A comparative study of the performance of combined solar heat pump systems for residential space and domestic hot water heating has been undertaken. Simulations have been made with TRNSYS[1] of three basic combined configurations, as well as conventional solar and conventional heat pump systems, in two different climates, Madison, Wisconsin, and Albuquerque, New Mexico. The three combined systems are the series system in which the solar storage is used as the source for the heat pump, the parallel system in which ambient air is used as the source for the heat pump, and the dual source system in which the storage or ambient is used as the source depending on which source yields the lowest work input. The influence of collector area, number of glazings, main storage volume to collector area ratio, and heat pump coefficient of performance were determined. The results indicate that the parallel combined system is probably the most practical solar-heat pump configuration. The thermal performance at a given collector area is consistently superior to both the series or the dual source systems over the heating season. Costs and the extent to which summer cooling is a requirement determine the relative merit of the conventional heat pump, conventional heat pump, conventional solar, and parallel systems. © 1979.
