While ambient air is free and widely available, there are a number of problems associated with its use as a heat source. In the cooler and more humid climates, some residual frost tends to accumulate on the outdoor heat transfer coil as the temperature falls below the 2-5°C range, leading to a reduction in the capacity of the heat pump. Coil defrosting can be achieved by reversing the heat pump cycle or by other less energy efficient means. This results in a small energy penalty because during the defrost cycles cool air is circulated in the building. Provided the defrost cycle is of short duration, this is not significant. In addition, for thermodynamic reasons the capacity and performance of the heat pump fall in any case with decreasing temperature. As the heating load is greatest at this time, a supplementary heating source is required. This device could be an existing oil, gas or electric furnace or electric resistance heating; the latter is usually part of the heat pump system. The alternative to the provision of a supplementary heating device is to ensure that the capacity of the heat pump is adequate to cope with the most extreme weather conditions. This can result in over-sizing of the unit at a high additional capital cost and is not costeffective compared with the cost of supplementary heating devices.
Exhaust (ventilation) air is a common heat source for heat pumps in residential and commercial buildings. The heat pump recovers heat from the ventilation air, and provides water and/or space heating. Continuous operation of the ventilation system is required during the heating season or throughout the year. Some units are also designed to utilize both exhaust air and ambient air. For large buildings exhaust air heat pumps are often used in combination with air-to-air heat recovery units.
Outside ambient air is the most interesting heat source as far as availability is concerned. Unfortunately when the space heating load is highest the air temperature is lowest. However, temperatures are not stable. The COP of vapor-compression heat pumps decreases with decreasing cold source temperature. In addition at evaporator temperatures below 5°C air humidity is deposited on the evaporator surface in the form of ice. This does not improve the heat transfer and leads to lower working fluid temperatures and therefore lower COP values, depending upon the temperature of the air flowing over the evaporator. If ice formation occurs periodic de-icing of the evaporator surface has to be applied. This invariably leads to decreased values of the overall system COP (5–10%).
