Ground source heat pumps: A technology review

Ground-source (geothermal) Heat Pumps

Current status of ground source heat pumps in Europe

Geothermal Heat Pumps, or Ground Source Heat Pumps (GSHP), are systems combining a heat pump with a ground heat exchanger (closed loop systems), or fed by ground water from a well (open loop systems). They use the earth as a heat source when operating in heating mode, with a fluid (usually water or a water-antifreeze-mixture) as the media transferring the heat from the earth to the evaporator o...

On the Design and Response of Domestic Ground-Source Heat Pumps in the UK

The design and response of ground source heat pumps coupled to vertical closed loop arrays in UK domestic applications are investigated in this article. Two typical UK house types are selected as the vehicle for the study and a detailed dynamic thermal modelling method is used to arrive at time-series heating demands for the two houses. A new empirical heat pump model is derived using experimen...

State-of-the-art Survey of Existing Knowledge for the Design of Ground-source Heat Pumps

The objectives of the program reported here were to gather design and performance information on historical and current ground-coil heat-pump systems, to assess the adequacy of available design methods, and to define near-future R&D needs to promote the use of this technology. The project was generally separated into two parts: (1) a review of the North American technology conducted by Battelle...

Heat exchanger technology and applications: ground source heat pump system for buildings heating and cooling

The earth’s surface acts as a huge solar collector, absorbing radiation from the sun. In the UK, the ground maintains a constant temperature of 11-13oC several metres below the surface all the year around.1 Among many other alternative energy resources and new potential technologies, the ground source heat pumps (GSHPs) are receiving increasing interest because of their potential to reduce prim...