Alternate operation characteristics of a solar-ground source heat pump system

In order to investigate the alternate operation characteristics of a solar-ground source heat pump system（SGSHPS）,various alternate operation modes are put forward and defined.A two-dimensional mathematical model with freezing/melting phase changes is developed for the heat transfer analysis of the soil.Based on the numerical solution of the model,the variation trends of underground soil temperature of the SGSHPS operated in various alternate operation modes are discussed.The results indicate that,for the day-night and short-time interval alternate operation modes without solar energy,the operation time fraction of a solar heat source should be confined to from 50% to 58% when operated in an alternate period of 24 h.Meanwhile,the disadvantages of a natural resumption of soil temperature can be overcome effectively by solar energy filling,and an optimal operation effect can be achieved by integrating the mode of solar energy filling with other alternate modes.In addition,the accuracy of the presented model is verified by the experimental data of borehole wall temperatures.The conclusions can provide a reference for the optimization operation of the SGSHPS.

Operation Performance of Air Source Heat Pump System for Space Heating in Tianjin

An air source heat pump system (ASHPS) used in an office building is set up and studied experimentally. Its operating performance in winter is evaluated based on test data and a comparative discussion is given on the effect of climate conditions and heating load ratio on the operation behavior. Then heating capacity variation caused by evaporator frosting is analyzed as well. Finally, the defrosting parameters and the technical feasibility are studied for a constant heating demand. The experimental results indicate that both the outlet water temperature drop and the system COP should be taken into account when setting defrosting parameters, and ASHPS is a viable technology for space heating and hot-water production in winter in Tianjin, which can maintain the room temperature above 19 ℃ when the outdoor temperature is -2 ℃.

Monitoring actual performance of ground source heat pump system using GPRS-based data transmission: A case analysis in Tangshan

The energy efficiency monitoring is an essential precondition for ground source heat pump system's controlling and energy saving operation. Based on the data monitoring applied in the school building, this work is focused on the parameters acquisition and operation analysis of the GSHP system in Tangshan. Results show the average COPs(coefficient of performance) are2.85 and 2.70 in summer and winter, respectively, and heat(cold) unbalance underground existed after whole year operation. The analysis of data also indicates that the direct borehole air-conditioning saved some power consumption obviously in the early stage of summer and energy saving of the GSHP system depended remarkably on its operation and management level. Besides the observation points of ground temperature are laid for a large-scale GSHP system, and the hydraulic balance of the pipes group needs to be concerned specially in safeguarding better reliability.

Evaluation of suitability area by ground source heat pump system in Baotou plain

According to the elements of hydrogeological conditions,lithology,stratigraphic thermal physical parameters,construction technology and economic rational elements,the evaluation system of ground source heat pump( GSHP) were established in Baotou plain. The factor weights were determined by using analytic hierarchy process,and the comprehensive element method was selected to evaluate the region suitability of GSHP system. The results show that the suitable area is 559. 63 km2 for utilizing GSHP in the studied area,accounting for 62. 58% of the total area; while the unsuitable area is 334. 60 km2,accounting for37.42%. The evaluating results can provide not only a scientific basis for development and utilization rationally of shallow geothermal heat in Baotou,but also offer an important reference to the other areas.

Possibilities of Reducing Energy Consumption by Optimization of Ground Source Heat Pump Systems in Babylon, Iraq

Iraq is located in the Middle East with an area that reaches 437,072 km2 and a population of about 36 million. This country is suffering from severe electricity shortage problems which are expected to increase with time. In this research, an attempt is made to minimize this problem by combining the borehole thermal energy storage (BTES) with a heat pump, the indoor temperature of a residential building or other facility may be increased or reduced beyond the temperature interval of the heat carrier fluid. Due to the relatively high ground temperature in Middle Eastern countries, the seasonal thermal energy storages (STES) and ground source heat pump (GSHP) systems have a remarkable potential, partly because the reduced thermal losses from the underground storage and the expected high COP (ratio of thermal energy gain to required driving energy (electricity)) of a heat pump, partly because of the potential for using STES directly for heating and cooling. In this research, groundwater conditions of Babylon city in Iraq were investigated to evaluate the possibility of using GSHP to reduce energy consumption. It is believed that such system will reduce consumed energy by about 60%.

