Industrial Heat Pump Design and Simulation at Santa’s Workshop
In recent years, environmental regulations have become a central concern for businesses worldwide, and even Santa Claus isn’t exempt from the growing push for sustainability. He loves making toys but hasn’t spent as much time upgrading the workshop.
With a workshop that’s been churning out toys for generations, Santa’s North Pole operations have long relied on a trusty wood-burning stove to keep the elves warm and productive during the long winter nights. However, as global environmental standards evolve so must Santa’s methods.
From reducing carbon footprints to meeting stricter emissions guidelines, Santa needs to upgrade his equipment to stay in compliance and ensure operations become as green as a Douglas Fur Christmas Tree.
An Environmentally Friendly Change to Santa’s Workshop
A wood-burning stove typically operates between 10-30% efficiency, and the energy conversion losses are significant. Additionally, the heat source is limited to one location of the workshop, so elves working in the far reaches of the workshop often get cold.
Wood-burning stoves also release particulate matter (PM2.5 and PM10), carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), a potent greenhouse gas, and methane, which has 28-36 times the warming potential of CO2 over 100 years.
The wood stove also required constant fuel input. Either 16 elves per shift or Santa himself monitored the stove. While nothing is quite like a fresh cup of hot chocolate warmed atop the antique stove, Santa knew it was time for an upgrade.
Engineering the Optimal Industrial Heat Pump
The challenges of operating a heat pump at the North Pole are formidable. Santa needed a heat pump that can:
- Operate efficiently in extreme Arctic conditions
- Handle massive demand peaks
- Eliminate harmful emissions
- De-Frost the evaporator quickly and efficiently
- Use environmentally friendly refrigerants
A standard off-the-shelf solution won’t meet the demands of Santa’s workshop. This challenge requires a custom industrial heat pump. The process of designing the heat pump, sizing components, and ensuring proper control strategy is no small task. Having recognized the utility of model-based system engineering a few years ago and seeing the larger transformation towards Industry 5.0, Santa continued using advanced simulation and modeling to design his custom industrial heat pump.
Industrial Heat Pump Modeling using Modelon Impact
Enter Modelon Impact – Santa’s simulation platform of choice for system modeling and simulation. Leveraging over a dozen comprehensive libraries of component models, Santa can virtually design and simulate detailed thermodynamic system modeling and precise climate condition simulations.
Optimal Approach to Industrial Heat Pump for the North Pole
First, Santa used typical fuel prices and electricity price curves to calculate if investing in a heat pump to replace his wood oven would require adding thermal storage. He discovered that while only having a heat pump would massively increase his production cost, combining it with a medium-sized storage take would allow him to replace the old oven while saving money in the long run.
For the detailed design, he looked at climate charts to identify the design conditions for his heat pump. He used the hourly temperature data imported from the EnergySystem library.
After plotting the chart, he realized that a reasonable design condition would be around -20°, leaving him no choice but to pick a massive air-source industrial heat pump.
He knew that a single compression would be inefficient in lifting the temperature beyond 80°C to operate the melting process for the chocolate production line. Santa decided to go for a two-stage compression.
After testing various working fluids (shipped with the VaporCycle Library) in his heat pump model, he found that a natural refrigerant with low global warming potential and low toxicity is what he was looking for – he picked Isobutane (R600a).
However, after developing a sophisticated process design, he quickly realized that operating such a system would require an advanced control system layout to operate it under all conditions, starting it up and shutting it down safely.
After some testing in Modelon Impact, he achieved a robust and flexible control design without risking the expensive hardware being damaged during commissioning.
Results and Analysis
Using Modelon Impact, Santa discovered a revolutionary heat pump design that:
- Maintains consistent performance in temperatures as low as -20°C
- Reduces energy consumption by 65% due to the high coefficient of performance.
- Eliminates harmful emissions
- Provides reliable, efficient heating for the entire workshop
Lastly, Santa was concerned about his heat pump evaporator frosting from the air humidity. He thought that while there is little humidity in arctic air, the heating surfaces of the evaporator, being colder than ambient, would catch frost in certain conditions. While he was sure he could operate the heat pump in reverse to initiate a de-frosting cycle, this could lead to ice formation, making it less efficient or damaging the heat pump.
Santa added the ability to accurately calculate this frost formation and de-frosting to his personal wish list to extend his heat pump model for next year.
Merry Christmas to All, and to All a Good Night
Santa commissioned the heat pump on December 1, 2024, which means the peak season of toy-making at the North Pole this year was more sustainable. What was once an operational inefficiency at the workshop has been replaced with a modern system that cut emissions and reduce costs. Santa’s modeling and simulation process demonstrates the power of transient simulation. The elves even built a specialized hot chocolate warming machine made with a piece of cast iron from the original stove for Santa.
For engineers like Santa, facing complex system design challenges, Modelon Impact offers the tools to turn complex problems into better business decisions. Whether you design systems for the North Pole or anywhere else on the planet, Modelon technology can help.
