For manufacturers
A higher COP from the platform you already build
For industrial heat pumps and chillers from 100 kW thermal. The pressure exchanger takes the place of the expansion valve. The compressor, heat exchangers and refrigerant stay as they are. How much it adds depends on the operating point; the calculator below shows it for yours.
Calculator for manufacturers
What does it do for your product?
Choose the refrigerant and operating point of your industrial heat pump or chiller, from 100 kW, on the heating side. The model gives the COP with and without the pressure exchanger, what that is worth as a smaller compressor or a higher output, how far it stretches your supply temperature, and what it is worth to your customer.
Example results
The interactive calculator needs JavaScript. This table shows the modelled heating COP at the typical operating point of a few refrigerants; contact us for your own platform.
Source and supply temperature, with ΔT evaporator 5 K and ΔT condenser 5 K:
| Refrigerant | Source → supply | Heating COP without | With Expantec® | Gain |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Butane (R600) | 35 → 81 °C | 3.60 | 3.98 | +10.6% |
| Isobutane (R600a) | 25 → 69 °C | 3.60 | 3.99 | +10.7% |
| Ammonia (R717) | -28 → 20 °C | 2.96 | 3.07 | +3.5% |
Results
This operating point is outside the modelled single-stage range for this refrigerant. Lower the supply temperature or raise the source temperature.
Performance
At this operating point the gain is small. It grows with the temperature lift: higher supply temperatures, colder sources, high-temperature heat pumps and CO₂ are where the pressure exchanger does most.
Two levers
- For the same heating capacity, the electrical power the compressor needs falls by – (– kW)
Supply temperature range
- –Without
- –With Expantec®
≥: the model's single-stage range ends there with the COP still above the threshold.
Value to your customer
Fill in the running hours per year to see what the higher COP is worth to your customer.
- – Your customer's saving over the unit's life per unit
- – Room for a price premium per unit
- – Value per product line per year
Against your best competitor
Your heating COP with Expantec® against the competitor's:
- –With Expantec®
- –Competitor
- –Your lead
Sends us this scenario. We reply with a proposal for an integration study on your platform.
How is this calculated?
For each refrigerant we simulate a full subcritical vapour-compression cycle with CoolProp, once with an expansion valve and once with the Expantec® pressure exchanger, on a 2 K grid of evaporating and condensing temperature; the calculator interpolates between grid points. The evaporating temperature is the source temperature minus the temperature difference across the evaporator, the condensing temperature the supply temperature plus the difference across the condenser. The heating COP is exactly the cooling COP plus one, from the cycle's energy balance. The compressor runs at 61% and the pressure exchanger at 80% isentropic efficiency. Each refrigerant's data ends where its single-stage cycle drops below a heating COP of 2, or reaches the critical point.
Smaller compressor: for the same heating capacity, electrical power falls by 1 − COP without ÷ COP with. More output: at the same electrical power, heating capacity rises by COP with ÷ COP without − 1. Supply temperature range: the highest supply temperature, in 1 K steps at your source temperature, at which each cycle's heating COP is at or above the threshold. Value to your customer: heating capacity × running hours × electricity price × (1 ÷ COP without − 1 ÷ COP with), per year, times the unit's life; undiscounted. The room for a premium is that lifetime saving, or the saving over the payback your customer accepts. With your own measured COP, the model's relative gain is applied to it.
Indicative only, based on modelled assumptions. Actual results depend on the product and the installation. No guarantee is given or implied.
Where the numbers come from
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Built and tested in Delft
The proof-of-concept was built and successfully tested between October 2024 and March 2025, on a test rig that runs a complete vapour-compression cycle with the pressure exchanger in place of the expansion valve.
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Pilot at The Green Village
Seven months on an existing office heat pump, retrofitted with installer Warmtebouw and heat pump specialist IBK: the first run on a professional heat pump.