Heat pump strategy at the Nevada Test Site

The high desert location of the Nevada Test Site (NTS) provides both high and low temperature extremes during the course of a year. The remoteness of the NTS resulted in the selection of electricity as the principal energy source for environmental conditioning systems. These two factors have led the facility designers at the NTS to select the technology of heat pumps as the principal means of providing air conditioning for new facilities. This paper discusses the installations of heat pumps at the NTS over the past five years. Air-to-air heat pumps installed at the NTS include split systems, single package systems, and through-the-wall systems. A large central plant closed cycle water-to-air heat pump system is also described. The results of a recent analysis of an open cycle water source heat pump system are also presented.