How is it that a machine (like a heat pump) can consume 1kw of power and produce an amount greater than that of heat? What am I misunderstanding?
In: 320
Heat pumps use a refrigerant that is compressed and uncompressed in a certain order and pumped around in order to move heat from one place to another.
The pump that moves the refrigerant might use 1000w. But the refrigerant might hold equivalent 3000w of heat energy.
The heat already has to exist but the energy you Input is just to move it. So the coefficient is considered only the energy you put into it.
When you compress something it gets very hot. You can then use a radiator to remove that heat. Then you move the compressed thing somewhere else and expand it and it cools down and absorbs heat. Rinse and repeat.
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