Maldistribution in air-water heat pump evaporators. Part 2: Economic analysis of counteracting technologies
Abstract In this study a methodology is applied to quantify the effect of evaporator maldistribution on operating costs of air–water heat pumps. The approach is used to investigate the cost-effectiveness of two technologies enabling to counteract maldistribution: a flash gas bypass setup and the individual superheat control in parallel evaporator channels. In the total cost of ownership analysis, different scenarios for climatic conditions, severity of maldistribution, and economic framework are considered. Results show that the flash gas bypass system is cost-effective only in a few conditions, namely severe maldistribution, high electricity prices, and colder climate. Investment in the individual superheat control technology, however, can be quickly amortized in many scenarios. For the warmer climate zone with a small number of operating hours counteracting of maldistribution does not pay off under the used economic assumptions.