Heat pump method and heat pump arrangement
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing heat pump methods struggle to efficiently raise heat to high temperature levels while avoiding excessive heating of the heat sink, which can lead to degradation of amine scrubbing agents used in processes like carbon dioxide scrubbing.
Innovation Solution
A heat pump method that vaporizes a working medium at a lower temperature level, superheats it, and then compresses and liquefies it at a high temperature level, using injection to restrict temperature increases and saturation to manage heat release isothermally, thereby preventing excessive heating of the heat sink.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of energy
If the working medium is compressed to raise heat to high temperature levels, then the coefficient of performance (COP) improves, but the heat sink temperature becomes excessively high causing degradation of amine scrubbing agents
Solution Approach 1:
The compression process is divided into multiple stages with intercooling. The compressor includes a first compression stage and a second compression stage, with cooling intervention between stages. This segmentation allows the temperature rise to be distributed across multiple smaller increments rather than one large jump, preventing excessive heat sink temperature while maintaining efficient heat transfer.
Solution Approach 2:
The working medium is pre-cooled in the heat exchanger before entering the compression stages. Additionally, the first compression stage is followed by intercooling before the second compression stage begins. These preliminary cooling actions reduce the temperature baseline for subsequent compression, ensuring the final temperature remains within acceptable limits for the heat sink.
2Temperature
If multi-stage compression with intercooling is used to control temperature, then heat sink temperature is controlled, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The intercooling function is merged with the existing heat exchanger component. The heat exchanger serves dual purposes: cooling the working medium before compression and providing intercooling between compression stages. This integration avoids adding separate cooling devices, thereby controlling device complexity while achieving temperature control.
Solution Approach 2:
The heat exchanger is designed to perform multiple functions: pre-cooling the working medium before compression, intercooling between compression stages, and serving as part of the overall heat transfer system. This multi-functionality reduces the need for additional dedicated components, keeping the device complexity manageable.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This method achieves a high coefficient of performance (COP) of over 2.5, allowing efficient heat transfer to high temperature levels while maintaining the heat sink at a safe temperature, thus preventing degradation of amine scrubbing agents.
Implementation Method 1
a working medium is vaporized at a lower temperature level Tu using a heat source
Implementation Method 2
subsequently compressed and liquefied at an upper temperature level To
Implementation Method 3
subsequently compressed and liquefied at an upper temperature level To, using a heat sink
Implementation Method 4
a temperature increase caused by the compression is restricted by means of injection into the compression
Implementation Method 5
the heat is released largely isothermally at the upper temperature level To
Data Source
AI summary
A heat pump method, in which a working medium is vaporized at a lower temperature level using a heat source and subsequently compressed and liquefied at an upper temperature level using a heat sink, wherein: after being vaporized and before being compressed, the working medium is superheated; a temperature increase caused by the compression is restricted by means of injection into the compression; and after being compressed and before being liquefied, the working medium is saturated at the upper temperature level. The present invention also relates to a corresponding heat pump arrangement.