Thermal performance of a solar assisted horizontal ground heat exchanger

Al-Ameen, Y., Ianakiev, A. ORCID: 0000-0002-1413-8110 and Evans, R. ORCID: 0000-0002-9293-6257, 2017. Thermal performance of a solar assisted horizontal ground heat exchanger. Energy. ISSN 0360-5442

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Abstract

This paper presents an experimental study of a solar assisted horizontal ground heat exchanger system (HGHEs) operating as a daily heat storage unit. Initially, several soils were assessed as sensible heat storage mediums, with sand and gravel selected as the most appropriate. Then, a HGHEs was designed and connected to a 15m2 test room with a heating load of 1kW at Nottingham Trent University. Heating cables, simulating solar input, were used to heat the soil in the HGHEs to 70℃, then a heat transfer fluid (HTF), was circulated through a closed loop heat exchanger to extract the stored heat. The parameters of soil backfill and HTF mass flow rate were investigated in the HGHEs. Several output flowrates ranging between 0.1 to 0.6L/min were tested, producing discharge times varying between a few hours to a few days. The HTF mass flowrate was found to be the most significant parameter, affecting the HGHEs thermal capacity and heat exchange rates. The sand filled HGHE produced approximately 50% more hot water (T>35℃) during a longer duration achieving an efficiency of 78% compared to the gravel filled HGHE with a lower system efficiency of 58%. Insulating the HGHE system was found to reduce heat losses and avoid temperature fluctuations in the HGHEs. Overall, the results show the hot water quantity, temperature range and duration produced from the system were in line with low temperature district heating guidelines and can be applied to some household heating applications incorporating low flows and low temperatures.

Item Type: Journal article
Publication Title: Energy
Creators: Al-Ameen, Y., Ianakiev, A. and Evans, R.
Publisher: Elsevier
Date: 22 August 2017
ISSN: 0360-5442
Identifiers:
NumberType
10.1016/j.energy.2017.08.091DOI
S0360544217314664Publisher Item Identifier
Divisions: Schools > School of Architecture, Design and the Built Environment
Record created by: Linda Sullivan
Date Added: 05 Sep 2017 15:15
Last Modified: 01 Sep 2021 09:39
URI: https://irep.ntu.ac.uk/id/eprint/31547

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