Comparison of energy efficiency between variable refrigerant flow systems and ground source heat pump systems

Date Published
01/2009
Publication Type
Journal Article
Authors
DOI
10.1016/j.enbuild.2009.10.028
Abstract

With the current movement towards net zero energy buildings, many technologies are promoted with emphasis on their superior energy efficiency. The variable refrigerant flow (VRF) and ground source heat pump (GSHP) systems are probably the most competitive technologies among these. However, there are few studies reporting the energy efficiency of VRF systems compared with GSHP systems. In this article, a preliminary comparison of energy efficiency between the air-source VRF and GSHP systems is presented. The computer simulation results show that GSHP system is more energy efficient than the air-source VRF system for conditioning a small office building in two selected US climates. In general, GSHP system is more energy efficient than the air-source VRV system, especially when the building has significant heating loads. For buildings with less heating loads, the GSHP system could still perform better than the air-source VRF system in terms of energy efficiency, but the resulting energy savings may be marginal.

Journal
Energy and Buildings
Volume
42
Year of Publication
2009
Issue
5
Pagination
584-589
Type of Article
Research Article
Keywords
Organizations
Research Areas
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