Heat pumps are becoming state-of-the art in commercial applications Office buildings, hotels, restaurants, hospitals, and sports facilities all need heating and cooling – quite often they require more cooling than heating. Most of them also need hot water for different purposes. Installing a heat pump as a stand-alone solution or in a hybrid configuration is more and more common. Using only one machine to provide heating and cooling is economically even more efficient.
The history of heat pump applications has started in the 19th century in Austria where Peter von Rittinger developed a technology to reduce energy demand in salt extraction. Its application became the defacto standard for salt mines in Austria. Since then, the technology has significantly improved.
Industrial Processes Heat pumps can be applied in many industrial production processes. Application areas include: heating / cooling of buildings cleaning drying – usually energy loops are closed by connecting the waste energy side to the source energy side and bridging the difference in temperature via the heat pumps. If necessary, an additional energy source fossil burner is added as a back-up energy source or to cover peak demand. food production and processing (flakes, brewing, malting, fruit and vegetables, yeast noodles, potato as well as meat, milk and cheese). general production (such as textiles, timber industries, rubber and plastics, paper, brewing, malting brick production, and metal coating). Images: Peter von Rittinger Litho by J. Kriehuber 1856
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