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Novel Technologies and Sustained Advances of Heat Pump System

A special issue of Energies (ISSN 1996-1073). This special issue belongs to the section "J: Thermal Management".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (24 April 2026) | Viewed by 830

Special Issue Editor


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Guest Editor
Department of Energy and Power Engineering, School of Mechanical Engineering, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing 100081, China
Interests: extreme hydrophobic; low temperature and low dimensional interfacial phase transformation dynamics; heat pumps; super-hydrophobic; refrigerating engineering

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Heat pumps are not only increasingly being integrated for traditional space heating in buildings but are also rapidly expanding into emerging applications, including industrial process heating, agricultural drying, temperature management in data centers and district energy stations. This trend has accelerated advancements in refrigerants, cycle architectures, compression technologies, smart control systems and materials, leading to heat pumps that achieve higher efficiency, wider operating temperature ranges, lower environmental impact and improved intelligent connectivity. The growing deployment of heat pumps in extreme climates and critical processes has further stimulated research into system reliability, lifecycle monitoring and grid interaction capabilities, giving rise to more sophisticated intelligent diagnostics, operational maintenance and system integration technologies.

This Special Issue focuses on recent advancements in heat pump systems, including their theoretical foundations, design methodologies, modeling techniques, practical applications, integrated control strategies and condition monitoring approaches.

Topics of interest for publication include, but are not limited to:

  • Low-temperature heat pump technology
  • High-efficiency heat pump cycle architectures
  • Advanced compression technologies
  • Innovative manufacturing processes for heat pumps
  • Multi-unit integrated operation strategies for heat pumps
  • Advanced modeling and simulation methods for heat pump systems
  • Predictive control and fault diagnosis of heat pumps
  • Optimal design of key components in heat pump systems
  • Life cycle assessment and environmental impact evaluation of heat pumps

Dr. Zhiping Yuan
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

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Keywords

  • heat pump
  • refrigerant
  • compression
  • environmental impact
  • cycle
  • design
  • simulation
  • application

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

16 pages, 9728 KB  
Article
Frost Suppression and Enhancement of an Air-Source Heat Pump via an Electrostatically Sprayed Superhydrophobic Heat Exchanger
by Sicheng Fan, Zhengyu Duan, Zhaoqing Ke, Donghua Zou and Zhiping Yuan
Energies 2026, 19(2), 342; https://doi.org/10.3390/en19020342 - 10 Jan 2026
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 564
Abstract
Frost accumulation on heat exchangers severely limits the efficiency and reliability of air-source heat pumps (ASHPs) in cold, humid environments. Superhydrophobic coatings fabricated via electrostatic spraying offer a promising energy-free strategy for frost suppression. In this study, a robust superhydrophobic coating was deposited [...] Read more.
Frost accumulation on heat exchangers severely limits the efficiency and reliability of air-source heat pumps (ASHPs) in cold, humid environments. Superhydrophobic coatings fabricated via electrostatic spraying offer a promising energy-free strategy for frost suppression. In this study, a robust superhydrophobic coating was deposited on the heat exchanger of a residential ASHP using this scalable technique. Under low-temperature heating conditions (2/1 °C), the coated exchanger delayed frost completion by a factor of 2.83 and shortened defrosting time by 33.3% compared to a conventional hydrophilic counterpart. These improvements translated to a 6.24% increase in average heating capacity and a 2.83% gain in the coefficient of performance (COP). Although the thicker superhydrophobic coating resulted in a marginal 3.1% reduction in cooling capacity during free-cooling operation, the significant enhancements in frost resistance and heating performance underscore its practical value. This work demonstrates that electrostatic spraying is a viable and effective method for fabricating high-performance superhydrophobic heat exchangers, paving the way for more efficient and frost-resistant ASHPs. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Novel Technologies and Sustained Advances of Heat Pump System)
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