Determination of Optimum Design Parameters of Horizontal Parallel Pipe and Vertical U-Tube Ground Heat Exchangers

2009 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hakan Demir ◽  
Ahmet Koyun ◽  
S¸. O¨zgu¨r Atayılmaz
Keyword(s):  
Thermal Conductivity ◽  
Energy Consumption ◽  
Heat Exchanger ◽  
Objective Function ◽  
Heat Exchangers ◽  
Ground Heat Exchanger ◽  
Ground Source Heat Pump ◽  
Soil Thermal Conductivity ◽  
Ground Heat Exchangers ◽  
Ground Source

The most important part of a ground source heat pump (GSHP) is the ground heat exchanger (GHE) that consists of pipes buried in the soil and is used for transferring heat between the soil and the heat exchanger of the ground source heat pump. Soil composition, thermal properties and water content affect the length of ground heat exchanger. Another parameter affects the size of the ground heat exchanger is the shape. There are two basic ground heat exchanger configurations: vertical U-tube and horizontal parallel pipe. There are plenty of works on ground source heat pumps and ground heat exchangers in the literature. Most of the works on ground heat exchangers are based on the heat transfer in the soil and temperature distribution around the coil. Some of the works for thermo-economic optimization of thermal systems are based on thermodynamic cycles. This study covers comparative thermo-economical analysis of horizontal parallel pipe and vertical u-tube ground heat exchangers. An objective function has been defined based on heating capacity, investment and energy consumption costs of ground heat exchanger. Investment and energy consumption costs were taken into account as total cost in the objective function. The effects of the soil thermal conductivity, number of pipes, thermal capacity of ground heat exchanger, pipe diameter and the burial depth on the objective function were examined. The main disadvantage of U-tube ground heat exchanger is higher borehole cost that makes installation cost higher than parallel pipe ground heat exchanger. To make reference functions equal for both type of ground heat exchangers, the borehole cost must be under 20 $/m (now 55 $/m) for a given heating or cooling capacity. The performance of ground heat exchangers depends on the soil characteristics especially the soil thermal conductivity.

scholarly journals Ground-Source Heat Pump Systems: The Effects of Variable Trench Separations and Pipe Configurations in Horizontal Ground Heat Exchangers

Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (13) ◽  
pp. 3919
Author(s):  
Yu Zhou ◽  
Asal Bidarmaghz ◽  
Nikolas Makasis ◽  
Guillermo Narsilio
Keyword(s):  
Thermal Conductivity ◽  
Effective Thermal Conductivity ◽  
Heat Pump ◽  
Heat Exchangers ◽  
Element Model ◽  
Fluid Temperature ◽  
Ground Source Heat Pump ◽  
Carrier Fluid ◽  
Ground Heat Exchangers ◽  
Ground Source

Ground-source heat pump systems are renewable and highly efficient HVAC systems that utilise the ground to exchange heat via ground heat exchangers (GHEs). This study developed a detailed 3D finite element model for horizontal GHEs by using COMSOL Multiphysics and validated it against a fully instrumented system under the loading conditions of rural industries in NSW, Australia. First, the yearly performance evaluation of the horizontal straight GHEs showed an adequate initial design under the unique loads. This study then evaluated the effects of variable trench separations, GHE configurations, and effective thermal conductivity. Different trench separations that varied between 1.2 and 3.5 m were selected and analysed while considering three different horizontal loop configurations, i.e., the horizontal straight, slinky, and dense slinky loop configurations. These configurations had the same length of pipe in one trench, and the first two had the same trench length as well. The results revealed that when the trench separation became smaller, there was a minor increasing trend (0.5 °C) in the carrier fluid temperature. As for the configuration, the dense slinky loop showed an average that was 1.5 °C lower than those of the horizontal straight and slinky loop (which were about the same). This indicates that, when land is limited, compromises on the trench separation should be made first in lieu of changes in the loop configuration. Lastly, the results showed that although the effective thermal conductivity had an impact on the carrier fluid temperature, this impact was much lower compared to that for the GHE configurations and trench separations.

scholarly journals The Effect of Shank-Space on the Thermal Performance of Shallow Vertical U-Tube Ground Heat Exchangers

Energies ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 602 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher Vella ◽  
Simon Paul Borg ◽  
Daniel Micallef
Keyword(s):  
Heat Exchanger ◽  
Performance Improvement ◽  
Thermal Performance ◽  
Temperature Drop ◽  
Ground Heat Exchanger ◽  
Ground Source Heat Pump ◽  
Ground Heat Exchangers ◽  
Ground Source ◽  
Computational Fluid Dynamics Cfd ◽  
Center Distance

