How heat pumps work
Heat pump
A heat pump doesn't make heat from electricity, it moves heat that is already there. A fluid in the outdoor unit boils even in cold air and takes up its heat; the compressor squeezes the vapour until it is hot, and that heat goes into the heating water. So one kilowatt-hour of electricity brings about three kilowatt-hours of heat into the house. A fridge works the same way, it just moves the heat out of its inside.
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01Questions
What do you want to find out?
Each question is a short guided tour in the 3D model.
- Question 1
How does a heat pump work?
Meet the four parts of a heat pump, ride along with the refrigerant and find out why 1.4 kW of electricity brings 7.4 kW of heat into the house.
15 steps · BeginnerStart - Question 2
How does a refrigerator work?
Find out why an open fridge warms the kitchen, follow the refrigerant from the cold plate to the warm grille and watch the thermostat switch the compressor on and off.
12 steps · BeginnerStart - Question 3
How does a heat pump work in winter?
Drag the air down to −15 °C and watch the heat pump keep heating, find out why its output and COP fall, cover a cold house, watch the unit ice up and defrost, and switch to ground heat.
15 steps · BeginnerStart
02About this model
How this was made
This simulation was made with AI: an AI researched the topic and wrote the code of the 3D model. Before it goes online, an automated test checks every control, view and part. But AI makes mistakes, so details in the model can be wrong. The heat pump also follows a simplified model: one refrigerant, propane (R290), for every setup including the fridge, with the unit modelled on one real air-to-water heat pump and checked against its datasheet. The pipes and heat exchangers have no pressure losses. The machine runs in a steady state and reaches each new state with simple time constants, without start-up. Frost is one even layer on the coil, and the defrost always takes the same four minutes. The fridge is the same machine scaled down, and the house is one heat demand with a heating curve, without walls that store heat or a room thermostat. If you spot a mistake, write to us: office@soticek.com
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