Integrated Heat Pumps that are designed with a storage tank and heat pump module in one unit can definitely be an economically viable option to provide hot water for small commercial installations such as single block multiple level hotels with up to 100 accommodation rooms or in some cases even up to 150 rooms. Provided there is sufficient floor space to locate the Heat Pumps and the proposed design (number of units) is correct the integrated models can provide a complete solution of hot water storage capacity as well as multiple heat pump modules that allow flexibility to maintain total hot water load requirements to be maintained even during periods when some units could be undergoing servicing or maintenance.
For example if a quantity of integrated systems were designed with sufficient units to meet all of the hot water demand criteria for a particular project and based on a 70% daily run cycle it would mean that the total heating capability of the combined units would be 30% above what is actually required on a daily basis. Therefore the equivalent number of integrated heat pumps that represents 30% of the total could be isolated for a period of time while servicing or maintenance was carried out and the rest of the integrated heat pump units could still meet all of the daily hot water requirements for the project. This design also removes the requirement to install additional stand-by units therefore reducing the capital costs and subsequently improving the return on investment (ROI) for the installation.
The plumbing pipe work connection design for multiple integrated heat pump installations is simple and straight forward with the main considerations being the use of reverse return pipe work which basically means that the first integrated heat pump unit that the cold water supply pipeline is connected to should be the last unit that the hot water delivery is taken from. In addition the geometry as well as the length of branch connections off the main header pipe line to each integrated heat pump unit should remain the same in order to provide a balanced cold water flow and hot water delivery and ensure that each integrated heat pump unit contributes equally to the overall hot water requirement.
By Mel Peatey
No comments:
Post a Comment