Hydraulics, Performance and Comfort of Ground Coupled Heating-Cooling Systems
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Proceedings: Building Simulation 2007 HYDRAULICS, PERFORMANCE AND COMFORT OF GROUND COUPLED HEATING-COOLING SYSTEMS Ralf Dott, Carsten Wemhöner and Thomas Afjei Institute of Energy in Building, University of Applied Sciences Northwestern Switzerland 4132 Muttenz, Switzerland, [email protected], http://www.fhnw.ch/habg/iebau building to extract the heat from the building with the ABSTRACT aid of the floor heating system. On the one hand the The energy demand for heating is decreasing signifi- lower temperature in the ground could serve as pas- cantly in modern highly-insulated dwellings. Due to sive heat sink; on the other hand domestic hot water larger glass areas and well insulated buildings could be produced running the heat pump in overheating becomes a problem. simultaneous heating and cooling mode. Recent re- search on control strategies has been carried out by In a research project several hydraulic schemes with Olesen (2001). ground-coupled heat pumps and passive cooling with borehole heat exchanger have been evaluated. A This passive cooling of the building is very interest- parametric study with MATLAB/Simulink simula- ing both from energetic viewpoint, as also with re- tions using a residential low-energy building with gard to the capital expenditure. The cold is produced floor heating system has been carried out. Simultane- either with the evaporator of a standard heat pump ous simulation of building and mechanical system and utilized only with simultaneous domestic hot wa- showed dynamic interaction of floor and ground heat ter preparation or generated very efficiently (pas- exchanger. Main objective is to estimate energy de- sively) out of the ground heat exchanger. Because mand for heating and cooling, thermal comfort and the waste heat of the active cooling process is used economical feasibility of the overall system. completely to heat up domestic hot water, no additional consumption of electricity occurs. The A big challenge is appropriate control providing an geothermal heat exchanger thus has a longer optimal thermal comfort with a minimum of addi- regeneration time since it serves less time as heat tional energy compared to heating only systems. source for hot water preparation. Furthermore it can Especially the meteorological conditions in spring be loaded with heat rejected from cooling application. and autumn cause intermittent heating and cooling which increases heating energy demand, since the Heating and passive cooling with floor heating com- concrete structure is alternately heated and cooled. bined with ground coupled heat pumps represents in- deed a technically known concept but is a new KEYWORDS application in the residential architecture and could add a contribution to increase efficiency in the ex- simultaneous simulation, heating and cooling, ground pected trend of cooling in buildings. The technical coupled heat pump, borehole heat exchanger, feasibility and the fundamental functionality are hydraulics undisputed. However there are up to now only little knowledge about the performance of such a concept INTRODUCTION concerning control strategy, expected effect and the The energy demand for heating is decreasing signifi- evaluation of the risks. The lack of knowledge cantly in modern highly insulated dwellings. With concerning hydraulics, control strategy and this heat pumps are used more frequently for heating dimensioning was the topic of research done within and domestic hot water applications. Combined with the project with focus to energy consumption and re- growing glass areas that tend to overheat highly insu- sulting comfort. lated buildings in summer time and rising tempera- One employed approach to answer the formulated tures in hot periods the alternative use of heat pumps questions is the simultaneous simulation of building for heating and cooling comes more and more into and mechanical systems for studies on optimizing focus. control and extending knowledge on dynamic system Classical ground coupled heat pump systems are util- behavior. Similar work has been done by Matthes et ized today monovalently for heating and domestic al. (2006) using Modelica as platform. hot water usage. Thus also in summer time the ground heat exchanger (GHX) withdraws heat from the ground and therefore cools it down. Alternatively to that it would be possible with a cooling need in the - 657 - Proceedings: Building Simulation 2007 • Performance Evaluation on the one hand for pas- SITUATION sive cooling only with earth heat exchanger and on the other hand for active cooling with heat Background pump during domestic hot water production. The following statements describe the background in the sense of the today usual practice