IEA HPT Annex 63: Impact of heat pump placement on noise emissions

Noise emissions from heat pumps are a potential barrier for broad market diffusion of this energy efficiency technology, especially in urban areas. In this project, the influences of noise emissions in the building and in the neighbourhood are characterised, their psychoacoustic effects are analysed in more detail, and tools for digitally supporting heat pump placement are further developed. The results will be presented to relevant target groups in the form of guidelines and other documentation.

Short Description

The IEA HPT Annex 63 "Impact of heat pump placement on noise emissions" of the International Energy Agency (IEA) primarily aims to remove market barriers that arise due to acoustic emissions from heat pumps.

Specifically, the following objectives are pursued in the national annex project:

Characterisation of heat pumps as sources of structure-borne noise in different operating conditions as input parameters for the prediction of structure-borne noise propagation in buildings, considering directional, frequency and time dependency.
Characterisation of the acoustic influence of heat pumps and their interactions on the neighbourhood.
Determination of acoustic indicators for the annoyance effect of time-dependent events and their combination with existing results for stationary signals as a basis for a model to assess the interaction of several heat pumps.
Support the further development as well as prepare the internationalisation of existing tools for the visualisation of noise emissions and immissions from heat pumps.
Broad dissemination of the project results on a national and international level.

In the project, various measurement, and prediction methods and models for analysing and evaluating the acoustic emissions of heat pumps in buildings and in the neighbourhood at different operating points are developed, considering the frequency and direction dependency of the sound emissions, and indoor and outdoor measurement campaigns are carried out on heat pumps in heating and cooling mode.

In addition, the relationship between subjective perception of transient and acoustic heat pump noise will be further analysed and existing tools for digitally supporting heat pump placement will be further developed and their use prepared for international deployment.

The new knowledge will be widely disseminated to the relevant target groups, mainly in the form of articles on websites, in newsletters from industry associations, as presentations at target group-specific events and in industry magazines. In addition, the findings will be integrated into a training and further education programme for installers and planners of heat pump systems as well as into academic teaching in order to anchor the knowledge sustainably.

Project Partners

Project leader

Christoph Reichl
AIT Austrian Institute of Technology GmbH
Giefinggasse 2, 1210 Wien
www.ait.ac.at
Christoph.Reichl@ait.ac.at

Project partners

Holger Waubke
Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften - Institut für Schallforschung
Wohllebengasse 12-14, 1040 Wien
www.oeaw.ac.at
holger.waubke@oeaw.ac.at

René Rieberer and Philipp Wagner
Technische Universität Graz, Institut für Wärmetechnik
Inffeldgasse 25/B, 8010 Graz
www.tugraz.at
rene.rieberer@tugraz.at

Thomas Bednar
Technische Universität Wien, Institut für Werkstofftechnologie, Bauphysik und Bauökologie'
Karlsplatz 13/E207, 1040 Wien
www.tuwien.ac.at
thomas.bednar@tuwien.ac.at

Fabian Ochs
Universität Innsbruck, Institut für Konstruktion und Materialwissenschaften
Technikerstraße 13, 6020 Innsbruck
www.uibk.ac.at
fabian.ochs@uibk.ac.at

Participants

Germany, Austria (Operating Agent)