Energy-Saving Benefits of Air-Source Heat Pump-Assisted Solar Water Heating Systems in Large Stadiums

Abstract

With the rising trend of national sports, sports events are more and more favored by people and many large stadiums have emerged as the times require. Due to the particularity of sports, large stadiums are often equipped with independent hot water preparation systems for the convenience of sports enthusiasts. However, the traditional hot water preparation process not only consumes a lot of energy but also brings a lot of potential environmental pollution, which seriously violates the original intention of hot water preparation. Solar energy is clean energy that can be recycled and has a promising market prospect, but its heat production is greatly affected by the weather. Based on this, the paper has proposed a new solar water heating system (SWHS) that relies on the assistance of an air source heat pump (ASHP), aiming to solve the problem of hot water preparation in large sports stadiums from both economic and stability aspects. Taking the Xi’an Olympic Sports Center as an example, the article established the ASHP-aided SWHS and analyzed the differences between the system and other hot water preparation methods in terms of energy efficiency and benefits in terms of economy and environment. The results of the study showed that the energy replacement factor of the ASHP-aided SWHS reached 0.91, which was equivalent to replacing 91% of the annual conventional energy use in one year with this system, with significant energy-saving benefits. This demonstrates the high applicability and energy efficiency of the ASHP-aided SWHS in large sports stadiums.