Abstract
In cold climatic regions such as those located across Canada, it is necessary to implement heating system technology that is ultra-efficient and that has near-zero rates of emissions. Such systems would satisfy consumers’ energy needs and also comply with environmental standards, especially because the systems would account for more than 80% of residential energy use. This paper investigates two complementary efficient systems that can support these heating systems; ground-source heat pumps (GSHPs) and organic Rankine cycle systems (ORCs). The study proposes to couple these two systems in a parallel configuration. A dynamic simulation model created in TRNSYS platform has been deployed to assess the performance of the combined ORC-GSHP based micro-cogeneration system. This former provides heating to a residential house during the heating mode as needed. It has the capacity to switch to a charging mode, during which the ORC system is directly coupled to the ground heat exchanger (GHE), which works as a thermal energy storage and supplies energy to the GSHP. The feasibility of this combined system arrangement, and its comparison with a conventional GSHP system are examined for use in residential buildings in three cities across the varied climatic regions within Canada, namely Edmonton (AB), Halifax (NS), and Vancouver (BC). Results showed that the proposed micro-cogeneration system recorded less energy use of over 80%. The addition of the ORC system had a definite effect on the performance of the GSHP in that it decreased the operating hours from 11–58% compared to the conventional GSHP case and maintained consistently higher COP values. These results may help to specify viable ORC-GSHP based micro-co/trigeneration systems in cold climatic applications and should be useful for prototype design and development.
Highlights
Countries like Canada with extensive cold weather require ultra-efficient and lowemissions heating systems
The net energy consumption is the main contributing factor of adding all sources of energy use from the pumps located throughout the system, and the system’s performance, since reduction in both energy use and pollutant emissions is the power from the heat pump, and subtracting the total energy generated from the organic Rankine cycle systems (ORCs)
Performance of the ground-source heat pumps (GSHPs) was varied throughout the period, and sources of energy use from the pumps located throughout the system, and power from the the coefficient of performance (COP) and the total operating hours were deemed heat pump, and subtracting the total energy generated from the ORC system
Summary
Countries like Canada with extensive cold weather require ultra-efficient and lowemissions heating systems. Advanced heating and cooling systems, which are powered from renewable energy sources, thermal energy, micro-cogeneration and related technologies, can potentially reduce electricity and natural gas use, and their associated problematic greenhouse gas emissions. ORC-assisted GSHP use in cold weather requires more research and simulations, especially in applications involving micro-combined cooling, heat and power generation (tri-generation). In this paper, the novel configuration of a GSHP in parallel with an ORC with the capability for seasonal thermal storage for the ground heat exchanger (GHE) is investigated for use in cold regions, in Canadian climatic conditions This combined system is capable of supplying heating for two houses during the winter in Canadian cities, which are located in different climatic regions within Canada, i.e., Edmonton (AB), Halifax (NS) and Vancouver (BC).
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