Modeling a Water Loop Heat Pump (WLHP) System with Reversible Air-to-Water HP and Thermal Storage in DesignBuilder
Hello everyone,
I'm trying to model in DesignBuilder/EnergyPlus a Water Loop Heat Pump (WLHP) system with the following configuration:
- A centralized Air-to-Water Heat Pump (AWHP) maintaining a neutral-temperature water loop (target around 25°C).
- A water thermal storage tank connected to the loop.
- Multiple reversible Water-to-Air Heat Pumps serving individual zones, with local temperature control for heating and cooling.
My current idea is:
- Model the central AWHP using HeatPump:PlantLoop:EIR:Cooling and HeatPump:PlantLoop:EIR:Heating with Condenser Type = Air Source.
- Assign Zone Water-to-Air Heat Pumps to the Zone Group
Is this the correct EnergyPlus/DesignBuilder representation of a WLHP system? How should the thermal storage tank be integrated? Is it possible to connect the tank simultaneously to both heating and cooling loops?
Any suggestions or references to similar EnergyPlus/DesignBuilder implementations would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance!
Having a storage tank at 25C is unusual. It seems like you want to treat the centralized heat pump and tank almost like they are serving as the ground loop for a ground loop heat exchanger, essentially just as a conderser loop. I think you may need to experiment a bit with different configurations and see if they work. I'm not sure you can put both the HeatPump:PlantLoop:EIR:Cooling and HeatPump:PlantLoop:EIR:Heating on the same loop but that is probably what I would try first.