One parameter that may affect the performance of a ground source heat pump is the shank-space, the center-to-center distance between the two branches of a vertical U-tube used in a ground heat exchanger. A 3D steady-state computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model of a U-tube ground heat exchanger was used to investigate the influence of varying shank-space on the thermal performance of two isolated vertical shallow U-tubes, one 20 m deep and the other 40 m deep, given that most existing research focuses on systems making use of deeper boreholes. The models adopt an innovative approach, whereby the U-junction at the bottom of the U-tube is eliminated, thus facilitating the computational process. The results obtained show that, although the temperature drop across the U-tube varies for different shank-spaces and is lowest and highest for the closest and the widest shank-spaces, respectively, this temperature drop is not linear with increases in shank-space, and the thermal performance improvement drastically diminishes with increasing shank-space. This indicates that, for shallow U-tubes, the temperature drop is more dependent on the length of the pipework.

Thermo-Economical Optimization of Ground Source Heat Pump With Horizontal Ground Heat Exchangers for a Heating Season in Istanbul: A Case Study

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hakan Demir ◽  
Alişan Gönül ◽  
Nurullah Kayaci ◽  
Ş. Özgür Atayılmaz ◽  
Özden Ağra
Keyword(s):  
Soil Temperature ◽  
Objective Function ◽  
Heat Pump ◽  
Heat Exchangers ◽  
Burial Depth ◽  
Ground Source Heat Pump ◽  
Economic Optimization ◽  
Ground Source Heat Pumps ◽  
Ground Heat Exchangers ◽  
Ground Source

A ground-source heat pump (GSHP) system has three major components: a heat pump, an earth connection and an interior heating or cooling distribution system. The most important part of a ground source heat pump (GSHP) is the ground heat exchanger (GHE) that consists of pipes buried in the soil and is used for transferring heat between the soil and evaporator of the ground source heat pump. There are plenty of works on ground source heat pumps and ground heat exchangers in the literature. Most of the works on ground heat exchangers are based on the heat transfer in the soil and temperature distribution around the coil. Some of the works for thermo-economic optimization of thermal systems are based on thermodynamic cycles. In this paper, it was carried out that the thermo-economic optimization of a ground source heat pump system with horizontal ground heat exchangers operating in heating mode in Istanbul in Turkey. The monthly heat loads of a villa for every heating months were worked out by using TS825® program. Also, average soil temperature has been calculated according to soil surface temperatures taken from Turkish State Meteorological Service belonging to last ten years. An objective function was defined based on heating capacity, initial investment and operating costs of ground source heat pump (GSHP). Then, the effects of the soil thermal conductivity, burial depth and variation of soil temperature on the objective function were investigated. Also, variation of COP value was carried out for burial depth and different condensation temperatures monthly.

Performance Evaluation of a Vertical U-Tube Ground Heat Exchanger Using a Numerical Simulation Approach

2013 ◽  
Vol 724-725 ◽  
pp. 909-915
Author(s):  
Ping Fang Hu ◽  
Zhong Yi Yu ◽  
Fei Lei ◽  
Na Zhu ◽  
Qi Ming Sun ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Heat Transfer ◽  
Performance Evaluation ◽  
Heat Exchanger ◽  
Heat Pump ◽  
Heat Transfer Process ◽  
Working Fluid ◽  
Outlet Temperature ◽  
Ground Heat Exchanger ◽  
Ground Source Heat Pump ◽  
Ground Source

A vertical U-tube ground heat exchanger can be utilized to exchange heat with the soil in ground source heat pump systems. The outlet temperature of the working fluid through the U-tube not only accounts for heat transfer capacity of a ground heat exchanger, but also greatly affects the operational efficiency of heat pump units, which is an important characteristic parameter of heat transfer process. It is quantified by defining a thermal effectiveness coefficient. The performance evaluation is performed with a three dimensional numerical model using a finite volume technique. A dynamic simulation was conducted to analyze the thermal effectiveness as a function of soil thermal properties, backfill material properties, separation distance between the two tube legs, borehole depth and flow velocity of the working fluid. The influence of important characteristic parameters on the heat transfer performance of vertical U-tube ground heat exchangers is investigated, which may provide the references for the design of ground source heat pump systems in practice.

