A solar pond-assisted heat pump for greenhouses

Abstract

A solar pond for annual cycle solar energy collection and storage was studied at The Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center (OARDC), Wooster. It has been used as a thermal energy source for greenhouse heating. A brine-source electric-power-driven heat pump was incorporated into the heat extraction system. Initial results of the field studies indicated that the combined system improved the effectiveness of both the heat pump and the solar pond by enabling a larger temperature cycle within the solar pond. To study the operation of such a system, a computer simulation model for the heating system was developed. The results of simulations were used to establish a relationship between the system performance and the present design and for sizing the solar energy collection and storage system. Also, the effect of a polystyrene pellet nighttime insulation for the greenhouse was simulated. Increasing the surface area of the OARDC pond was found to be less effective than changing its depth. Thr results showed that a 5 m deep pond with 1.0 m gradient zone significantly improved the overall performance of the system when used as a heat source for a heat pump. Based on the detailed experimental and computer simulation performance analysis, the solar pond-assisted heat pump system has the potential of improved performance compared with convential air source heat pumps.