heat pump

noun

Definition of heat pump

: an apparatus for heating or cooling (such as a building) by transferring heat by mechanical means from or to an external reservoir (such as the ground, water, or outside air)

Examples of heat pump in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Heating is accomplished by running the AC process in reverse: Instead of using a compressor to remove heat from inside a home, the heat pump moves outside heat into the home. — Christopher Mims, WSJ, "Why Your Next Home Might Not Need Any Energy at All," 22 Dec. 2018 Of all the mechanical systems installed in homes today, few are as mystifying as the heat pump. — Joseph Truini, Popular Mechanics, "How a Heat Pump Works," 14 Jan. 2019 Further Reading Pumping liquid metal at 1,400°C opens the door for better solar thermal systems Malta's system stores electricity by taking that electricity, using a heat pump to convert the electricity to heat, and storing that heat in molten salt. — Megan Geuss, Ars Technica, "Using molten salt to store electricity isn’t just for solar thermal plants," 24 Dec. 2018 The interior climate is augmented with a heat pump that allows the car to recuperate heat from the battery, yet another nod to the efficiency of this vehicle. — Megan Geuss, Ars Technica, "Recuperating power: Charging a prototype Audi e-tron with kinetic energy," 7 Aug. 2018 Geothermal heat pumps use hot rocks deep in the ground as a heat source to generate electricity. — Jay Bennett, Popular Mechanics, "Iceland Is Drilling a 3-Mile Hole to Tap Magma Power," 21 Oct. 2016 Essentially, the system is made up of two parts—a geothermal heat pump and underground pipes—that use the steady ground temperature of 50 degrees Fahrenheit to heat and cool your home by moving heat from the earth to your home. — Taylor Mead, House Beautiful, "You Can Save Serious Money By Powering Your Home Via Your Backyard," 5 Dec. 2018 Some models don’t work with heat pumps, which can pose a problem in the winter, so check with whoever installed or services your system. — Emily Main, Good Housekeeping, "Is It Better to Leave Your A/C On All Day or Turn It Off?," 25 July 2018 Audi says the e-tron's regenerative braking is best in class, and together with the aforementioned heat pump, the car maker seems to be taking real-world range issues seriously. — Jonathan M. Gitlin, Ars Technica, "The coolest tech in Audi’s new e-tron electric SUV is banned in the US," 18 Sep. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'heat pump.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

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Dictionary Entries near heat pump

heat of vaporization

heat of wetting

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Last Updated

7 Mar 2019

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Time Traveler for heat pump

The first known use of heat pump was in 1894

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