Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE
Manufacturers of heat pumps must meet increasingly high standards in terms of compactness, cost efficiency, operational safety, noise levels, design and environmental friendliness. That is why we support our project partners in developing resource-efficient components and combining these with each other, as well as assisting with complete devices and energyefficient operation.
To address these complex development issues, Fraunhofer ISE draws on its broad spectrum of expertise and its equipment and facilities for characterizing and analyzing refrigerants, heat exchangers, compressors, refrigerant circuits and equipment. Depending on the issue in question, we can comprehensively examine components via thermal, optical, hydraulic, acoustic and electrical laboratory tests, and analyze them using simulation models. In this way, we develop methods to optimize refrigerant circuits.
Our work focuses primarily on environmentally friendly refrigerants, such as hydrofluoroolefins (HFOs), and natural refrigerants such as propane, water and methanol. With the aim of reducing the quantity of refrigerants required, we refine elements of the refrigerant circuit such as evaporators and fluid distributors. We also carry out our own advance engineering work, e.g. on novel heat exchanger designs – not for the next generation of equipment, but for the generation after that.