Study on the Coupling of Air-Source Heat Pumps (ASHPs) and Passive Heating in Cold Regions

Abstract

Air-source heat pumps (ASHPs), as an active device, are widely used in building heating and cooling processes. However, in severe cold regions, they face reduced heating efficiency and frosting problems in winter. This paper proposes a new heating solution by coupling an ASHP with passive heating systems. It combines an ASHP with passive sunrooms and heat storage systems for heating. Through software simulations and mathematical modeling, the new scheme is compared and analyzed against traditional ASHP solutions to explore the performance of this scheme in rural houses in severe cold regions of China during winter. According to simulation and calculation analysis, on the coldest day of winter, the coupling scheme can provide approximately 99.41 kWh of heat to the indoors, which exceeds the 86.67 kWh required to maintain an indoor temperature of 20 °C. The system’s power consumption is 36.96 kWh, which is 66.88% lower than that of traditional heat pump heating. The study shows that the coupling system of an ASHP and passive heating has a good heating effect in severe cold regions. For the situation of insufficient solar energy at night, the design of phase-change materials and heat storage media can meet heating needs throughout the day.