A fast numerical approach for the horizontal ground heat exchanger

Suggestion of a design method for horizontal spiral coil type ground heat exchangers

Modeling and assessment of the efficiency of horizontal and vertical ground heat exchangers

Numerical modeling of slinky-coil horizontal ground heat exchangers

An applicable design method for horizontal spiral-coil-type ground heat exchangers

Thermal performance evaluation and parametric study of a horizontal ground heat exchanger

Numerical simulation and sensitivity study of double-layer Slinky-coil horizontal ground heat exchangers

An experimental work on the performance of a solar-assisted ground-coupled heat pump using a horizontal ground heat exchanger

최근 들어 경제적이고 친환경적인 에너지 활용을 위하여 지열에너지 필요성이 증대되고 있다. 수평형 지중 열교환기는 설치 비용이 저렴하여 비용 대비 효율면에서 우수하다. 수평형 지중 열교환기의 타입에는 여러 가지가 있으나 이 중 슬링키형과 코일형이 우수한 것으로 알려져 있다. 따라서 본 논문에서는 <TEX>$5m{\times}1m{\times}1m$</TEX> 크기의 모형 토조내에 수평 슬링키형과 코일형 지중 열교환기를 각각 설치한 후 열교환율을 실험적으로 측정하였다. 모형 토조 내에는 건조 상태의 주문진 모래가 조성되었으며 수평 슬링키형과 코일형의 피치 간격에 따라 열교환율을 측정하기 위해 30시간 동안 연속으로 열응답 시험을 실시하였다. 실험 결과 코일형 지중 열교환기 이용시 수평 슬링키형 보다 약 30, 40% 정도의 높은 파이프 단위 길이당 열교환율을 보였다. 또한 수평 슬링키형과 코일형 이용시 피치 간격이 넓을 때(피치/직경 = 1)가 좁을 때(피치/직경 = 0.2)보다 약 200, 250% 정도의 높은 파이프 단위 길이당 열교환율을 나타냈다. The need of geothermal energy is constantly increasing for economical and environmental utilization. Horizontal ground heat exchangers (GHEs) can reduce installation cost and increase efficiency. There are many kinds of GHEs, and it is known that slinky and spiral coil type GHEs show high thermal performance. Therefore, this paper presents experimental results of heat exchange rates in horizontal slinky and spiral coil type GHEs installed in a steel box whose size is <TEX>$5m{\times}1m{\times}1m$</TEX>. Dried Joomunjin standard sand was filled in a steel box, and thermal response tests (TRTs) were conducted for 30 hours to evaluate heat exchange rates by changing different pitch spaces of horizontal slinky and spiral coil type GHEs. As a result, spiral coil type GHE showed 30~40% higher heat exchange rates per pipe length than horizontal slinky type GHEs. Furthermore, long pitch interval (Pitch/Diameter=1) showed 200~250% higher heat exchange rates per pipe length than short pitch interval (Pitch/Diameter=0.2) in both spiral coil and horizontal slinky type GHEs, respectively.

A horizontal ground heat exchanger installation is less expensive than a vertical ground heat exchanger, but more land is required. The system’s required pipe length and land area can be decreased by improving the system. On the other side, adding fins is one strategy to increase heat transfer. In this paper, cylindrical fins are explored in horizontal ground heat exchangers for the first time to improve heat transfer and, the overall efficiency of the ground-source heat pump. These fins were examined by varying parameters such as length, diameter, position, and material. The heat transfer rate changes with and without fins were also investigated as soil properties changed. The heat transfer simulations in cooling mode for a 1D-3D model using COMSOL Multiphysics revealed that changing the fin diameter directly affects the outlet temperature and, the non-isothermal pipe flow (niofl) is used for the pipe. There is minimaldifference between improving and increasing the heat transfer rate when the fin length is increased to more than 1 m. Moreover, the distance between the ground heat exchanger and the fin is critical; if it exceeds 5 cm, it loses some effectiveness, although it is still useful for soil recovery. In general, the fin increases the soil contact area, and a fin of length one meter can increase heat transfer per unit of pipe length up to 20.7 %. Comparing horizontal and vertical ground heat exchangers in finned and non-finned modes revealed that both modes increase performance with the fin. Still, the horizontal pipe increases performance by about 3 % more than the vertical spiral with the same number of fins.

