Oil-free heat pumps and heat recovery—meeting efficiency and carbon emission goals CU Live AC

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Hi everybody my name is John Sheff, I'm the  director of public and industry affairs at Danfoss   and I am thrilled to be joined today by Drew  Turner our director of global marketing for   air conditioning also at Danfoss,  and we're going to be talking today   about large capacity commercial and industrial  heat pumps utilizing Danfoss oil-free technology.   We'll be going over the trend towards heat pumps  for both standalone buildings and integrated into   district heating systems, what's driving that  trend and specifically the use of heat recovery   water to water heat pumps. We'll be discussing a  few of the applications and their characteristics   going over the Danfoss component technology that's  utilized in those applications and finally ending   with a testimonial from one of our OEM customers  on why they see the use of oil-free technology   in water water heat pumps as a  significant opportunity moving forward   so let's get started. Drew,  why are we seeing this shift in   how buildings are heated from fossil fuel fire  systems to more electrically driven heat pumps?   Yeah thanks John. It's really critical to start  with when you talk about heat pumps to start   with a trend driving it. The main issue that  you see today with heat pumps or, excuse me,   with the heating provided today is that it's  provided by a fossil fuel source. And that's over  

80 percent of the heating that's provided today  is provided by fossil fuel sources. And the issue   with it is that it's inefficient so first of all,  first and foremost is it it's inefficient. The   best efficiency you can achieve with a fossil fuel  source heating system is a roughly a COP of 1,   and it also causes issues with the  greenhouse gases that are generated   as a result of burning those fossil fuel sources,  and then also locally where those are being burnt   with the generation of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen  oxide. So it's a combination of factors that are   really driving it and first and foremost is  the efficiency and resulting co2 emissions.   As opposed to that, as opposed to that fossil  fuel source heating, you have heat pumps.  

Heat pumps and with this example shown here  of an air-to-water version you can generate   that heat at about three and a half times  the efficiency of that fossil fuel source,   and that, even taking into account the  lower efficiency using this as a baseline,   fossil fuel source generation that's driving the  electrical power utilized by the heat pump along   with the roughly 10% losses from transmission  and distribution that still results in uh   approximately a 35% operating cost reduction and  then a 60% emissions reduction. Also coming into   that is the fact that related to the efficiency  comparison that I talked about earlier which is   at the design efficiency, is that these heat pumps  get better more efficient at cart load conditions   so as you go off design conditions that heat  pump is going to operate more efficiently.   And that's as opposed to the fossil fuel  source heating including condensers boilers   and furnaces which do not get more efficient at  part load or in the case of a condensing boiler   gets slightly more efficient. With the heat  pump you get significantly more efficient.   So electrification of heating systems, moving  to heat pumps. leads to significant improvement   in operating efficiency and you touched on  this a little bit but let's go into a little   more detail what is the potential to reduce  emissions by making this transition? Yeah   it's really critical because the this is the  number one factor, you know the efficiency   comparison is critical, but the number one factor  that's really driving the growth of heat pumps   and the opportunity for heat pumps is that you  need to if you're going to decarbonize heating   you need to have a more efficient solution  but you also need to decarbonize the energy   source utilized for them. So it's an incremental  opportunity of the efficiency of the heat pump  

and then the decarbonization of the power  generated to be utilized by the heat pump. And how   you do that is of course replacing that combined  cycle in the example shown on the previous slide   replacing that combined cycle natural gas plant  with renewables. Most prevalent today and what's   accelerating in terms of growth is the use of wind  and solar, and that's what really generates the   decarbonization potential the additional  decarbonization potential of implementing heat   pumps. And that's what we show on the next slid,e  is that potential. So with the heat pumps and the  

implementation of them as you integrate in more  renewables into that power generation portfolio,   that decarbonization potential increases. What  we've seen in the last few years is about one   percent on average about one percent per year  growth of the use of renewables in the U.S..   You also see that same roughly one percent growth  of renewables in Europe but they're about 10   percent ahead of the U.S. so the decarbonization  potential and this is the main point   as you implement in more renewables from  about the 20 percent that the U.S. is at today   in the 30 that on average the European market is  at today that increase increases the corresponding   carbon emissions reduction from implementing or  decarbonizing heating by implementing heat pumps. So as renewables become an increasingly large  part of the grid, the carbon reductions uh will   compound from increase in efficiency and  the phasing out of fossil fuel generation.  

