What are the advantages of inverter technology for heat pumps?
The most important advantages are listed right at the start: thanks to their sensitive output control, inverter heat pumps are significantly more efficient than conventional heat pumps and therefore also reduce the running costs for your heating. They score with better values for both the seasonal performance factor (SPF) and the coefficient of performance (COP).
Heat pumps without inverter technology operate according to the on-off principle. This means that they operate at 100 % output when heat is required at full load and switch off when the work is done. A high-quality inverter heat pump, on the other hand, is permanently in operation. It can regulate the output continuously and with the greatest possible efficiency to the desired temperature for heating and hot water.
What is an inverter?
Inverters are also known as converters or inverters. They can be found in photovoltaic systems, electric cars and refrigeration machines, among other things. In electric cars, they convert the direct current from the battery into alternating current for standard AC motors. In photovoltaic systems, the direct current generated is converted into alternating current for feeding into the grid. In modern refrigeration systems, special inverters, known as frequency converters, first convert the incoming AC voltage from the power grid into direct current and then generate variable AC voltages. This allows the rotational speed of the compressor, which is driven by an electric motor, to be regulated as required.
Manufacturers such as alpha innotec have taken advantage of this principle of modulating the frequency of the alternating voltage and thus the speed of the compressor in the refrigeration circuit of heat pumps when developing their inverter heat pumps. The compressor in an inverter-controlled heat pump therefore runs permanently at the lowest possible speed instead of switching on when cooling or heating is required, running at 100% output and then switching off completely.
The inverter heat pump: pros and cons
Compared to heat pumps without an inverter, output control has advantages in terms of efficiency, costs and service life.
How can we help you?
CHOOSE YOUR NEXT STEP!
An overview of the most important benefits:
MORE EFFICIENT OPERATION AND THEREFORE LOWER HEATING COSTS
An inverter heat pump runs under partial load most of the time. The energy-intensive switching on and off and the complete start-up of the compressor are no longer necessary and the flow temperatures are also reached more quickly. As the electricity requirement decreases, the annual coefficient of performance and the efficiency factor (COP) also increase if the heat pump is set optimally – in other words, the costs for heating are reduced.
MORE PRECISE AND FASTER CONTROL OF THE HEATING SYSTEM
An inverter heat pump can heat rooms much more precisely in winter and cool them accordingly in summer. As it does not switch the compressor on and off, there are no upward or downward swings in the flow temperatures and it reaches the set temperatures for heat and domestic hot water much more quickly and precisely.
LONGER SERVICE LIFE OF THE INVERTER HEAT PUMP
The on-off operation of conventional heat pumps and the frequent running under full load put a strain on the components and, above all, shorten the service life of the compressor. With regular maintenance, an inverter heat pump therefore has a significantly longer service life than an on-off heat pump.
PLEASANTLY QUIET RUNNING
You may be familiar with this from your refrigerator – when the compressor switches on, it is unmistakable. In contrast, a heat pump with inverter technology is quieter and runs more smoothly.
A GOOD COMBINATION: SOLAR AND INVERTER
Speed control is essential for the economical operation of a combination of photovoltaic system and heat pump. If the heat pump switches off without an inverter, the PV system feeds the generated electricity into the grid when the electricity is not needed in the house. On the other hand, if the heat pump switches on again, expensive electricity may have to be drawn from the public grid to run it up. An inverter heat pump permanently requires less power, which can largely be covered by self-generated electricity from the photovoltaic system.
