Research on Ground Source Heat Pump Design

One of world’s largest uses of energy is the heating and cooling of buildings. Ground Source Heat Pumps (GSHP) provide a more energy efficient way to meet building energy needs than conventional alternatives. At a relatively shallow depth, the ground temperature is nearly constant year round providing a reliable heat source or sink for the operation of a heat pump. The design of such systems is complicated by the short and long term behavior of the ground as well as various options for system configuration and control. The stochastic nature of year-to-year weather variation also influences the design. In this paper the GSHP system is introduced and the system model developed at the UW-Madison is discussed. The impact of weather variation on the optimal design of such a system is examined. Initial validation of the key component in the model, the ground heat exchanger, against experimental data is presented.