Energy efficiency enhancement potential of the heat pump unit in a seawater source heat pump district heating system

Seawater source heat pump district heating system is a renewable energy utilization system as it can utilize the sensible heat energy contained in the seawater. The energy efficiency of the system is always the main concern for the system researchers. So a field measurement with an emphasis on the energy efficiency of an actual seawater source heat pump district heating system was conducted, and the energy efficiency enhancement potential of the heat pump unit was analyzed and evaluated. The measurement showed that the heat pump units consumed the largest part of energy consumption of the whole system, and the coefficient of heating performance (COP) of the seawater source heat pump units was quite low especially during the coldest measurement period which was only 2.43. In the light of the concept of Thermodynamic Perfectibility, the energy efficiency enhancement potential of the heat pump unit was carefully analyzed and calculated. And the results showed that there is about an average of 24.2% energy efficiency enhancement potential of the heat pump units in this project. (C) 2016 Published by Elsevier Ltd.