• Korean Journal of Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Engineering
• /
• v.24 no.3
• /
• pp.230-239
• /
• 2012

Ground-coupled heat pump (GCHP) systems utilize the immense renewable storage capacity of the ground as a heat source or sink to provide space heating, cooling, and domestic hot water. The main objective of the present study is to investigate the cooling and heating performance of a small scale GCHP system with horizontal ground heat exchanger (HGHE). In order to evaluate the performance, a water-to-air ground-source heat pump unit connected to a test room with a net floor area of 18.4 m2 and a volume of 64.4 m3 in the Korea Institute of Construction Technology ($37^{\circ}39'N$, $126^{\circ}48'E$) was designed and constructed. This GCHP system mainly consisted of slinky-type HGHE with a total length of 400 m, indoor heat pump, and measuring devices. The peak cooling and heating loads of the test room were 5.07 kW and 4.12 kW, respectively. The experimental results were obtained from March 15, 2011 to August 31, 2011 and the performance coefficients of the system were determined from the measured data. The overall seasonal performance factor (SPF) for cooling was 3.31 while the system delivered heating at a daily average performance coefficients of 2.82.

• Korean Journal of Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Engineering
• /
• v.23 no.5
• /
• pp.356-364
• /
• 2011

Storage and transfer heat in soils is governed by the soil thermal properties and these properties are therefore needed in many engineering applications, including horizontal ground heat exchanger for ground-coupled heat pumps. This paper presents the evaluation results of the thermal diffusivity of soils (silica, quartzite, limestone, sandstone, granite, and two masonry soils used for the trench backfilling materials of the horizontal ground heat exchanger. To assess this thermal property, we (i) measure the soil thermal conductivities using single-probe method and (ii) use the de Vries method of summing the heat capacities of the soil constituents. The results show that the thermal diffusivity tends to increase as dry soil begins to wet, but it approaches a constant value or even decreases as the soil continues to wet. Combined algorithm with and improved model for the thermal conductivity of soils and the constituent equation provides accurate estimates of the soil thermal diffusivity.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Geothermal and Hydrothermal Energy
• /
• v.11 no.2
• /
• pp.7-11
• /
• 2015

Recently, as the demand for sustainable energy sources is increasing, ground-source heat pump (GSHP) systems are receiving growing attention. However, the initial cost of GSHP system is higher than it of the conventional systems, especially, in small-size buildings. Therefore, for the application to the small-size building, it is necessary to develop small-size ground heat exchanger with small-size buildings. In this study, analysis of unit-type heat exchanger due to grouting materials. As a result, 1492.14 W of heat exchange rate was acquired in the condition of cement-silica sand-graphite materials.

• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
• /
• 2007.05b
• /
• pp.3401-3406
• /
• 2007

This study was performed to acquire the reliable in-situ thermal conductivity of closed type ground heat exchanger used in ground source heat pump. We selected four sites(Cheonan, Daejeon, Daegu, Gwangju) which are central area of South Korea. Test results show that the effective thermal conductivities are 2.33 W/m$^{\circ}C$, 2.50 W/m$^{\circ}C$, 2.75 W/m$^{\circ}C$ and 2.86 W/m$^{\circ}C$. From this data, we can see that thermal conductivity varies about the range of 23% with the sites. Also, thermal conductivity increases up to 20% by changing grouting material from low salica sand to high one.

• New & Renewable Energy
• /
• v.1 no.4 s.4
• /
• pp.30-37
• /
• 2005

Cycle simulation of Ground Source Heat Pump[GSHP] system was carried out to determine the design specification of basic components such as turbo compressor and heat exchangers. Part load operation characteristics of the designed GSHP system was estimated using the compressor and heat exchanger performance data. A 50RT class turbo compressor for GSHP system is now under development, in which R134a refrigerant is adopted as working fluid. The compressor with variable cascade diffusers is designed to work both in cooling and heating modes so that it can actively keep up with the climate change with high efficiency. The normal running speeds of the compressor are 59000rpm for heating mode and 70000rpm for tooling mode respectively. It has two identical impellers at both ends of the rotor so as to minimize aero-induced thrust force effectively. GSHP system was coupled with a vortical type heat exchanger, and heat gain and heat loss from ground were evaluated per a bore hole. For the optimal integration of the heat pump system, its header for circulating fluid was combined with the ground heat exchangers in parallel and series configuration.

• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
• /
• 2007.05b
• /
• pp.3371-3376
• /
• 2007

The design of a ground-source heat pump system includes specifications for a ground loop heat exchanger where the heat transfer rate depends on the thermal conductivity of the ground. To evaluate this heat transfer property, in-situ thermal response tests on four vertical test boreholes with different grouting materials were conducted by adding a monitored amount of heat to water over various test lengths. By measuring the water temperatures entering and exiting the loop, water flow rate, and heat load, effective thermal conductivity values of the ground were determined. The effect of increasing thermal conductivity of grouting materials from 0.82 to 1.05 W/m$^{\circ}C$ resulted in overall increases in effective ground thermal conductivity by 25.8% to 69.5%.

• Proceedings of the SAREK Conference
• /
• 2009.06a
• /
• pp.579-585
• /
• 2009

Recently, Vertical-Closed Loop system using geothermal which is the most efficient among the building cooling and heating systems is coming into wide spread due to assistance of domestic policies. However, there is a limitation that a design of ground heat exchanger taking 60% of construction cost is done by GLD and GLHEPRO programs without specific guidelines and consideration on Entering Water Temperature(EWT). For getting an optimal EWT, we analyzed the costs for construction of ground heat exchanger and cooling and heating for 15 years. In the results, reduction of construction costs as the length of ground heat exchanger shortens was much greater than increase of the electrical power consumption as COP gets low. EWT that COP of heat pump can be 3.76 or above was below $31^{\circ}C$ in cooling and was over $5^{\circ}C$ in heating.

• KIEAE Journal
• /
• v.17 no.4
• /
• pp.33-39
• /
• 2017

Purpose: The use of renewable energy system is essential for building energy independence and saving energy consumption in the building sector. Among renewable energy technologies, ground source heat pump(GSHP) system is more energy-efficient and environmental-friendly than other heat source systems due to utilize stable ground heat source. However, the GSHP system requires a high initial installation cost and installation space in limited urban area, so it is difficult to have superiority in the market of heat source system. Therefore, it is necessary to develop the installation method of low-cost and improve system performance. This paper aims to evaluate the performance of double u-tube ground heat exchanger(GHX) and verify system feasibility through real-scale experiment. Method: In this study, the real-scale experiment of vertical closed-type GSHP system was conducted using double u-tube GHX and high-efficiency grout. Through the verification experiment, heat source temperature, heat exchange rate(HER) and seasonal performance factor(SPF) were measured according to the long-term operation. In addition, the feasibility analysis was conducted comparing to the single u-tube system. Result: In the results of experiment, average HER was 136.27 W/m and average SPF was 5.41. Furthermore, compared to the single u-tube, the installation cost of the developed system could be reduced about 70% in the same heating load condition.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Geothermal and Hydrothermal Energy
• /
• v.15 no.2
• /
• pp.1-9
• /
• 2019

In a ground-source heat pump (GSHP) system, a vertical ground heat exchanger (GHE) is widely accepted due to a higher thermal performance. In the vertical GHE, grout (also called grouting material) plays an important role in the heat transfer performance and the initial installation cost of the GHE. Bentonite-based grout has been used in practice because of its high swelling potential and low hydraulic conductivity. This study evaluated the thermo-physical properties of the bentonite-based grouts through lab-scale measurements. In addition, we conducted performance simulation to analyze the effect of mixed ratio of grouts on the design length and thermal performance of the vertical GHE. The simulation results show that thermally-enhanced grouts improve the heat transfer performance of the vertical GHE and thus reduce the design length of GHE pipe.

• Korean Journal of Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Engineering
• /
• v.24 no.6
• /
• pp.487-496
• /
• 2012

Recently, utilization of building foundations as ground-coupled heat exchangers has attracted much attention because they reduce the cost and enhance the heat transfer. The objective of this study is to evaluate the performance of energy-slab ground-coupled heat exchanger installed in a commercial building. In order to demonstrate the energy transfer characteristics of the energy-slab, experiments were conducted from October 2010 to September 2011. The 1-year measurement results showed that the mean EWTs of brine returning from the energy-slab were $9.6^{\circ}C$ in heating season and $24.9^{\circ}C$ in cooling season, which were in a range of design target temperatures. In addition, the geothermal heat pump system with the energy-slab showed on-off operation according to the setting temperatures of secondary fluid in water storage tank. The results also showed that the energy-slab extracted heat of 198.6 kW from the ground and injected heat of 318.9 kW to the ground, respectively.