Dalrada Commercial Heat Pumps – Frequently Asked Questions

A water-to-water heat pump harnesses heat energy from a water source, like a well, lake, or river, and transfers it to either a hydronic heating system for indoor space heating or a water-based cooling system for cooling. This process involves the circulation of refrigerant, which absorbs heat from the water source and compresses it to increase the temperature, before transferring the heat to the desired heating or cooling system. This technology is used in both homes and businesses to provide hot water or steam for various applications, from radiators and hot water baseboard heaters to radiant floor heating.

Despite their name, heat pumps can also cool. Think of it as a reverse process: in the cold season, heat pumps absorb heat from the chilly external air and transfer it inside. In the hot season, they release the heat from warm indoor air outside, cooling your home or building. The same principle applies to refrigerators, which work in the same way as a heat pump to keep your food cool. All of this makes heat pumps very convenient – since business owners don’t need to install separate equipment for heating and cooling. Not only does this save time, energy, and money, but it also takes up less space than traditional heating and cooling solutions.

Yes! These systems can easily integrate into your Building Management System (BMS), allowing for parallel installation and seamless sequencing. You can use any number of systems in accordance with the size of your building, and configure them to best suit your existing system.

The DCT heat pump’s energy efficiency can lead to significant reductions in energy costs for businesses. In fact, they can reduce electricity usage by as much as 75% when compared to traditional heating and cooling solutions. While some models could pose more of an upfront investment, you’ll see dramatically higher efficiency in both heating and cooling processes, serving to lower energy costs over time.

Yes, while heat pumps are different from traditional refrigeration and HVAC systems, they are fundamentally the same process. Current technicians with basic training on heat pumps and time with our machine are fully capable of maintaining the DCT heat pump. There’s no reason to pay for extra technicians or hire anyone new.

The DCT heat pump requires maintenance only once a year. This minimal maintenance can be performed by any HVAC-trained technician following our provided O&M manual.

Yes, our machine can be integrated into most water systems. With the same design and integration needed to install any other piece of HVAC, our heat pump can be integrated into existing and new systems.

Switching to a heat pump significantly reduces your carbon footprint compared to traditional heating and cooling systems, such as furnaces or air conditioners, especially if the electricity used to power the heat pump comes from clean and renewable sources. The key ways in which a heat pump can reduce your carbon footprint are through high energy efficiency, lower emissions, and less maintenance. Our heat pumps can also be used in geothermal settings which significantly lowers global warming potential.

DCT utilizes environmentally-friendly R744 CO2 refrigerant due to its high temperature capabilities, low global warming potential, and minimal impact on ozone depletion. CO2 also demands lower energy input while yielding greater output compared to older, conventional refrigerants. This makes the machinery less environmentally harmful and notably more efficient than the equipment it aims to substitute.

Another big advantage of CO2 heat pumps is that they can operate in a wide temperature range. Through the use of a “transcritical” or “supercritical” refrigerant like R744, the CO2 doesn’t fully change phases — unlike other refrigerants.

The Dalrada team chose Las Vegas for our heat pump demonstration room because it’s in the middle of one of the harshest climates on earth ― the dry, hot desert. Las Vegas is also one of the largest centralized locations of hotels and resorts in the world, and our heat pumps represent the perfect solution for them in this challenging environment. The demonstration room not only allows our team to test our heat pump technology in real-world scenarios, but also welcomes visitors to observe fully operational heat pumps and witness the extended capabilities of this advanced climate technology.

The DCT One Series shows all of the operating conditions while it is running. This includes water inlet and outlet temperatures on the hot and cold sides, coefficient of performance, and how hard all of the pumps and main components are running. It also manages all of the alarms and logs machine run time with performance data.

DCT heat pumps can support hotels and spas, healthcare facilities, commercial and industrial buildings, food processing, hot water production, data centers, district heating and cooling, industrial processing, plastic packing and recycling, greenhouses, laundry and dry-cleaning services, and energy harvesting.

Yes! This is one of the main reasons we built our Las Vegas testbed. Our sales team would be happy to arrange a demonstration for your specific application conditions on one of our machines. If Las Vegas is not close to you, video conferencing into the test bed is available as well so you can see just how well the machine can handle all of your heating and cooling needs.

Although our machine runs most efficiently when heating and cooling simultaneously, it can be configured to suit only heating or cooling. Whatever is not needed will just need to be sourced. For example, if heating is not necessary, it needs to go somewhere such as a cooling tower or fan coil into the ground. As long as what is not being used has an escape route, you are good to go!

Commercial heat pumps can replace various traditional heating, cooling, and hot water equipment in commercial buildings. The specific equipment they replace depends on the intended application and the design of the heat pump system. Here are some common types of equipment that commercial heat pumps can replace:

• Furnaces
• Air Conditioners
• Electric Resistance Heaters
• Boilers
• Cooling Towers
• Ventilation Systems
• Chiller Systems
• Water Heaters
• Radiant Heating Systems
• Dual-Fuel Systems