High Efficiency Hybrid Radiant and Heat Pump Heating Plants for Industrial Buildings: An Energy Analysis

Abstract

A hybrid condensing radiant tubes system coupled to a heat pump to heat a typical industrial building was modeled in three climatic zones of Italy using dynamic simulation software. The heating system was set up by radiant tubes and an air heating system with terminals placed in the building supplied by hot water produced by the condensation of the exhausted of the radiant tubes and by a heat pump with external air heat source. An optimization of the main parameters (nominal power of the heat pump, bivalent temperature in alternative bivalent operation, and peak power of the photovoltaic system) was carried out on the basis of energy performance of the hybrid heating system. The optimal configuration of the hybrid heating system that minimizes the annual amount of total non-renewable primary energy and maximizes the non-renewable primary energy ratio was compared with traditional heating systems for industrial buildings. The energy savings of this innovative solution vary in the range of 40%-80% depending on the climate and the configuration of the system.