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Heat pump is a system that can absorb heat from a place then throw it somewhere else. Heat pumps can be used as cooling if utilizing the heat absorption side, this is called refrigeration system. Conversely heat pump can also be used as a heater if utilizing the side of heat dissipation. A simple example of a heat pump is air conditioner. Air conditioner absorbs heat in the room and then throw it outdoors.
To understand the principle of heat pump then the water pump analogy can be used because in principle both are not different. Water will naturally flow from high to low. To drain water from low to high place requires an instrument (pump) and effort / work / energy from outside (mechanical). By using the pump, the water that is in place more can be sucked and issued in a higher place.
On the heat it happens the same thing. Heat naturally flows / transfers from high temperatures to low temperatures. High or low temperature is one indication of the amount of heat energy that a substance has. The higher the temperature the higher the caloric energy. To remove heat from a lower temperature place, a heat pump system is required. As well as water pumps, to absorb heat and throw away the heat required work / effort / energy from outside. Usually the heat pump process is described as below.
Where Ts is the ambient temperature, Tc is the temperature at the absorption side of heat, Th is the temperature on the heat dissipation side, W is the work from the outside, Qc is the heat absorbed and Qh is the heat dissipated.
When no W is working the temperature of Ts, Tc, and Th is the same (Ts = Th = Tc) and there is no heat transfer process between them. Once there is a working W executed then Tc becomes lower than that of Ts. Therefore, the energy of the surrounding heat is absorbed by this system. The absorbed heat is discharged to the Qh side so that the Th temperature becomes larger than Ts. In this circumstance then Tc <Ts <Th.
To show how well the performance of a heat pump is known as COP (Coefficient of Performance) or in Indonesian is called performance coefficient. This COP is the ratio between the output used with the given input. In a heat pump, the input is work and the output can be the absorption of heat or heat dissipation. If the heat pump is used as a coolant (Refrigeration) then the output is heat absorption. Conversely, if a heat pump is used as a heater then the output is heat dissipation.
Two types of widely commercially heated heat pump systems are the Steam Compression Refrigeration System (SRKU) and Thermoelectric. SRKU is the most common system in everyday life, such as Air conditioner (AC) and refrigerator. The advantage of SRKU is its very high COP. This is what causes this technology can not yet be replaced by other teknolgi. However, SRKU requires many components and is less applicable in small areas.
The type of thermoelectric heat pump is often encountered as an electronic cooler such as a processor. The advantages of this technology is its small size, very easy to apply and simply dicatu with direct electricity (DC). But the COP is still very small compared to SRKU.
Actually there are several other types that can be used as a heat pump system but difficult to find in everyday life, namely: absorption refrigeration system, thermoacoustic, thermomagnetic, and vortex tube.
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