The work aims to design and develop a heat pump drying system that can dry materials uniformly, in order to study the performance of heat pump in drying Chinese herbal medicines and solve the problem of uneven drying in batch dryers. Imperial chrysanthemum was used as the drying material to carry out experimental study on the heat pump dryer and analyze the uniformity of air temperature and humidity, system energy efficiency and material quality. The drying process had high uniformity of temperature, humidity and material moisture content and high temperature control precision. The temperature and humidity of the unit room were stable and significantly higher than that of surroundings, which not only prevented the heat pump system from being affected by environmental factors, but also provided a stable operating environment. The energy efficiency of a single heat pump drying unit was about 5.88, but the heating efficiency of the system was about 1.32, and the specific moisture extraction rate was about 0.66 kg/(kW.h). The dried Imperial chrysanthemum had no observable color difference, contraction and breakage, and had high integrity. The novel heat pump drying system can meet the process requirements of Imperial chrysanthemum, and the drying quality is pretty good. This experimental study provides practical case and technical reference for the drying process of Chinese herbal medicines by heat pump.