How are other regions around the world handling  this transition and how is it different from   the approach in the U.S.? That's a really good  question and it's a really good subject to get   into what we see in Europe is that district energy  in general, but especially district heating is   has become more prevalent district heating  actually originated here in the u.s back in   the edison days roughly 120 years ago but since  that time it's evolved in the European market   to where they're very efficient at generating  heat with a district energy grid serving multiple   customers from centralized plants what's shown  here is an example of that grid so in this example   it also shows the power generation coming in to  the district heating grid and as well a district   cooling grid that can be operated or implemented  in parallel to that district heating grid.   That is pretty rare today that combination of  the two but we see it more we see the growth   of it more happening in the future. With that  district heating grid what you see is that there's   generally a combination of centralized heat  pumps and distributed heat pumps and I'll come   come back to more of that later but specifically  with the central, or excuse me, with the district   heating grid you have the centralized heat  pumps or distributed heat pumps serving   a supply and return line. So that district  heating system has that as shown here with  

the red line and yellow line the district  heating supply and district heating return   line going to each of the customers in that grid  or in that network. And that piping is generally   a combination of that distributing supply and  distributing return in a single insulated pipe. And with those networks, with those  district heating networks you see a   combination of different types of networks.  First of all with the power, or excuse me,   with the heat generation sources serving  them and that can be a combination of wasted   waste energy co-generation and or  heat pumps. And what we see is that   those are incremental those heat sources are  incrementally being replaced by heat pumps.   And with the thermal heat storage what you do is  you address the disconnect that is coming or that   has happened in several cases from the supply to  the distribution or the demand side. So as you  

integrate in more renewables because the wind only  blows when it wants and the sun only shines when   it wants you create that disconnect between energy  supply and energy usage. A district heating grid   based on the combination of factors of the thermal  flywheel effect of the loop size itself along with   the options that it creates for integrating  thermal heat storage is a critical factor.   But it also that district heating grid  and this is why you see growth of it in   Europe and we're projecting that it's going to  happen significantly in other regions as well it   implement, or it creates, the opportunity for  multiple heat recovery opportunities to then   boost up with the heat pump to supply to the  district heating network. With those networks  

you see a wide variety of them including  those shown with the line network the mask   network or some combinations of those.  Yeah and so clearly these networks Drew   give the opportunity for really high efficiency  sharing resources utilizing heat recovery innate   thermal storage adding more storage um and so the  opportunities for efficiency are really there,   but traditionally these district networks have  relied on fossil fuel power generation right?   That is correct and that that's the issue and,  that's the well or the opportunity that we see   today, what's happening today is that those  heat sources are being replaced by those former   high emissions heat sources such as  waste energy and co-generation plants and   other heat sources and boilers and furnaces  are being replaced incrementally by heat pumps.   And when they do that they can do it with a  combination of two different methodologies   or two different methodologies or a combination  of them, and those include centralized district   heating heat pump plants or decentralized  district heating heat pump plants focused on   the heat recovery the distributed heat recovery  applications that can be utilized for them.   Specifically with the centralized district heating  heat pump plants what we see is that they're   generally in the 20 to 40 megawatt range, and that  the heat recovery water temperatures utilized for   them are in the zero to 10 degrees celsius  range. They're generally utilizing some form  

of centralized heat recovery heat source such  as ambient water or seawater and with that   that's what drives that lower temperature heat  recovery heat source an important side note here   is: any heat pump is going to get less efficient  the more work it has to do. That's as opposed to   those higher emission heat generation sources such  as a co-generation plant. Co-generation plant or a   boiler or a furnace, it doesn't care what heat gen  temperature it generates it's going to be at about   the same efficiency but a a heat pump is going  to get about two percent less efficient for each   1k differential increase that it has to do. So  it's critical to operate with higher temperature   heat recovery heat sources if possible. That in  turn is driving the focus on decentralized heat  

recovery heat pump plants, those are generally in  the 2 to 10 megawatt range but more critical is   the fact that they recover that heat at about 10  to 20 degrees celsius or at a higher temperature   than those centralized resources. *inaudible*  distributed systems and why are utilities moving   more in that direction? Yeah so with the  distributed systems they're moving more in   that direction because of that higher temperature  and higher efficiency that is possible with it.   So with a distributed model you have a combination  of heat recovery opportunities with industrial   process, data center, food retail hospital just as  a few examples. All of those heat sources though   are providing a higher heat recovery heat source  temperature but also providing cooling to the   application both of those mean a more efficient  system. That's why we see that they're now   focusing more from those centralized heat  district energy heat pumps to more of the   distributed model. With the distributed heat pumps  what we also see is that there's the opportunity  

to optimize the system to those applications and  actually this is true for the centralized as well   but the higher efficiency that we talked about  that's possible with the distributed model,   it is also optimized or increased by optimizing  the system architecture and system design for it.   With these distributed distributic energy or  district heating heat pumps what we figured out   is that a some combination of our medium pressure  or medium lift optimized compressor designs   implemented in a heat pump in combination with  a high lift, or high differential temperature   optimized heat pump, or compressor designs in  a heat pump provides that optimal efficiency   and that's in a series-series counter  flow arrangement with the heat pumps so   for this example shown here showing the district  heating return coming back at 40 degrees celsius   and supplying the cooling to the industrial  process facility at one degree celsius,   and then supplying the district heating  system at 67 degrees celsius this stage   series-series counterflow oper architecture with  a combination of those medium pressure optimized   and high ,or high lift , optimized compressors  is the optimal efficiency solution for that.   And so Drew, why is combining heating and cooling  into the same system so much more efficient and   much more cost effective? Absolutely it's  a critical factor. As i mentioned with the   heat recovery temperatures what it drives is a  higher heat recovery temperature, but the reason   it drives a higher temperature heat recovery  is because you're also providing cooling to   that facility so whether it's a food retail  facility or a data center or an industrial   process it's recovering heat off of the cooling  process. And we call this symbiosis, right,  

