Abstract
The cooling and heating of spaces are among the largest sources for household’s energy demand. Ground Source Heat Pump (GSHP) is a promising technology to reduce the energy for cooling and heating purposes. However, the major obstacle hindering the utilization of this technology is the high initial cost, especially for the installation of ground coupled heat exchanger. The horizontal closed-loop system offers lower installation cost, as it requires no vertical borehole construction. Instead, the heat exchangers can be installed in shallow trenches that may be excavated, by small excavator or even by human labor. This paper presents the comparison of two different heat exchangers, namely, the capillary mat and the widely used slinky pipe. Both heat exchangers are connected to a heat pump, where continuous heating tests were carried out for 165 hours (~7 days) for each configuration. The purpose of this research is to show the performance of capillary mat in comparison to slinky pipe. Despite during the entire test for capillary mat required 6% higher electricity consumption, compared to slinky heat exchanger, the results still suggest the potential use of capillary mat as alternative to slinky heat exchanger. Additionally, the results also highlight the high hydraulic resistance of installed capillary mat heat exchangers may become the major disadvantage of the capillary mat.
Highlights
The Ground Source Heat Pump (GSHP) has been widely used as an alternative way to reduce the electricity consumption for space cooling and heating [1] [2]
This paper presents the comparison of two different heat exchangers, namely, the capillary mat and the widely used slinky pipe
Despite during the entire test for capillary mat required 6% higher electricity consumption, compared to slinky heat exchanger, the results still suggest the potential use of capillary mat as alternative to slinky heat exchanger
Summary
The Ground Source Heat Pump (GSHP) has been widely used as an alternative way to reduce the electricity consumption for space cooling and heating [1] [2]. In area where ASHPs are extensively used, such as big cities, extensive use of ASHP for cooling in summer season could accelerate the heat island effect [3] [4] [5] [6]. This is a phenomenon where the air temperature is significantly higher than its surrounding area because of higher heat in-flux and lower heat dissipation. Arifwidodo et al investigated the household energy consumption and its impacts on the urban heat island in Bangkok area [6] They concluded that the combination of urban heat island mitigation, adaptation planning and energy-efficient housing design would contribute to better solutions
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