A major role of the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) Technical Committees is to develop equipment performance standards for the heating, ventilating, and air conditioning (HVAC) industry that are fair and technically accurate. As new and improved HVAC equipment is developed for the market, new or updated ASHRAE standards based on sound engineering analyses and assessment of available data are also needed.

The objectives of this research project were as follows:

A. Review the current inventory of electric, vapor-compression heat pump Methodsof- Testing and identify the engineering assumptions implicit in those testing methods, as well as other relevant heat pump testing methods.

B. Perform engineering analyses to evaluate the sensitivity of gas engine heat pump performance to the Methods-of-Testing assumptions previously identified.

C. Assess the appropriateness of the assumptions and, where necessary, develop alternative assumptions that apply to gas engine heat pumps.

D. Recommend a series of laboratory tests to validate the engineering analyses results.