Experiments to Maximize the Use of Ductless Mini- Splits ...

PNNL-29531

Experiments to Maximize the Use of Ductless MiniSplits in Homes with Existing Central or Zonal Heating and Cooling Equipment

May 2020

Travis Ashley Cheryn E. Metzger Jaime T. Kolln Greg Sullivan

Prepared for the U.S. Department of Energy under Contract DE-AC05-76RL01830

Choose an item.

DISCLAIMER

This report was prepared as an account of work sponsored by an agency of the United States Government. Neither the United States Government nor any agency thereof, nor Battelle Memorial Institute, nor any of their employees, makes any warranty, express or implied, or assumes any legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any information, apparatus, product, or process disclosed, or represents that its use would not infringe privately owned rights. Reference herein to any specific commercial product, process, or service by trade name, trademark, manufacturer, or otherwise does not necessarily constitute or imply its endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by the United States Government or any agency thereof, or Battelle Memorial Institute. The views and opinions of authors expressed herein do not necessarily state or reflect those of the United States Government or any agency thereof.

PACIFIC NORTHWEST NATIONAL LABORATORY operated by BATTELLE for the

UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY under Contract DE-AC05-76RL01830

Printed in the United States of America

Available to DOE and DOE contractors from the Office of Scientific and Technical Information, P.O. Box 62, Oak Ridge, TN 37831-0062; ph: (865) 576-8401 fax: (865) 576-5728 email: reports@adonis.

Available to the public from the National Technical Information Service 5301 Shawnee Rd., Alexandria, VA 22312 ph: (800) 553-NTIS (6847)

email: orders@ Online ordering:

Choose an item.

PNNL-29531

Experiments to Maximize the Use of Ductless Mini-Splits in Homes with Existing Central or Zonal Heating and Cooling Equipment

May 2020

Travis Ashley Cheryn E. Metzger Jaime T. Kolln Greg Sullivan

Prepared for the U.S. Department of Energy under Contract DE-AC05-76RL01830

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory Richland, Washington 99354

PNNL-29531

Abstract

In residential retrofit applications, ductless mini-split heat pumps (DHP) offer the potential for high-energy savings, depending on the system they are supplementing or replacing. However, of late, there have been a number of field studies indicating these energy savings are not being achieved, due to the interaction with existing HVAC systems. The primary goal of this project is to determine a cost effective (lowest cost for the most energy saved) and persistent (e.g. automated, hard to change, etc.) solution for controlling a ductless heat pump in a home with an existing central or zonal HVAC system. Various control strategies were evaluated at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory Lab Homes in order to examine their energy savings and thermal comfort potential.

Abstract

ii

PNNL-29531

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank Silicon Valley Power (specifically, Mary Medeiros McEnroe), the American Public Power Association, the Northwest Energy Efficiency Alliance, especially the leadership of Christopher Dymond, the Bonneville Power Administration and the New York State Research and Development Authority for their support for this project and important topic. The project team appreciates the equipment donation by Mitsubishi Electric and the support of Sam Beeson, who ensured that our team had all our questions answered quickly throughout this project. This project would not be possible without the hard work of Michael Baechler, Graham Parker and Subrato Chandra who developed the concept and saw through the execution of the PNNL Lab Homes, located in Richland, WA. The authors would also like to thank Tom Eckhart for his knowledge and support of the use of ductless mini-splits as a retrofit option. Lastly, the authors would like to thank Sam Rosenburg, Eric Martin, Robert Weber, Michael Baechler, Walter Hunt, Janice Peterson and the entire advisory committee for their thorough review of this project and report.

Acknowledgments

iii

 ................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download