Zoning operation of energy piles to alleviate the soil thermal imbalance of ground source heat pump systems

Energy piles have attracted increasing interest for application in ground source heat pumps,because it is environment-friendly,energy-efficient,and without additional drilling cost.However,when there is a large dif-ference between the heating and cooling loads,the system will suffer from a soil thermal imbalance which may further decline the system performance and even cause a system failure.A hybrid ground source heat pump sys-tem that integrates auxiliary equipment can solve the problem,however,it needs additional investment and a complicated control strategy.In this paper,the zoning operation of energy piles can effectively improve the tem-perature recovery ability of soil in the energy pile group and thus alleviate the soil thermal imbalance.Specifically,a heating-dominated residential building in Beijing is selected for a case study,with 144 energy piles arranged in a 12×12 layout.An analytical model of the spiral-coil energy pile group with seepage will be adopted,which can consider the groundwater flow,the geometry of spiral coils,and the thermal interaction among different energy piles,achieving high calculation accuracy and fast calculation speed.Based on this analytical energy pile model,a system model will be built to investigate the system performance influenced by different zoning operation strategies.Results show that intensive heat injection into the center of the pile group(Strategy 2 and Strategy 3)or heat extraction from the outer layer of the pile group(Strategy 4)can relieve the cold accumulation.Strategy 2 can relieve the outlet temperature decline from 5.54℃ to 4.46℃ and improve the heating COP from 3.297 to 3.423 compared to the conventional full operation strategy.Although the annual heat pump COP of Strategy 2 is a little lower than that of conventional full operation strategy,Strategy 2 has the shortest unmet heating or cooling time.Therefore,the proposed zoning operation strategy can achieve good system efficiency and excellent system reliability compared to the conventional strategy.

Research on Operation Optimization of Heating System Based on Electric Storage Coupled Solar Energy and Air Source Heat Pump

For heating systems based on electricity storage coupled with solar energy and an air source heat pump(ECSA),choosing the appropriate combination of heat sources according to local conditions is the key to improving economic efficiency.In this paper,four cities in three climatic regions in China were selected,namely Nanjing in the hot summer and cold winter region,Tianjin in the cold region,Shenyang and Harbin in the severe cold winter region.The levelized cost of heat(LCOH)was used as the economic evaluation index,and the energy consumption and emissions of different pollutants were analyzed.TRNSYS software was used to simulate and analyze the system performance.The Hooke-Jeeves optimization algorithm and GenOpt software were used to optimize the system parameters.The results showed that ECSA systemhad an excellent operation effect in cold region and hot summer and cold winter region.Compared with ECS system,the systemenergy consumption,and the emission of different pollutants of ECSA system can be reduced by a maximum of 1.37 times.In cold region,the initial investment in an air source heat pump is higher due to the lower ambient temperature,resulting in an increase in the LOCH value of ECSA system.After the LOCH value of ECSA system in each region was optimized,the heating cost of the system was reduced,but also resulted in an increase in energy consumption and the emission of different pollutant gases.

Modeling and Optimization of Solar Collector Design for the Improvement of Solar-Air Source Heat Pump Building Heating System

To enhance system stability,solar collectors have been integrated with air-source heat pumps.This integration facilitates the concurrent utilization of solar and air as energy sources for the system,leading to an improvement in the system’s heat generation coefficient,overall efficiency,and stability.In this study,we focus on a residential building located in Lhasa as the target for heating purposes.Initially,we simulate and analyze a solar-air source heat pump combined heating system.Subsequently,while ensuring the system meets user requirements,we examine the influence of solar collector installation angles and collector area on the performance of the solar-air source heat pump dual heating system.Through this analysis,we determine the optimal installation angle and collector area to optimize system performance.

Thermal Efficiency Optimization of a Ground Source Heat Pump System by Assistant Preheating/Precooling: A Case Study on a Heating-Load Dominated Building

Operation strategies of Ground Source Heat Pump System(GSHPS) such as continuous or intermittent approaches have been extensively studied. In this work, a novel strategy was proposed to maximize the energy efficiency of GSHPS. In this approach, the buildings was first air-conditioned by the preheating/precooling mode and the rest thermal load was covered by the heat pump(HP) mode. The system performance can then be optimized by considering the combination of these two operating modes. A case study was made to examine the thermal performance of a GSHPS installed in Nuremberg, Germany. Thermal performance of the HP and the preheating/precooling operating modes was examined. The system was optimized by deploying the assistant preheating/precooling approach and over one-year period monitoring showed that the seasonal Coefficient of Performance(COP) of the GSHPS was 4.12 in winter and 5.01 in summer. These COP values are higher than that of the conventional GSHPS. Thus, this proposed strategy could be an efficient way to improve the thermal performance of GSHPS.

Heat balance of solar-soil source heat pump compound system

Based on the state-of-the-art studies of solar-soil source heat pump compound system, operation patterns of solar-soil compound system were analyzed, particularly the advantages of parallel operation pattern. It is found that parallel operation pattern is better for solar-soil compound system. Furthermore, the heat balance issue of solar-soil compound system was emphatically analyzed from four aspects, which were annual analysis of heating and cooling load, the heat exchange of ground heat exchanger, capacity determination of solar-assisted heat sottrce and heat balance calculation of solar-soil compound system. Moreover, annual rate of heat balance in a solar-soil source heat pump compound system was calculated with a case study. It is shown that the annual heat unbalance ratio is 19%, which is less than 20%. As a result, the practical solar-soil compound system can basically maintain the heat balance of soil.