Geothermal heat pumps, sometimes called ground-source heat pumps (GSHPs), have been proven capable of significantly reducing energy use and peak demand in buildings. Conventional equipment for controlling the temperature and humidity of a building, or supplying hot water and fresh outdoor air, must exchange energy (or heat) with the building's outdoor environment. Equipment using the ground as a heat source and heat sink consumes less non-renewable energy (electricity and fossil fuels) because the earth is cooler than outdoor air in summer and warmer in winter. The most important barrier to rapid growth of the GSHP industry is high first cost of GSHP systems to consumers. The most common GSHP system utilizes a closed-loop ground heat exchanger. This type of GSHP system can be used almost anywhere. There is reason to believe that reducing the cost of closed-loop systems is the strategy that would achieve the greatest energy savings with GSHP technology. The cost premium of closed-loop GSHP systems over conventional space conditioning and water heating systems is primarily associated with drilling boreholes or excavating trenches, installing vertical or horizontal ground heat exchangers, and backfilling the excavations. This project investigates reducing the cost of horizontal closed-loop ground heat exchangers by installing them in the construction excavations, augmented when necessary with additional trenches. This approach applies only to new construction of residential and light commercial buildings or additions to such buildings. In the business-as-usual scenario, construction excavations are not used for the horizontal ground heat exchanger (HGHX); instead the HGHX is installed entirely in trenches dug specifically for that purpose. The potential cost savings comes from using the construction excavations for the installation of ground heat exchangers, thereby minimizing the need and expense of digging additional trenches. The term foundation heat exchanger (FHX) has been coined to refer exclusively to ground heat exchangers installed in the overcut around the basement walls. The primary technical challenge undertaken by this project was the development and validation of energy performance models and design tools for FHX. In terms of performance modeling and design, ground heat exchangers in other construction excavations (e.g., utility trenches) are no different from conventional HGHX, and models and design tools for HGHX already exist. This project successfully developed and validated energy performance models and design tools so that FHX or hybrid FHX/HGHX systems can be engineered with confidence, enabling this technology to be applied in residential and light commercial buildings. The validated energy performance model also addresses and solves another problem, the longstanding inadequacy in the way ground-building thermal interaction is represented in building energy models, whether or not there is a ground heat exchanger nearby. Two side-by-side, three-level, unoccupied research houses with walkout basements, identical 3,700 ft{sup 2} floor plans, and hybrid FHX/HGHX systems were constructed to provide validation data sets for the energy performance model and design tool. The envelopes of both houses are very energy efficient and airtight, and the HERS ratings of the homes are 44 and 45 respectively. Both houses are mechanically ventilated with energy recovery ventilators, with space conditioning provided by water-to-air heat pumps with 2 ton nominal capacities. Separate water-to-water heat pumps with 1.5 ton nominal capacities were used for water heating. In these unoccupied research houses, human impact on energy use (hot water draw, etc.) is simulated to match the national average. At House 1 the hybrid FHX/HGHX system was installed in 300 linear feet of excavation, and 60% of that was construction excavation (needed to construct the home). At House 2 the hybrid FHX/HGHX system was installed in 360 feet of excavation, 50% of which was construction excavation. There are six pipes in all excavations (three parallel circuits - out and back), and the multiple instances of FHX and/or HGHX are all connected in series. The working fluid is 20% by weight propylene glycol in water. Model and design tool development was undertaken in parallel with constructing the houses, installing instrumentation, and monitoring performance for a year. Several detailed numerical models for FHX were developed as part of the project. Essentially the project team was searching for an energy performance model accurate enough to achieve project objectives while also having sufficient computational efficiency for practical use in EnergyPlus. A 3-dimensional, dual-coordinate-system, finite-volume model satisfied these criteria and was included in the October 2011 EnergyPlus Version 7 public release after being validated against measured data.

