Cold Climate Heat Pump Water Heater Using Environment-Friendly Refrigerants

This project focuses on refrigerant transitions for both residential and commercial heat pump water heaters (HPWHs). The upgraded DOE/ORNL Heat Pump Design Model (HPDM) serves as a valuable tool for product design and optimization to aid in the transition of refrigerants within HPWHs. Through laboratory investigations, the project explores low GWP refrigerant alternatives to replace R-134a in Rheem's range of residential HPWHs, encompassing both 220V and 110V products. Additionally, the project involves the development and laboratory verification of a commercial cold climate heat pump water heater.

Project Impact

This project will:

• Advance HPWH technologies to replace gas water heaters and reduce GHG emissions.
• Replace high GWP refrigerants in Rheem's residential and commercial HPWH product families.
• Develop commercial cold climate heat pump water heaters for multifamily buildings.
• Develop and calibrate high-fidelity, public domain HPWH and heat exchanger modelling and design tool for low GWP refrigerants in wrapped-tank and forced water flow configurations.