Simulation on Ground Temperature Change of GSHP System in Severe Cold Regions

2014 ◽  
Vol 945-949 ◽  
pp. 2820-2824 ◽  
Author(s):  
Li Bai ◽  
Peng Xuan Wang
Keyword(s):  
Heat Transfer ◽  
Heat Exchanger ◽  
Temperature Change ◽  
Heat Pump ◽  
Ground Heat Exchanger ◽  
Ground Source Heat Pump ◽  
Cold Regions ◽  
Ground Source ◽  
Ground Coupled Heat Pump ◽  
Operation And Management

For the case of ground-source heat pump in severe cold regions in winter, the heat transfer situation of the ground and ground heat exchanger was dynamically simulated according to the statistics of a project in Changchun to analysis the change of the ground heat, which provided references for the initial design and operation and management of the ground-coupled heat pump in severe cold regions.

Study on Engineering Construction with Three-Dimensional Heat Transfer Modeling for Double U-Tube Heat Exchangers in Ground-Source Heat Pump Systems

2013 ◽  
Vol 700 ◽  
pp. 231-234
Author(s):  
Lian Yang ◽  
Yong Hong Huang ◽  
Liu Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Heat Transfer ◽  
Heat Exchanger ◽  
Heat Pump ◽  
Heat Exchangers ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Ground Source Heat Pump ◽  
Ground Source Heat Pumps ◽  
Engineering Construction ◽  
Single Hole ◽  
Ground Source

There are many ground source heat pumps in engineering construction application. However, Research on heat exchanger models of single-hole buried vertical ground source heat pump mostly focuses on single U-tube ground heat exchangers other than double U-tube ones in China currently. Compared with single U-tubes, double U-tubes have the heat transfer particularity of asymmetry. Therefore, the use of the traditional single tube models would have large error in the simulation of the actual double U-tube heat exchangers. This paper frames a three-dimensional heat transfer model for the vertical single-hole buried double u-tube heat exchanger in a ground source heat pump system. The model considers the performance of U-bube material and uses a dual coordinate system and makes the control elemental volumes superimposed.

Experimental Study on Determining Thermal Conductivity of Soil

2012 ◽  
Vol 170-173 ◽  
pp. 516-519
Author(s):  
Dai Yong Jia ◽  
Lu Yan Sui ◽  
Liang Kai Fan ◽  
Jin Sheng Wang
Keyword(s):  
Thermal Conductivity ◽  
Energy Saving ◽  
Air Conditioning ◽  
Critical Parameter ◽  
Operating Performance ◽  
Ground Source Heat Pump ◽  
Soil Thermal Conductivity ◽  
Ground Source ◽  
Energy Saving Technology ◽  
Water Contents

Ground source heat pump (GSHP) is an effective energy saving technology for heating and air conditioning. Thermal conductivity of soil is a critical parameter for designing a GSHP system, as the parameter is indispensable in analyzing and determining initial investment, energy saving effects, and operating performance of the system. In this study, the major influencing factors of soil thermal conductivity were analyzed. With different compositions and water contents of soil, the values of conductivity were determined experimentally, which can provide essential data for designing a GSHP system. This template explains and demonstrates how to prepare your camera-ready paper for Trans Tech Publications. The best is to read these instructions and follow the outline of this text

Heat Transfer Analysis of Groundwater Flow for Ground Heat Exchangers in the Multi-Borehole Field of Ground Source Heat Pump under the Intermittent Operation

2014 ◽  
Vol 548-549 ◽  
pp. 595-600
Author(s):  
Can Can Zhang ◽  
Yue Jin Yu
Keyword(s):  
Groundwater Flow ◽  
Heat Pump ◽  
Heat Exchangers ◽  
Heat Transfer Analysis ◽  
Ground Source Heat Pump ◽  
Pump System ◽  
Heat Pump System ◽  
Ground Heat Exchangers ◽  
Ground Source ◽  
Thermal Interference

In order to analyze the influence of groundwater flow on ground heat exchangers with different arrangements, with a project in Nanjing the access temperature field in the multi-borehole field was simulated after the ground source heat pump system had been performed for a year. Simulation results show that the access temperature is higher in the ground surrounding the borehole than the center of the corresponding borehole, thus forming a thermal barrier surrounding the borehole. Groundwater flow helps relieve temperature imbalance owing to the imbalance of heating and cooling load. The performance of the ground heat exchangers is better in staggered arrangement than in aligned arrangement. In the borehole field, the boreholes upstream have thermal interference on those downstream. And the extent of thermal interference depends on the direction of the groundwater flow when the locations of the boreholes are fixed in the borehole field.

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