Data-driven sensitivity analysis and electricity consumption prediction for water source heat pump system using limited information

The studies on predicting the energy consumption of air conditioning systems are meaningful to building energy conservation and management. Generally, the more comprehensive the building information is, the easier the prediction model can be developed. However, it is very difficult to get detailed information about existing/old buildings (information-poor buildings), it is a big challenge to predict the energy consumption accurately by limited information. This study aims to predict the electricity consumption of the water source heat pump system of an office building based on meteorological data. The key variables are selected by error analysis and sensitivity analysis, and the effects of each variable on the models’ prediction performance can be obtained. Besides, the prediction models are established by support vector regression algorithm and trained by the local meteorological data. The results show that the positive and negative variables can be identified, and these positive variables are responsible for more than 70% of the total importance. Moreover, the root mean square error falls to 4.6044 from 7.8227 and the relative square error falls to 0.1494 from 0.4313 when the negative inputs are removed. And the errors reduce further to 4.1160 and 0.1194 by parameter optimization.

Water pumping analysis and experimental validation of beach well infiltration intake system in a seawater source heat pump system

Based on energy conservation equation and Darcy＇s law, a model of beach well infiltration intake system applied in a seawater source heat pump system was established. The model consists of the seawater seepage and the heat transfer process. A porous medium model in a software named FLUENT was applied to simulate the seepage and the heat transfer process. This model was also validated by field experiment conducted on the seashore in Tianjin, China. The maximum relative error between simulation results and experimental results was 2.1% （less than 5%）, which was acceptable in engineering applica- tion. The porosity and coefficient of thermal conductivity of the aquifer soil were determined to be 0.49 W/（m. K） and 1.46W/（m.K）, respectively in the simulation. In addition, the influencing factors of pumping water of beach well were also analyzed. The pumping water was found to increase when the distance between the beach well and the impervious boundary becomes longer, when the distance between the beach well and the supplying water source shortens, when the diameter of the beach well enlarges, and the drawdown enlarges.

Design and Analysis of a Small Sewage Source Heat Pump Triple Supply System

Based on the characteristics of sewage from beauty salons,a simulation model of a small sewage source heat pump triple supply system that can be applied to such places is established to optimize the operating conditions of the system.The results show that with the increase of sewage temperature and flow,the performance of the system also increases.In summer conditions,the system provides cooling,recovers waste heat and condensed heat from sewage,with a COP value of 8.97;in winter conditions,the system heats and produces hot water,with a COP value of 2.44;in transitional seasons,only hot water is produced.The COP value is 2.75.Compared with the traditional systems which refers to the air source heat pump and hot water boiler system currently used in beauty salons,this system can save energy by 50.9%.

Operating performance of novel reverse-cycle defrosting method based on thermal energy storage for air source heat pump

To solve the fundamental problem of insufficient heat available during defrosting while ensuring the efficient and safe system operation for air-source heat pumps (ASHPs). A novel reverse-cycle defrosting (NRCD) method based on thermal energy storage to eliminate frost off the outdoor coil surface was developed. Comparative experiments using both the stand reverse cycle defrosting (SRCD) method and the NRCD method were carried out on an experimental ASHP unit with a nominal 2.5 kW heating capacity. The results indicate that during defrosting operation, using the NRCD method improves discharge and suction pressures by 0.24 MPa and 0.19 MPa, respectively, shortens defrosting duration by 60%, and reduces the defrosting energy consumption by 48.1% in the experimental environment, compared with those by the use of SRCD method. Therefore, using the NRCD method can shorten the defrosting duration, improve the indoor thermal comfort, and reduce the defrosting energy consumption in defrosting.

Variation characteristics of aquifer parameters induced by groundwater source heat pump operation under variable flow

The variation characteristics of aquifer parameters,induced by groundwater source heat pump(GWSHP) operation under variable flow,were theoretically analyzed through a case study,in which the characteristics of building air conditioning load were considered.The results,compared with the constant flow operation,indicate that the influence on the variations of porosity,hydraulic conductivity and confined water head is decreased by 48%,51% and 71%,respectively,under variable flow operation.The security of variable flow operation is superior to that of constant flow.It is also concluded that the climate region and function of the buildings are primary factors which affect the suitability of variable flow operation in GWSHP.

