Seasonal coefficient of performance of air-to-air heat pump and energy performance of a building in Poland

Department of Air Conditioning, Heating, Gas Engineering and Air Protection, Wroclaw University of Science and Technology, ul. C.K. Norwida 4/6, 50-373 Wroclaw, Poland

^* Corresponding author: pawel.szalanski@pwr.edu.pl

Abstract

The article discusses the problem of determining for air heat pumps the seasonal efficiency of energy production necessary to determine the energy performance of a building. On the example of selected Polish cities (Suwalki, Bialystok, Warsaw, Wroclaw, Zielona Gora, Resko, Szczecinek, Koszalin) the influence of climatic conditions on the SCOP of an exemplary air-to-air heat pump and on the result of building energy performance calculations was analysed. SCOPs for each location were determined according to the method of EN 14825. The difference between SCOP for average (A) and colder (C) climates according to EN 14825 was 35.6%. It has been shown that the climate of Polish cities may be similar to both the average climate (A) and the colder climate (C), or they significantly differ from both climates. The most significant difference in SCOP between the analysed cities was obtained for Suwalki and Szczecinek. It was 31.9% and 31.4% for the assumed heating season length as for climate (A) and (C) respectively. For the exemplary building in Suwalki, taking SCOP for the average climate (A) and not based on climatic data of Suwalki gives an error of 39.3% in the calculation of primary energy for heating. For the same locations, the differences in SCOP and EP resulting from the assumption of the heating season length as for the average climate (A) or as for the colder climate (C) were respectively from 2.4% to 3.3% and from -3.4% to -2.2%. In diversified Polish climate, assuming the same SCOP values of air heat pumps regardless of location does not allow for their full comparison with devices whose efficiency does not depend on climatic conditions. The authors suggest that when calculating the energy performance of the building, the SCOP should be always determined on the basis of the local climate and the length of the heating season.