Functional Principle of a Heat PumpThe refrigerator - everbody's heat pumpThe functional principle of a heat pump is similar to the that of a refrigerator, which is based on the principle of a closed circuit.Just as in a refrigerator the heat pump withdraws heat from one medium and transmits it to another medium. The refrigerator withdraws heat from its inside using an evaporation heat exchanger – and thus provides usable cooling energy – and the "waste product: heat" is released into the kitchen via a condensation heat exchanger on the back of the refrigerator. Employing the same principle, the heat pump withdraws heat from the environment via a heat exchanger (e.g. geothermal collectors, depth probes), and feeds it to the heating system via a second heat exchanger. The environment is constantly replenished with free energy provided by the sun. |
