heat pump: see air conditioning heat pump is a reversible device that does mechanical work to extract heat from a cooler place and deliver heat to a warmer place. The heat delivered to the warmer place is, approximately, the sum of the original heat and the work done.
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heat pump

Device for transferring heat from a substance or space at one temperature to another at a higher temperature. It consists of a compressor, a condenser, a throttle or expansion valve, an evaporator, and a working fluid (refrigerant). The compressor delivers vapourized refrigerant to the condenser in the space to be heated. There, cooler air condenses the refrigerant and becomes heated during the process. The liquid refrigerant then enters the throttle valve and expands, coming out as a liquid-vapour mixture at a lower temperature and pressure. It then enters the evaporator, where the liquid is evaporated by contact with the warmer space. The vapour then passes to the compressor and the cycle is repeated. A heat pump is a reversible system and is commonly used both to heat and to cool buildings. It operates on the same thermodynamic principles as refrigeration.

heat pump [′hēt ‚pəmp]

(mechanical engineering)

A device which transfers heat from a cooler reservoir to a hotter one, expending mechanical energy in the process, especially when the main purpose is to heat the hot reservoir rather than refrigerate the cold one.

Heat pump

The thermodynamic counterpart of the heat engine. A heat pump raises the temperature level of heat by means of work input. In its usual form a compressor takes refrigerant vapor from a low-pressure, low-temperature evaporator and delivers it at high pressure and temperature to a condenser (see illustration). The pump cycle is identical with the customary vapor-compression refrigeration system. See Refrigeration cycle

This dual purpose is accomplished, in effect, by placing the low-temperature evaporator in the conditioned space during the summer and the high-temperature condenser in the same space during the winter. Thus, if 70°F (21°C) is to be maintained in the conditioned space regardless of the season, this would be the theoretical temperature of the evaporating coil in summer and of the condensing coil in winter. The actual temperatures on the refrigerant side of these coils would need to be below 70°F in summer and above 70°F in winter to permit the necessary transfer of heat through the coil surfaces. If the average outside temperatures are 100°F (38°C) in summer and 40°F (40°C) in winter, the heat pump serves to raise or lower the temperature 30° (17°C) and to deliver the heat or cold as required.

The heat pump is also used for a wide assortment of industrial and process applications such as low-temperature heating, evaporation, concentration, and distillation.