A numerical study on utilizing horizontal flat-panel ground heat exchangers in ground-coupled heat pumps

지중 토양의 열 물리적 성질 중 열전도도(thermal conductivity)는 지열 히트펌프 시스템(ground-coupled heat pump systems)의 지중열교환기 설계 과정에서 매우 중요한 변수다. 토양의 열전도도는 3상 구조로 인해 함수비와 건조밀도의 영향을 많이 받는다. 본 논문에서는 수평형 지중열교환기의 트렌치 뒤채움재로 사용되는 9종류의 토양(모래-물혼합물)을 대상으로 열전도도 측정결과와 기존 상관식에 의한 계산결과를 비교하였다. 건조토인 경우, 2상 구조의 열전도도 예측모델인 준이론 모델에 의한 열전도도 계산 결과는 측정 결과와 큰 차이를 보였다. 불포화토인 경우, 기존 모델 중 Cote와 Konrad가 제시한 모델에 의한 계산 결과가 측정 결과와 가장 잘 일치하였다. 또한 토양의 열전도도와 함수비, 종류 등이 수평형 지중열교환기의 설계 길이에 미치는 영향을 고찰하였다. 뒤채움재로 사용되는 토양의 열전도도가 증가할수록 수평형 지중열 교환기의 설계 길이는 감소하였다. Among the various thermal properties, thermal conductivity of soils is one of the most important parameters to design a horizontal ground heat exchanger for ground-coupled heat pump systems. It is well known that the thermal conductivity of soil is strongly influenced by its density and water content because of its particulate structure. This paper evaluates some of the well-known prediction models for the thermal conductivity of particulate media such as soils along with the experimental results. The semi-theoretical models for two-component materials were found inappropriate to estimate the thermal conductivity of dry soils. It comes out that the model developed by Cote and Konrad provides the best overall prediction for unsaturated sands available in the literature. Also, a parametric analysis is conducted to investigate the effect of thermal conductivity, water content and soil type on the horizontal ground heat exchanger design. The results show that a design pipe length for the horizontal ground heat exchanger can be reduced with an increase in soil thermal conductivity. The current research concludes that the dimension of the horizontal ground heat exchanger can be reduced to a certain extent by backfilling materials with a higher thermal conductivity of solid particles.

A hot-water and air-conditioning (HWAC) combined ground sourse heat pump(GSHP) system with horizontal ground heat exchanger self-designed and actualized was presented in this paper. The heat transfer performance for the heat exchanger of two different pipe arrangements, three layers and four layers, respectively, was compared. It showed that the heat exchange quantity per pipe length for the pipe arrangement of three layers and four layers are 18.0 W/m and 15.0 W/m. The coefficient of performance (COP) of unit and system could remain 4.8 and 4.2 as GSHP system for heating water, and the COP of heating and cooling combination are up to 8.5 and 7.5, respectively. The power consumption of hot-water in a whole year is 9.0 kwh/t. The economy and feasibility analysis on vertical and horizontal ground heat exchanger were made, which showed that the investment cost per heat exchange quantity of horizontal ground heat exchanger is 51.4% lower than that of the vertical ground heat exchanger, but the occupied area of the former is 7 times larger than the latter's.

Horizontal ground heat exchangers (HGHEs) have advantages such as convenient construction and low cost; however, their application and popularization are restricted owing to traditional linear HGHEs occupying large space and presenting low total heat transfer capacity. Spiral-coil and slinky-coil HGHEs have been proposed, but currently a comprehensive comparison and evaluation for these types of HGHEs are still needed. In this study, a three-dimensional heat transfer model of the three types of HGHEs for ground source heat pumps (GSHPs) was established. Based on the simulation results, the long-term heat transfer performances were investigated, including the temperature field of surrounding energy-storage soils, outlet working fluid temperature, coefficient of performance (COP) of units, and surplus temperature of the energy-storage soils. A new concept named heat transfer capacity per heat-affected area was proposed in this paper. It is found that the spiral-coil HGHEs have the best performances in terms of working-fluid outlet temperature, unit COP, total heat transfer capacity, heat transfer rate heat-affected area. The linear HGHEs shows the best performances in terms of mitigating heat imbalance risk and heat transfer rate per length. The results provide a reliable basis for selection of HGHE types in engineering practice and improvement guide in the future.

Study on thermal performances of a horizontal ground heat exchanger geothermal system with different configurations and arrangements