Air Source Heat Pump a Key Role in the Development of Smart Buildings in Future Energy Systems: Low cost and flexible experimental setup for air source heat pumps

An important challenge for energy systems today is reducing dependency on fossil fuels, while handling increasing penetration levels of intermittent renewables such as wind and solar power. The efficient consumption of
energy is a vital mater for a sustainable energy system. A significant part of energy is used for space heating, space cooling, and domestic hot water production which are provided to residential and commercial buildings. Air source heat pumps (ASHP) are widely used conversion technologies
all over the world for providing building thermal energy services as: cooling, heating, and water heating. ASHP does not have a constant temperature for the primary source like: soil, ground water, or surface water heat pumps but still
have a majority in usage. As result, laboratory experiments and tests are faced by the problem of having to handle a wide range of conditions under which the evaporator is operated. In order to cover various climate conditions, the
performance and behavior of the ASHP must be tested for temperatures ranging from -30°C to 40°C and for various humidity levels. This paper presents an experimental stand, named controlled lab environment (CLE or climatic box), for testing ASHP under controlled evaporator ambient
conditions. A main purpose of the CLE is to test and verify the performance and behavior of a theoretical model of the ASHP as a basis for optimization and efficiency improvements. Design considerations and schematics of the
CLE are presented. Furthermore, a thermodynamic model of an ASHP is presented and simulation results.