Laboratory test procedures for solar and heat pump systems

In this chapter, "test procedure" refers to a concrete instruction on how a test of a solar and heat pump (SHP) system is to be conducted in a laboratory, while test refers to the approach and the general idea behind test procedures. The test procedures have been developed based on test procedures to a large extent originating from the field of solar thermal applications. They can be assigned to two main approaches that are named after the "test boundary": either the main performance-relevant components are installed in separate test rigs and measured individually (component testing and system simulation - CTSS) or all parts required for normal system operation are tested together (whole system testing - WST). The chapter summarizes the extension of CTSS test procedure and results of WST of SHP systems. Two problems that have been found in some of the tested systems are illustrated with results from measurements.