Dynamic defrosting characteristics of air source heat pump and effects of outdoor air parameters on defrost cycle performance

The reverse-cycle defrosting characteristics of a 11.2 kW split-type air source heat pump (ASHP) were experimentally investigated under the defrosting conditions. Based on the experimental results, the effects of outdoor air parameters on defrosting cycle performance as well as the dynamic defrosting characteristics of the ASHP unit were analyzed. The experimental results indicate that with the increase of the outdoor air relative humidity at a constant air temperature and velocity, the total power consumption, defrosting time and endotherm from indoor room during defrosting period decreased linearly, and they also decreased as the outdoor air temperature increased, but the trends of the curves presented the concave-up. The duration of the defrosting period mainly depends on the wall temperature of outdoor heat exchanger, which is corresponding to the condensing pressure during the defrosting cycle. In this paper, the concept of total coefficient of performance (COP) is used to evaluate the performance of ASHP unit, and as the air temperature increased under the conditions of a fixed air relative humidity and air velocity, the total COP increased linearly, but it decreased linearly as the air relative humidity increased.