Researchers in Norway are testing an entirely new kind of heat pump. While heat pumps used today typically last 10 to 20 years, the new one will last practically indefinitely, the scientists believe.
The new heat pump consists of many miniature heat pumps as small as one cubic millimeter. To heat a house one needs several thousand of them. They are put together into larger units that can be tall and thin or short and wide.
“The most important advantages of the new heat pump is that you can regulate its size and form and that it is more durable than heat pumps are today. It is also more environmentally friendly,” Doctor of Physics Jan Kåre Bording says, who is Chief Engineer at the University of Stavanger in Norway.
Together with his colleague, Professor of Materials Science Vidar Hansen, he is developing a new heat pump that is thermo-electric. They have investigated its disadvantages and advantages compared with the heat pumps we use today.
A heat pump that lasts
Thermo-electric heat pumps make use of materials that produce electricity when they are subjected to differences in temperature.The new heat pump has a dramatically longer life than today’s heat pumps.”The heat pumps we use today consist of several moveable parts. After some time different parts break down and will have to be changed,” Bording says.
“The new heat pump consists of several miniature heat pumps and these have a very simple design. In opposite to today’s heat pumps, these miniature heat pumps consist of only one part. Because they consist of only one metal part it’s easier to avoid wear and tear. You can compare the heat pump to a golden ring. A golden ring won’t be broken. The miniature pumps will just continue to pump. We stick fans on them, and they must be replaced, but the heat pump itself will stay and be equally effective after 10 000 years,” Bording continues.
Jan Kåre Bording shows the new heat pump. The invention is much more environmentally friendly than those in use today.
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