the natural progression of electrification and  as we see it electrification of heating is the   realization that both cooling and heating are just  moving heat when you realize that you integrate in   those systems and you stir both the cooling load  at that distributed load and then you recover   the heat to the district heating system but you  get the benefit of both that's the major point,   You get the combined benefit of the cooling  provided to the industrial process as the example   and then the revenue stream also of supplying  the heat to the district heating system.   That in turn of course drives higher  efficiency because you get the   combined capacity of the cooling with the heating  and then all of that divided by the power draw   of that heat pump that's as opposed to  the heat pump just providing the district   heating so with more of the centralized model  you're going to just get the benefit of that   heat pump providing heating to the district  heating system. And as opposed to that   with the combined cooling and heating you get  significantly greater efficiency as shown here. The other point that we like to make with  these applications is that our compressors   are optimized to those designs so there's a  number of reasons that we see the water to   water heat pump design providing both cooling and  heating to an application as the best solution and   some combination of our compressors implemented  in the heat pumps to serve them, but it's also   our main focus because that's the main capability  that we have today. So this slide shows an example  

of our operating map for the new high lift  compressor designs and it shows the specific   operating point for that district heating heat  pump application recovering or getting the heat   from that cooling operation returned at 16 degrees  celsius and returning it to, or excuse me, the   source temperature coming out of the evaporator  of that heat pump going to that industrial process   at 15 degrees celsius or 16 degrees celsius  and then coming in suction to the compressor   at 15 degrees celsius that in combination with the  y-axis that shows the discharge temperature coming   out of the compressor. The main point here  is that we can provide those higher district   heating temperatures such as around 67 degrees  celsius hot water with these compressors today.   That's as opposed to the next slide which  shows our that we can do air to water heat   pumps today with these new higher lift higher  differential temperature capability compressors,   but you're going to be somewhat limited in  the heating temperatures that you can provide.  

That's based on a combination of a number  of factors related to the centralized versus   decentralized heat pump issue that i was talking  about earlier. If you're recovering heat from   seawater or from air it's in general  going to be at a lower temperature source   than if you're recovering it from the cooling of  an industrial process or a data center. And this   example shows that. That if you're recovering  heat from the air and it's operating at a  

on a cold day at zero degrees celsius you'll  have that lower heat transfer efficiency of   an air to refrigerant coil driving that  7k differential to a lower temperature   discharge temperature capability of around 52  degrees celsius on the high side and then that in   turn enables about 50 degrees celsius on the hot  water side so this is the other reason that we see   water to water heat pumps as the best opportunity  and specifically for this technology because   you're going to be somewhat limited and that's  true for most technologies as well you're going   to have some limitations on that capability for  the lower ambience and the air-to-water version. So speaking of technologies and you  touched on the compressors already drew but   um can you talk a little bit about what  components Danfoss offers for these applications?   Yeah and absolutely thank you for the  question, because I already talked enough   about the compressors you know we have a broad  portfolio of oil-free Turbocor compressors for   these applications but we also have a broad  and expanding portfolio of other components   and in the end what it drives is about 50 to 70  percent of the total value of the heat pump that   we can provide ultimately Danfoss does not build  the heat pumps we build the components that goes   into the heat pumps but the broad portfolio  includes, a broad and expanding portfolio   includes, electronic controls, sensors and system  protections and drives filter drives sight glasses   solenoid valves and heat exchangers but the  critical note here is that in addition to the   broad portfolio that we have today we also design,  test and optimize these to the applications that   we're utilizing them in. Whether it's a heat  pump application or a chiller application etc.,   the main point that we like to make is  that not all components that can be used   in an oil-free system or any chiller system  for that matter are the exact are the same,   that Danfoss designs tests and optimizes them  to the specific application to make sure that   they're going to provide the best reliability and  the best efficiency. Yeah i think that's a great   point I mean we are a component uh supplier  but we understand how all these components   work together in specific applications and so  we really are a partner for our OEMs and and   we'd like to work with them closely great point  there. Well thanks Drew I appreciate your time,  

this was a great discussion and I think it's a  relevant one because we're definitely going to   see this trend continue as we move into the  future. And I'd like to thank everybody out   there for joining us for this presentation.  We're now going to move into our Q&A   session in a dedicated virtual room if  you want to ask a question please click   the link our moderators are sharing in the public  chat and we'll see in a moment. Thanks again, bye.

2021-01-29

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