Performance evaluation and optimization research of a direct condensation aluminum heating panel integrated with the air source heat pump system

The radiant heating system attracts widespread attention for its outstanding thermal comfort. To promote and optimize this distributed heating system, this study proposed a direct condensation aluminum heating panel (DCAHP) integrated with the air source heat pump (ASHP) system and presented a reliable method for evaluating and optimizing the DCAHP performance. A heat transfer and flow model of the DCAHP was established, and its accuracy was validated through experiments. The deviation between the thermal indicators obtained from numerical simulations and experimental results is within 10 %. Combining economic indicators with the model, the thermo-economic performance can be comprehensively evaluated. Simulation and experimental results indicate that the point where the outlet refrigerant completes condensation has the optimum thermo-economic indicator (C_pro). The length of the copper tube correlates highest with the thermal performance improvement. Finally, a heuristic approach, adopting the gradient descent and particle swarm optimization algorithms, was proposed to optimize the geometric configuration of the DCAHP. The results indicate that for the optimized DCAHP version, the heating capacity is enhanced from 2049.1 W to 2058.4 W, while the initial capital cost is reduced by 8.7 %. Additionally, the refrigerant pressure drop within DCAHP has experienced a 10 % reduction, decreasing from 64.5 kPa to 56.6 kPa. These findings emphasize the potential of DCAHP systems to improve energy efficiency and thermal comfort for winter heating. The proposed model and heuristic optimization methods provide valuable insights for optimizing radiant heating system, contributing to the development of sustainable and cost-effective heating solutions.