Meltwater management systems and methods for cold-climate heat pumps

A heat pump system, the heat pump system comprising:

• an internal unit that includes:
• an internal unit heat exchanger,
• an internal unit fan, and
• an internal unit reservoir disposed below the internal unit heat exchanger and configured to receive fluid dripping from the internal unit heat exchanger;
• an external unit that includes:
• an external unit heat exchanger,
• an external unit fan, and
• an external unit reservoir disposed below the external unit heat exchanger and configured to receive fluid dripping from the external unit heat exchanger;
• a bridge comprising an operable coupling between the internal unit and the external unit;
• a heat pump system cavity defined by the internal unit, the external unit and the bridge;
• a coupling assembly extending within the heat pump system cavity and configured to couple with a wall below a sill of a window, the wall being disposed within the heat pump system cavity such that the internal unit is disposed within an indoor space proximate to the window and with the external unit disposed in an outdoor space proximate to the window, and with the bridge and the operable coupling extending through the window and over the sill of the window;
• and
• a fluid handling system that includes:
• a first fluid line,
• a fluid pump that pumps fluid from the internal unit reservoir into the external unit reservoir via the first fluid line, and
• at least three sprayers disposed proximate to a front face and a bottom face of the external unit, the at least three sprayers configured to obtain fluid from the external unit reservoir and expel the fluid obtained from the external unit reservoir into the outdoor space,
• wherein the external unit reservoir is defined as an integral part of an external unit housing base that comprises a linear slope with an angle θ of at least 5° to allow for fluid to drain toward a collection area of the external unit housing base, with the linear slope being from a rear face of the external unit reservoir toward a front face of the external unit reservoir, the at least three sprayers obtaining fluid from the collection area.