PVT heat pumps

PVT heat pump is the way forward

When Building Services Engineering caught up with Paul O’Donnell of Unipipe recently, we asked him what future developments he sees coming down the line that Ireland should embrace to reduce our energy consumption and carbon emissions.

O’Donnell has always been ahead of the curve, being the first to bring underfloor heating, heat pumps and exhaust air heat pumps to the market. As always, he is still one step ahead, this time waxing lyrical about PVT heat pump panels developed by Triple Solar® .

The Triple Solar® system consists of a set of PVT heat pump panels in combination with a brine/water or a PVT heat pump. The panels act as a source for the heat pump by extracting energy from the outside air, sun and daylight, and are an ideal alternative to an air to water heat pump for certain applications. Each panel has a heat exchanger at the rear that consists of aluminium fins with a copper pipe and a coolant, glycol (a type of antifreeze), flowing through the pipe of the exchanger. It absorbs the surrounding heat and conducts it to the heat pump which converts the heat for heating and hot water. Because the heat pump panel is also equipped with a solar panel, it is possible to supply a building not only with heat and hot water, but also with electricity.“ There is vast potential for the widespread use of PVT heat pump panels in Ireland,” says O’Donnell. “For instance, no expensive ground source is required and this also means no environmental impact. There is no need for an outdoor unit, as with an air to water heat pump, so there are no noise issues. The system works 24 hours a day, including at night and when it is cloudy. Also, as it is highly efficient, it uses less electricity.

“As NIBE partners, we already have experience of just how successful PVT heat pump systems are. Our NIBE colleagues in the UK were responsible for a massive project at the University of West London where the antiquated existing system was replaced with with low emission ventilation systems, ground source heat pumps and 580 solar PVT panels.

“Here the PVT collector system is an alternative, innovative heat source for use with NIBE ground source heat pumps, harvesting solar energy from the sun to generate electricity, while extracting aerothermal heat energy to drive the heat pump process. There is absolutely no reason why similar refurbishment projects in Ireland, and of course new-build projects, could not benefit from this innovative technology.”

Contact: Unipipe. T: 01 286 4888; E: info@unipipe.ie; www.unipipe.ie

Paul O’Donnell, Managing Director, Unipipe.

PVT heat pump panel by Triple Solar® .