Analysis of ground heat exchanger for a ground source heat pump : A study of an existing system to find optimal borehole length to enhance the coefficient of performance

Abstract

Ground Source Heat Hump is one of the emerging technic to utilize the reservoir of geothermal energy in Europe. The crucial factor is to find the optimal length of the borehole to successfully design a heating system. The length of the borehole varies depending on the geographical area, the capacity of the heat pump and heat load of the desired building in consideration. Several methods have been theorized and validated using the experimental measurements to find the optimal length of the borehole. The most commonly used methods are American Society of Heating, Refrigeration and Air-conditioning Engineers and International Ground Source Heat Pump Association for sizing borehole heat exchanger. In this paper, an existing system is analyzed, for a 60 kilo Watts heat pump in an area of Finland with a ground source 250 meters of Borehole Heat Exchanger. Coefficient of Performance for current scenario is calculated, an optimal length is found for the heat capacity of the heat pump to enhance the performance of the system. Improved coefficient of performance is presented along with an easy method of finding the optimal length of the ground source.