The System Producing Hot Water by Recovering Condenser Heat from Central Air Conditioning System: A Case Study

摘要

Central air conditioning systems emit lots of waste heat during operation, which is dissipated to the atmosphere through cooling towers. However, domestic hot water is necessary in many buildings. The hot water is usually produced by fossil fuel-fired boilers, which is not an energy-efficient way, as well as pollutes environment. The waste heat can not usually be used directly because of its lower temperature. Hence, heat pumps are employed to raise the temperature of waste heat, which makes up of heat pump type air conditioning waste heat recovery system. This paper illustrates this type of heat recovery system detailedly by a practical project producing hot water for a certain conference center. Economic feasibility analysis indicates the proposed system is attractive in hot water production compared with municipal heating network and gas boiler. Besides, the system benefits to environmental and social considerations. This heat recovery system evidently sets a good example to express the concept of sustainable development. This type of hot water production is worth popularization.