Effects of Gas Injection on the Heating Performance of a Two-Stage Heat Pump Using a Twin Rotary Compressor with Refrigerant Charge Amount

Abstract

For heat pumps used in a cold region, it is very important to obtain appropriate heating capacity. Several studies using a variable speed compressor and an additional heater have been performed to enhance heating capacity at low ambient temperatures. However, for outdoor temperature conditions below -15oC, it is still difficult to obtain enough heating capacity above the rated value. In recent studies, the application of gas injection technique into a two-stage heat pump yielded noticeable heating performance improvement at low temperature conditions. In this study, the heating performance of a two-stage gas injection heat pump with a rated capacity of 3.5 kW was measured and ana-lyzed by varying refrigerant charge amount and EEV opening at the standard heating condition. The heating performance of the two-stage gas injection heat pump was compared with that of a two-stage non-injection heat pump. The heating capacity and COP of the two-stage gas injection heat pump were improved by 2-10% at the optimal charging condition over those of the two-stage non-injection heat pump.