Energy saving analysis of a hybrid ground-coupled heat pump project

A hybrid ground-coupled heat pump（HGCHP）project in Nanjing,China is chosen to analyze the building energy-consumption properties in terms of different control strategies,building envelope and the terminal air-conditioning system.The HGCHP uses a supplemental heat rejecter to dissipate extra thermal energy to guarantee underground soil heat balance.The software EnergyPlus is employed to simulate the project and design the heat flow of the cooling tower and the borehole heat exchanger（BHE）.Then two feasible control strategies for the cooling tower and the borehole heat exchanger are proposed.The energy-saving potential of the building envelope is analyzed in terms of the surface color of the wall/roof.With the same terminal system,it is found that in the cooling season the heat flow of the insulated building with black wall/roof is 1.2 times more than that with white wall/roof.With the same insulated building and gray wall/roof,it is concluded that the heat pump units for a primary air fan-coil system show an annual energy consumption increase of 44.7 GJ compared with a radiant floor system.

Optimization of Serial Combined System of Ground-Coupled Heat Pump and Solar Collector

A mathematical optimization model was set up for a ground-solar combined system based on in-situ experimental results, in which the solar collector was combined serially with a ground-coupled heat pump (GCHP). The universal optimal equations were solved by the constrained variable metric method considering both the per-formance and economics. Then the model was applied to a specific case concerning an actual solar assisted GCHP system for space heating. The results indicated a system coefficient of performance (COP) of 3.9 for the optimal method under the serial heating mode, and 3.2 for the conventional one. In addition, the optimum solution also showed advantages in energy and cost saving, leading to a 16.7% improvement in the heat pump performance at 17.2% less energy consumption and 11.8% lower annual cost, respectively.

An Analytical Model for the Thermal Assessment of a Vertical Double U-Tube Ground-Coupled Heat Pump System in Steady-State Conditions

An analytical model was built to predict the thermal resistance of a vertical double U-tube ground-coupled heat pump that operates under steady-state conditions.It included a geometry obstruction factor for heat transfer throughout the backfill medium due to the presence of the second loop.The verification of the model was achieved by the implementation of five different borehole configurations and a comparison with other correlations in the available literature.The model considered a U-tube spacing range between(2)and(4)times the U-tube outside diameter producing a geometry configuration factor range of(0.29-0.6).The results of the model were utilized for the assessment of the DX ground heat exchanger coupled heat pump system.For similar geometrical configurations,the borehole thermal resistance experienced a decrease as the geometry factor increased.The single U-tube borehole thermal resistance was higher than that of the double U-tube heat exchanger by(10-27)%for the examined geometry configurations.The borehole thermal resistance at tube spacing of twice the tube diameter was higher than the predicted value at the triple diameter and fell in the range of(18-34)%.

Performance analysis of deep borehole heat exchangers for decarbonization of heating systems

Meeting the climate change mitigation targets will require a substantial shift from fossil to clean fuels in the heating sector.Heat pumps with deep borehole exchangers are a promising solution to reduce emissions.Here the thermal behavior of deep borehole exchangers(DBHEs)ranging from 1 to 2 km was analyzed for various heat flow profiles.A strong correlation between thermal energy extraction and power output from DBHEs was found,also influenced by the heating profile employed.Longer operating time over the year typically resulted in higher energy production,while shorter one yielded higher average thermal power output,highlighting the importance of the choice of heating strategy and system design for optimal performance of DBHEs.Short breaks in operation for regenerating the borehole,for example,with waste heat,proved to be favorable for the performance yielding an overall heat output close to the same as with continuous extraction of heat.The results demonstrate the usefulness of deep boreholes for dense urban areas with less available space.As the heat production from a single DBHE in Finnish conditions ranges from half up to even a few GWh a year,the technology is best suitable for larger heat loads.

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.

Experimental study on heat exchange of several types of exchangers

Aiming at the ground-coupled source heat pump that possesses the shortcomings of occupying larger land,this article studies the heat exchanged of heat exchanger in piling,and compares it with common heat exchangers buried directly. The result indicates that the heat exchanger makes the best use of structure of building,saves land,reduces the construction cost,and the heat exchanged is obviously more than exchangers buried directly. In winter condition,when W-shape pipe heat exchanger in pile foundation is 50 m deep and diameter is 800 mm,it transfers 1.2-1.3 times as large as the one of single U-shape buried directly at the flow rate of 0.6 m/s,whose borehole diameter is 300 mm. And in summer condition it does about 2.0-2.3 times as that of U-shape one.