A REPORT ON GROUND SOURCE HEAT PUMP PROJECT ANALYSIS

Submitted By: Uttam Bhat Pritej Bendke Sarin Tuladhar

Submitted To: Dr Sandra Godoy Programme Director for: MSc Energy and Environmental Technology and Economics MSc Mechanical Engineering MSc Automotive Engineering

TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION .............................................................................................................. 2 APPLICATIONS: ............................................................................................................... 3 HEATING: ........................................................................................................................ 3

Space heating ...................................................................................................................................... 3 Water heating ..................................................................................................................................... 4

THERMODYNAMIC CYCLE FOR GSHP: ............................................................................ 4 TYPES: ............................................................................................................................. 6

Horizontal loops ................................................................................................................................ 6 Vertical loops .................................................................................................................................... 6 Slinky coils ......................................................................................................................................... 6

DESIGN CRITERIA FOR GSHP: .......................................................................................... 7 RETSCREEN ANALYSIS: .................................................................................................... 8

Choice of Site:..................................................................................................................................... 8 Initial Assumptions: ............................................................................................................................ 8 Retscreen Analysis: ............................................................................................................................. 8 Financial Analysis: ............................................................................................................................... 9 Pollution Analysis: ............................................................................................................................... 9

FINAL RESULTS: ............................................................................................................. 10 REFERENCES:................................................................................................................. 11

INTRODUCTION
Ground source heat pumps provide a new and clean way of heating buildings in the UK. They make use of renewable energy stored in the ground, providing one of the most energy-efficient ways of heating buildings. They are suitable for a wide variety of building types and are particularly appropriate for low environmental impact projects.

They do not require hot rocks (geothermal energy) and can be installed in most of the UK, using a borehole or shallow trenches or, less commonly, by extracting heat from a pond or lake. Heat collecting pipes in a closed loop, containing water (with a little antifreeze) are used to extract this stored energy, which can then be used to provide space heating and domestic hot water. In some applications, the pump can be reversed in summer to provide an element of cooling, but these systems are not currently eligible for UK grants. The only energy used by Ground Source Heat Pump systems is electricity to power the pumps. Typically, a Ground Source Heat Pump will deliver 3 or 4 times as much thermal energy (heat) as is used in electrical energy to drive the system. For a particularly environmental solution, green electricity can be purchased. Ground Source Heat Pump systems have been widely used in other parts of the world, including North America and Europe, for many years. Typically they cost more to install than conventional systems; however, they have very low maintenance costs and can be expected to provide reliable and environmentally friendly heating for in excess of 20 years. Ground Source Heat Pumps work best with heating systems which are optimised to run at a lower water temperature than is commonly used in UK boiler and radiator systems. As such, they make an ideal partner for under floor heating systems.
Ground Source Heat Pumps take heat from the ground and convert it into energy, which can be used to heat buildings. Radiation from the sun heats the earth. The earth then stores the heat and maintains, just a metre or so down, a temperature of around 8-12C even throughout the winter. Thanks to ground source heat pumps we can now tap into this constantly replenished heat store to heat buildings and even to provide hot water. The technology used is the same as that used in refrigerators. Just as a fridge extracts heat from the food and pumps it into the kitchen so a ground source heat pump extracts heat from the earth and pumps it into a building.

A Ground Source Heat Pump system comprises three basic elements - a ground loop, the heat pump itself, and a heat distribution system. The ground loop is a pipe buried underground in either a horizontal trench or a vertical borehole. Horizontal trenches are dug 1.5 - 2 metres below ground level and, although using more land than a borehole, are usually cheaper for smaller systems.

APPLICATIONS:
GSHPs can be used to provide space and domestic water heating and, if required, space cooling to a wide range of building types and sizes. The provision of cooling, however, will result in increased energy consumption however efficiently it is supplied. GSHPs are particularly suitable for new build as the technology is most efficient when used to supply low temperature distribution systems such as under floor heating. They can also be used for retrofit especially in conjunction with measures to reduce heat demand. They can be particularly cost effective in areas where mains gas is not available or for developments where there is an advantage in simplifying the infrastructure provided

For GSHP systems, used to supply low temperature water based heating systems (eg under floor heating), seasonal efficiencies of between 300% and 400% are common for indirect systems and can be higher (350% to 500%) for direct systems. By comparison the seasonal efficiency for an air source heat pump system is about 250%. The seasonal efficiency is the ratio of the energy delivered from the heat pump to the total energy supplied to it measured over a year (including energy demands for circulation e.g. to circulate fluid round the ground heat exchanger).

The high seasonal efficiency of GSHP systems reduces the demand for purchased electricity and the associated emissions of CO2 and other pollutants. Figure 2 shows the relationship between utilisation efficiency and CO2 emissions for different fuels.

The more usual closed loop GSHP installation comprises of plastic piping buried in the ground and connected to a heat pump. A water or water-antifreeze mixture is passed around the looped pipe where it absorbs heat from the ground. The fluid flows into an electrically powered heat pump, comprising a compressor and a pair of heat exchangers before discharging back to the underground loop.

HEATING:
Space heating
Because GSHPs raise the temperature to around 40 they are most suitable for under floor heating systems or low-temperature radiators, which require temperatures of between 30 and 35. Higher outputs, such as to conventional radiators requiring higher temperatures of around 60 to 80 can be obtained through use of the GSHP in combination with a conventional boiler or immersion heater.

Water heating
The GSHP system is inadequate in itself for directly heating hot water output. Hot water for taps needs to be stored at 60 whereas for domestic GSHPs the maximum water storage temperature obtainable is 50. A water heating strategy can be designed where the incoming water supply is preheated by the GSHP before reaching an ancillary heating source. However, it might be determined that an immersion heater working off off-peak electricity is more economical.

