The Wilmington morning star., 1946-02-24
HEATING, COOLING
RESEARCH PLANNED

Winter heating and summer cool
;,a from the same equipment is
The goal of electric utilities ahd
s sl,r manufa cturers of electrical
eo,1ipment, according to announce
nent Yesterday by W. W. Ben,
nresident of the Tide Water Power
Company. To help speed the per.
lection of such equipment Inc
Southeastern Electric Exchange, an
association of electric utility COM
NAMES of which the Tide water
Power company is a member mas
announced that the Exchange nao
established at the Southern re-
search institute, Birmingham, re-
search project to explore the pos
sibilities in this field, baseo on III
application of the principles OF the
heat pump.
1.-The idea Of using a heat pump
for heating buildings is not new,
said Mr.. Bell. cit dates back to
1852 when Lord Kelvin proposed
the idea of heating with a warm
inc engine Technically, there was
nothing wrong with his idea. How
ever, equipment necessary to make
the warming engine competitive
with other methods of heating mad
not been developed to that point. "
Within the past few years, artl-
c1es !, various publications have
speculated on the use OF the heat
pump as possible means of cocl-
ing and heating homes electrically.
The use of heat pumps in homes
is not new because every electric
refrigerator is operated by a mini
allure heat pump. 1t pumps heat
from the refrigerator, as one may
observe by placing his hand on the
radiator at the back of the refrig-
orator. Make a heat pump large
enough and room, home, or build
ing can be cooled similarly. When
heat taken from the inside OF the
house is pumped to the outside air,
the heat pump is being operated
on the "cooling CYCLE This sys-
tenn is that currently used in many
summer cooling installations. If the
procedure is reversed and the heat
taken from the outside air and
pumped into the home, the heat
pump would be operating on the
cheating cycle" 1t should be re-
membered that no matter how cool
the weather, it can become colder
and that, therefore, there is always
some heat available in the outside
air.
The use of the heat pump for
summer air conditioning is already
established. The problem is the re-
versal of the process to permit
winter heating with the same
equipment.
What is needed now is the adap-
tation of the heat pump to heating
as well as to cooling, the develop
ment of suitable controls for it,
and notifications to improve its eff
ficiency so that the price of the
equipment and the cost of opera
ton will not be excessive.
Experimental units are already
in use in office buildings in scat
tered locations in the United States.
The experience of electric utility
companies with these large scale
installations prompts the investiga-
ton of the possible use of similar
unit Of smaller size for the home.
The area covered by the Power
companies in the Southeastern Ex-
change is an ideal one for applica-
ton of the heat pump for summer
cooling and winter heating because
Of the moderate heating and cool
ing requirements. The research
project, as established at the South
ern Research Institute by electric
is, therefore, of consider
able significance to southerners.
Mr.. Bell emphasizes that the util-
tiles do not propose to engage il
the manufacture OF electric heat
pumps and that the establishment
of the research project at the
Southern Research institute is to
assist in crystallizing thinking on
the subject so as to speed its de-
.velopment and distribution to the
public. The facts determined from
the research project will be made
generally available to manufactur-
ers and to other interested persons.
DR.. w. A. Lazier, director of the
Southern Research Institute, an
nounced that the utility-sponsored
heat pump project will be under
the direction of DR.. E. N. Kemler,
head of the Institutes Engineering
Research division. DR.. Kemler was
professor of mechanical engineer
ing at Purdue university before
joining the Institutes staff, and has