“Optimization of Ground Source Heat Pump:a Review”

Abstract

To effectively exploit the heat capacity of the soil a heat-exchanger system has to be constructed. Usually an array of buried pipes running along the length of the building, a nearby field or buried vertically into the ground is utilized. A circulating fluid (water or air) is used in summer to extract heat from the hot environment of the building and dump it into the ground and vice versa in winter. A heat pump may also be coupled to the ground heat exchanger to increase its efficiency. In the literature several calculation models are found for ground heat exchangers. One-dimensional models were devised in the first stages of the system study which were replaced by two- dimensional models during the nineties and three-dimensional systems during the recent years. The present study are further refined and can accept any type of grid geometry that may give greater detail of the temperature variation around the pipes and in the ground.