What is the typical operating principle of a heat pump?

What is the typical operating principle of a heat pump?

• A. It moves heat using a refrigeration cycle; in heating mode it extracts heat from outdoor air and rejects indoors; reverse for cooling.
• B. It uses natural gas combustion to heat indoor air.
• C. It only uses electric resistance heating.
• D. It relies on geothermal springs.

Answer: (A)

Heat pumps move heat rather than generate it. They use a refrigeration cycle to transfer thermal energy from one place to another. In heating mode, the outdoor coil absorbs heat from the outdoor air and the indoor coil releases that heat inside; the cycle is reversed for cooling. An electric compressor powers the cycle, and a reversing valve switches between heating and cooling. This approach is more efficient than methods that generate heat by burning fuel or by simply converting electricity to heat. Choices describing natural gas combustion or electric resistance heating depict other systems, while relying on geothermal springs isn’t the standard setup for a typical heat pump (ground-source systems use buried loops, not springs).

Heat pumps move heat rather than generate it. They use a refrigeration cycle to transfer thermal energy from one place to another. In heating mode, the outdoor coil absorbs heat from the outdoor air and the indoor coil releases that heat inside; the cycle is reversed for cooling. An electric compressor powers the cycle, and a reversing valve switches between heating and cooling. This approach is more efficient than methods that generate heat by burning fuel or by simply converting electricity to heat. Choices describing natural gas combustion or electric resistance heating depict other systems, while relying on geothermal springs isn’t the standard setup for a typical heat pump (ground-source systems use buried loops, not springs).