The Application of the Ground Source and Air-to-Water Heat Pumps in Cold Climate Areas

This article gives an overview of using the ground source heat pump (GSHP) and air-to-water heat pump (A&WHP) in cold climate areas for heating and for domestic hot water production of buildings. Computer simulation and analysis were carried out for a typical detached house, with 200 m2 of living area, the heat demand of 9 kW and the average heat demand for DHW production of 1 kW. In heating period the average Coefficient of Performance (COP) of the A&WHP is considerably lower than COP of the GSHP.

Application of Ground Source Heat Pump to a Supermarket in Portugal

The objective of the present paper is to describe a technical and economical visibility study of the application of ground source heat pumps （GSHP） in a supermarket in Portugal. The study was developed under the European project ＂Integration of Geothermal Energy Into Industrial Application - IGEIA＂, project number EIE 06/001, supported by the Intelligent Energy for Europe, IEE, of EACI, European Commission. In general for supermarkets installed in single buildings, the building envelope has higher rates of envelope areas per indoor air volume. In Portugal this fact produces high need of heating during the winter season and high cooling needs during the summer season. Inside the building there are strong internal heat loads produced by high densities of lights and equipments. However these internal loads are not distributed uniformly. There are some areas with high production of heat but there are others with production of cooling. Therefore the acclimatization of this kind of buildings is not so easy and the balance of heating and cooling needs is depending of different parameters which should be well evaluated. The energy consummation of the cold display cases and deep freezers in market area and storage is also very high. The different energy needs could be studied in an integrated way and could be partially satisfied by geothermal energy using ground source heat pumps. At the same time the boreholes could be used as an energy reservoir increasing the efficiency of whole system. Four different climatic zones in Portugal were selected, （north coast, interior north, south coast and interior south） using the same system. The results of the study show that the all energy needs can by partially satisfied by geothermal energy but they need to be integrated to increase the global efficiency. The paper shows that the geothermal energy can be an attractive application for the supermarkets in Portugal if the energy solution is studied in an integrated way and if it is also considered as a cost the emissions of CO2 avoid by the new system.

Research on ground heat exchanger of Ground Source Heat Pump technique

Ground Source Heat Pump technique and its operating principle are described in this paper. Ground heat exchanger is the key technique of ground source heat pump and its patterns are discussed. Software is helpful to design ground heat exchanger. A project of Chinese Ground Source Heat Pump is introduced and its market is more and more extensive.

Performance and Optimization of Air Source Heat Pump Water Heater with Cyclic Heating

A new type of microchannel condenser applied in the air source heat pump water heater(ASHPWH)with cyclic heating was proposed in this study.The operating performance of the ASHPWH was frst tested.Then,the structure of the microchannel condenser was optimized with the implement of vortex generators.Finally,a numerical model of the ASHPWH was established and the optimized microchannel condenser was studied.The experimental results showed that the average coefficient of performance(COP)of the 1HP(735 W)ASHPWH reached 3.48.In addition,the optimized microchannel condenser could be matched with a 3 HP(2430W)ASHPWH with an average heating capacity of 10.30 kW,and achieving an average COP of 4.24,14.6%higher than the limit value in the national standard.

Prediction and parametric analysis of 3D borehole and total internal thermal resistance of single U-tube borehole heat exchanger for ground source heat pumps

The borehole and total internal thermal resistance are both significant parameters in evaluating the thermal performance of the ground source heat pump.This study aimed to obtain the accurate correlation of the 3D borehole and total internal thermal resistance(R_(b,3D)and R_(a,3D))and analyze the impacts of parameters on the R_(b,3D)and R_(a,3D).Firstly,eight parameters affecting the R_(b,3D)and R_(a,3D),including the borehole diameter,pipe diameter,pipe-pipe distance,borehole depth,soil thermal conductivity,grout thermal conductivity,pipe thermal conductivity,and fluid velocity inside the pipe,were considered and an L-54 design matrix was generated.Then,the 3D numerical model,coupling with the four-resistance model,was proposed to calculate R_(b,3D)and R_(a,3D)for each case.After that,the response surface methodology was employed to obtain and verify the correlation of R_(b,3D)and R_(a,3D),which were compared with the existing resistance calculation methods.Lastly,analysis of variance was carried out to reveal parameters that have statistically significant impacts on the R_(b,3D)and R_(a,3D).Results show that the rationality and accuracy of the correlation of R_(b,3D)and R_(a,3D)can be verified by the determination coefficient and P value of regression model,as well as the P value of lack-of-fit.The existing resistance calculation methods are more or less inaccurate and the discrepancies in some cases can be up to 86.74%and 111.35%for the borehole and total internal thermal resistance.The pipe and grout thermal conductivity,pipe and borehole diameter,and the pipe-pipe distance can be seen as the significant contributory factors to the variation of R_(b,3D)and R_(a,3D).