as well as the • Simultaneous simulation of building and delimitation of the project concerning considerations mechanical system. on energy demand and control concepts: • Summary of the most important design • The design of the system is based on the applica- recommendations, characteristic values and cost- tion for heating (also if applied for cooling). benefit analysis. • The control concept of the floor heating system is determined for the use as heating system. (deci- Reference Building sion: with thermostatic valve OR self regulating without thermostatic valves). First step for the energetic and comfort evaluation of cooling options with classical ground coupled heat • Self regulating floor heating systems without pumps for space heating was to define a reference thermostatic valves yield higher efficiencies due building. The chosen building is a built typical low to higher COP in the heat pump caused by energy one-family house certified with Swiss smaller temperature differences between the heat MINERGIE® label (Anon. A). carrier and the room. • Applied for cooling the system with smaller tem- perature difference between the heat carrier and the room achieves a more extensive usage of cooling capacity out of a borehole heat exchanger. • The majority of floor heating systems today are implemented with thermostatic valves. • Bathroom without window frequently do not have any thermostatic valve. • Market available floor heating and cooling sys- tems usually employ a manual switch to change from heating to cooling mode. Figure 1 Reference building for simulation The concept in the case of this study comprises a self regulating floor heating system without thermostatic The building shown in Figure 1 is characterized by: valves and an automated switchover between heating and cooling application. • One-family house according to MINERGIE® (Anon. A) requirements in Gelterkinden (canton Methods Basel-Landschaft, CH) at south oriented hillside The project was organized in following steps in order location with solid construction walls and to achieve the given aims: laterally placed basement outside insulation pe- rimeter • Evaluation of market available ground coupled • Energy reference area 153 m2 (net living space heat pumps with cooling option and their hydrau- 2 3 lic circuits. Definition of standard circuits for pas- 125 m , net volume 305 m ) sive cooling only with ground heat exchanger and • Specific heating energy need per energy reference active cooling with reversed heat pump process. area acc. to Swiss standard = 157 MJ/m2a • Separate simulation of building and mechanical • Heating power demand acc. to Swiss standard system; first step to generate a yearly heating and = 4.1 kW (20°C/-8°C) cooling sequence for a reference building and the achieved comfort, second step to evaluate the per- formance of the ground heat exchanger. • Definition of control concepts for the simulation and evaluation of energy demand and achieved comfort. - 658 - Proceedings: Building Simulation 2007 completely and the system runs with the maximum HYDRAULICS power the ground heat exchanger is able to deliver. The functions „heating“, „passive cooling“ and If the cooling mode is halted during hot water „domestic hot water“ of ground coupled heat pump production it is called alternative operation, systems are discussed in the following in parallel and otherwise in parallel mode the cooling capacity is alternative operation. Warm pipes are represented in increased by the heat pump evaporator. red, cold pipes in blue. In parallel cooling and domestic hot water mode the In classic heating mode the heat pump withdraws connection of borehole and room cooling heat ex- heat via evaporator from the ground heat exchanger changer must assure a sufficient heat source for the and delivers a higher temperature level to the heat pump. If the cooling power for the building and condenser in the heating circuit. thus the heat source for the heat pump are regulated The simplest and most common hydraulic configura- the ground heat exchanger must always be connected tion for cooling with heat pump heating systems in- to guarantee a continuous heat source. Therefore in cludes a passive cooling option as shown in Figure 3. cooling mode the floor cooling heat exchanger shall The room is being chilled by the floor heating system. be connected serial to the borehole heat exchanger as The heat is transferred from the floor hydronic circuit depicted in Figure 2. via heat exchanger to the ground heat exchanger cir- cuit and emitted to the ground. There are different options to connect the borehole via heat exchanger to the emission system. The heat exchanger could be placed near the heat pump direct in the condenser cir- cuit, thus inhibiting parallel cooling and domestic hot water operation, or in an extra circuit as shown