What is the Solar Decathlon?
Find a detailed description of the Solar Decathlon competition
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Executive Summary
Our group has been selected to design the heating and cooling unit to be used in the Penn State Solar house for the Solar Decathlon Competition. Our main goal is to design a multi-source, multi -sink heat pump. The system must be efficient enough to supply the requested amount of heat while operating singularly on solar power. Our goal is to design an efficient, safe, practical, and environmentally friendly heat pump.
Our project has a unique aspect, the scope of the project spans several semesters. The project will conclude in 2007 in Washington D.C. The group ha s a large budget to expense due to the complexity and length of the project. The Center for Sustainability is our primary sponsor that is funding the project. We selected components based on efficiency and environmental friendliness. The working fluid was chosen based on several different factors; most importantly, ozone depletion rate and global warming potential. We concluded that R410a shows highly favorable characteristics in comparison to the alternative refrigerants. The compressor is the main consumer of electrical power in a heat pump system. It is essential to select a compressor that will deliver a coefficient of performance of 4.0 or better. The scroll compressor manufactured by Copeland provided a COP of 5.41 in our normal operating conditions. Due to the constraints on space, the flat plate heat exchanger was chose to minimize space consumption and maximize heat transfer. Our system design requires 4 separate heat exchangers to deliver the desired performance. Thermal expansion valves are required to regulate the flow of the refrigerant through the system. The Emerson A-series thermal expansion valves have an integrated check valve which will reduce the need for extra components.
Our recommendations are given to the Center for Sustainability and York International to proceed with the prototyping and testing. Our design will be the platform for future senior design teams to improve upon.
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