Heat pumps with Propane as coolant

There are many different types of heat pumps, air to air, air to water, geothermal heat pumps and not least, they are available in many heat output sizes.

Our strength lies in electronics for heat pumps under 30-40 kW cooling / heating capacity, air to water incl. domestic water and booster heat pumps. It is within these areas that we, in collaboration with our customers, develop and customize the electronics for new models.

Why propane?

Propane is a climate-friendly refrigerant, with a very low climate impact. So far, heat pumps have used refrigerants with a very high climate impact, corresponding to 1,430 times higher than CO2. With propane, which i.a. known from the gas grill, you get a climate-friendly refrigerant, which at the same time contributes to a very high efficiency.

A2 and A3 classified refrigerants, what does it mean?

The A-classification gives information about the flammability of the refrigerant, ie the risk of fire. The lower the classification number, the lower the risk of fire / flammability. As already mentioned, we know propane from the gas grill and propane is also classified as an A3 refrigerant, ie a refrigerant with high flammability. Of course, this places some demands on the configuration of the heat pump, so that a safe product for the consumer is still achieved.

Our role in the development of heat pumps with propane as refrigerant

In collaboration with a major heat pump manufacturer, we have developed a heat pump that can in principle replace a gas boiler. In the development process, we have solved to place a propane heat pump circuit and the electronics together in a small and compact unit, as cost optimally as possible.

Most important to the project’s successful goals has been an open dialogue and solution-oriented meetings before the actual development work was started.

What to remember

Our experience is that there is a lot to keep in mind. There is of course assembly and placement of components in relation to each other and whether the frequency converter should be placed in / together with the cooling circuit. In addition, the wiring routing paths, location and their screen must be considered, not least in relation to each other. EMC must also be considered in the solution, including design, to ensure that the product can be approved. If these conditions are not resolved sufficiently, it could, in the worst case, mean relatively large changes to the product, when considered finished. It is both expensive and delays the product launch.

EMC Test

When we, as in this project, are involved throughout the entire process, we offer to test the entire heat pump’s EMC properties in our own test laboratory. This means that any inappropriate wiring can be corrected along the way, just as additional EMC filtering can be tried and the effect measured immediately. This gives a faster and more cost-optimal development process compared to wait to measure the EMC properties untill the new product is tested by the accredited test institute.

IoT

Finally, we have also in this project made use of our standard online solutions for user management and fleet management of the heat pump. The fact that we already have these standard solutions provides a faster, smoother and cost-effective development process for you as a customer, as the base software is in place and only needs to be adapted to your unique requirements.