ABSTRACT
Among the energy efficient technologies there is the heat pump technology applied in residential/commercial and industrial sectors for space heating and domestic/industrial hot water heating, and air conditioning, as well as in the field of drying, in general, and of wood drying, in particular. Heat pumps are among the most efficient technologies allowing substantial energy savings. In the context of a potential future global energy crisis, R&D and technological activities aiming at developing the next generation of heat pumps are numerous and very challenging. Wood drying is a key operation in sawmill production, affecting product quality, value yield, and wood material suitability to different end-use products. The heat pump-assisted systems are similar to heat-and-vent kilns, in that they operate with hot air at normal atmospheric pressures, but they condense the moisture evaporated from the lumber to recover a part of the heat of evaporation from the moist air and recycle it into the kiln at higher temperature in drying process.
