Thermal solar energy systems for space heating of buildings

In this study, the simulation and the analysis of a solar flat plate collectors combined with a compression heat pump is carried out. The system suggested must ensure the heating of a building without the recourse to an auxiliary energy source in complement of this heating system. The system is used to heat a building using heating floor. The building considered is located in Constantine-East of Algeria (Latitude 36.28 N, Longitude 6.62 E, Altitude 689m). For the calculation, the month of February was chosen, which is considered as the coldest month according to the weather data of Constantine. The performances of this system were compared to the performances of the traditional solar heating system using solar collectors and an auxiliary heating load to compensate the deficit. In this case a traditional solar heating system having the same characteristics with regard to the solar collecting area and the volume of storage tank is used. It can be concluded that the space heating system using a solar energy combined with heat pump improve the thermal performance of the heat pump and the global system. The performances of the heating system combining heat pump and solar collectors are higher than that of solar heating system with solar collectors and storage tank. The heat pump assisted by solar energy can contribute to the conservation of conventional energy and can be competitive with the traditional systems of heating.