ANALYSIS OF A HYBRID HEATING SYSTEM BASED ON HEAT PUMPS AND SOLAR COLLECTORS

This study presents a comprehensive analysis of hybrid heating systems integrating solar collectors and air-source heat pumps. The research investigates direct expansion (DX-S-ASHP), series indirect expansion (IDX-S-ASHP), and parallel IDX-S-ASHP configurations, with particular focus on a proposed hybrid IDX-SAHP system using vacuum tube solar collectors and a plate heat exchanger. The proposed configuration provides hydraulic independence between the solar collector and heat pump loops, improving thermal stability and operational reliability under variable climatic conditions. Thermodynamic and energy efficiency analyses demonstrated that the proposed system can increase the coefficient of performance (COP) from approximately 3.06 in conventional air-source heat pump systems to about 5.21. In addition, electricity consumption was reduced by nearly 70% due to effective solar thermal utilization and thermal energy storage integration. The results confirm that hybrid solar-assisted heat pump systems can significantly improve building energy efficiency, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and support sustainable low-carbon heating technologies for modern energy-efficient buildings.