THERMODYNAMIC CYCLE FOR GSHP:

The basic thermodynamic cycle explains the system of GSHP. It consists of compressor, condenser, expansion valve, evaporator, pressure reducing valves, heating coils.etc. the part towards the ground is at low pressure mainly maintained at 0 to 5 degree Celsius, and the one above the ground level is at 25 to 35 degree Celsius. The solution coming from the ground pipes enters in to the compressor where the temperature and pressure increases from 5 to 35 degrees. At such high temperature the house in winter season gets heated and we feel warmness inside the room. After loosing heat to surrounding the temperature decreases to 25 degrees and by passing through expansion valve the temperature decreases to 0 degrees, well its totally dependant on ground temperature what is measured inside the ground. Probably, the temperatures are around 8 degrees. And this way the process continuous and we get the GSHP working.

TYPES:
Horizontal loops
Piping is installed horizontally in trenches. The depth of the trenches will vary according to the design and soil characteristics, but is generally 1.5 2m deep. Horizontal loops require much more surface area than vertical loops. Around 200m of pipe work is generally required for a single dwelling.

Vertical loops
Most commercial and institutional projects using GSHPs use Vertical loop systems. The advantage of a vertical loop system, which consists of pipe inserted into vertical bore holes, is less space is required. Holes are spaced at around 5m intervals and can vary between 15m and 60m according to the design and soil characteristics.

Slinky coils
The Slinky is a variation of the Horizontal loop. Slinky coils are flattened coils of overlapping piping, which are spread out and laid either horizontally or vertically. Their ability to focus the area of heat transfer into small volume reduces the length of the trenches and hence the quantity of land needed. A 10m long trench laid with a Slinky coil will typically supply 1kW of heating load.

DESIGN CRITERIA FOR GSHP:

1. Ensure maximum insulation. 2. Make an accurate assessment of the buildings likely heat loss. 3. Obtain a statement from the manufacturer quoting the COP at your designed operating temperatures (including both space and hot water heating). 4. Design for use with green electricity for maximum efficiency. 5. Make a thorough survey of the site to identify buried services etc then record the buried loops following installation. 6. Check the soil type different soils have different heat transfer rates. 7. Identify a heat distribution strategy that ensures maximum efficiency. For space heating go for under floor heating followed by low-temperature radiators. When retro-fitting go for low temperature-radiators followed by conventional radiators in conjunction with electrical heating in a buffer tank. 8. Be aware of the heat store potential of the structure. Floor slabs can store under floor heat during off-peak electrical supply periods. 9. Consider the need for space cooling.

RETSCREEN ANALYSIS:
Choice of Site:
The location chosen for the project was a house in London Zone 3 as it was an ideal location with plenty of area to install the system.

The proposed system was to provide both heating and cooling as and when required in the house when installed.

The area to be heated was 120 square metres.

Initial Assumptions:

The seasonal efficiency was considered to be 250 % as the seasonal efficiency for ground source heat pumps usually range between 150 to 300 %

The pump used for circulating the fluid was to run on electricity.

Retscreen Analysis:

The total heating required would be 23 MWh and the total cooling required would be 10 MWh per year as calculated for this geographical area by RETSCREEN.

The maximum heating required would be in the month of January and the maximum cooling required would be in the month of July.

The brand of pump to be used was researched and McQuay pumps were found to be best suited to be used in the proposed system.

Financial Analysis:

The total initial cost for the installing the system was found to be 16,460 The initial cost break up is as follows:
1. Drilling and Grouting - 10,478 2. Loop pipe 3. Circulating pump 4. Fittings and Valves 5. Circulating Fluid - 4191 - 803 - 667 - 321

Total Operating and Maintenance cost for a year : 181 The total Operating and Maintenance cost for a traditional heating and cooling system: 2200 This means that there would be savings of 1829 on Operating and Maintenance costs alone . The cumulative cash flow graphs show that this would mean that the total payback system for the proposed system would be anywhere between 5 years and 3 months to 5 years and 7 months. The cumulative cash flow graph also shows that the proposed system would have earned savings of approximately 70,000 + over a period of 20 years.

Pollution Analysis:
The pollution analysis on RETSCREEN shows that the proposed system would reduce CO emissions by 4.5 tonnes per year which is equivalent to:

1. 1830 litres of petrol not consumed per year 2. 3.8 acres of forests absorbing Carbon per year 3. 1.5 tonnes of waste recycled every year. 4. 9.3 barrels of crude oil not used per year.

FINAL RESULTS:
The RETSCREEN Analysis shows that :

The use of Ground Source Heat Pumps though initially expensive for a typical house in London would need a pay back time of 5 year & 3 months to 5 years 7 months which is really reasonable. The use of Ground Source Heat pumps would save costs by over 70,000 which is noteworthy. The use of Ground Source Heat pumps would reduce 4.5 tonnes of CO2 per year per house. If more and more houses would switch over to ground source heat pumps then the amount of Carbon-di-oxide emissions reduced each year would be very significant. Also Ground Source Heat Pumps have a very high running life of approximately 50 years. Thus Ground Source Heat Pumps are not only efficient in both operating and maintenance but they are also energy efficient, emission efficient and cost efficient and is a very good alternative to conventional methods of maintaing the climate inside a building.

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REFERENCES:

www.retscreen.net/ang/g_ground.php www.earthenergy.ca www.icax.co.uk www.jpsenergy.co.uk/ground_source_heat_pumps www.geothermalint.co.uk Ground Source Heat Pump Association; National Energy Centre. Retscreen case studies and Graphs.

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