat pump to improve the efficiency because the temperatures of the heat source and distribution systems for heating and cooling affect the COP and the capacity of the heat pump.
3.2 Solar Energy
Solar energy is radiant light and heat from the sun harnessed using a range of ever-evolving technologies such as solar heating, solar photovoltaics, solar thermal energy, solar architecture and artificial