Capacity-controlled ground source heat pumps in hydronic heating systems

The objective of this study was to investigate the energy-saving potential of using variable-speed capacity control instead of the conventional intermittent operation mode for domestic ground source heat pumps. Variable-speed capacity control is commonly used in air-to-air heat pumps, but not in ground source heat pumps for hydronic heating systems, even though the energy-saving potential may be greater for this application. A theoretical analysis indicates how the energy efficiency is influenced by variable-speed capacity control of the compressor. The analysis shows that, to take full advantage of the capacity control, care should be taken to achieve the correct relationship between refrigerant flow and heat transfer media flows. Intermittent control and variable-speed capacity control were compared by laboratory tests on two capacity-controlled heat pumps and one standard heat pump with a single-speed compressor. Test data were then used for seasonal performance factor (SPF) calculations. The SPF calculations show that despite improved performance at part load the variable-speed controlled heat pump did not improve the annual efficiency compared to the intermittently operated heat pump. This is mainly due to inverter and compressor motor efficiencies and the need for improved efficiency and control of pumps used in the heating and ground collector systems.     

Ammonia in low capacity refrigeration and heat pump systems

Ammonia has been used as refrigerant in large vapour compression systems continuously since the beginning of the era of refrigeration. In small systems, it has hardly been used at all since the introduction of the halogenated hydrocarbons around 1930. Lately, with the search for alternatives with less influence on global warming, the use of ammonia in small systems has come into focus again.In the present paper, the work done at the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) with the aim of developing a prototype of a domestic water to water heat pump with a heating capacity of 9 kW is presented. It has been shown that such a system can be designed to operate with about 100 g of ammonia.Crucial problems in the development of the direct expansion system were to arrange for oil return, and to achieve good heat transfer in the evaporator. These problems were solved by use of an oil which is soluble in ammonia.The main obstacle for introducing this technology commercially is the limited supply of components. Particularly, there are no hermetic or semi-hermetic compressors for ammonia available in this size range.     

Modelling a ground-coupled heat pump system using adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference systems

The aim of this study is to demonstrate the usefulness of an adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system (ANFIS) for the modelling of ground-coupled heat pump (GCHP) system. The GCHP system connected to a test room with 16.24 m² floor area in Fırat University, Elazığ (38.41°N, 39.14°E), Turkey, was designed and constructed. The heating and cooling loads of the test room were 2.5 and 3.1 kW at design conditions, respectively. The system was commissioned in November 2002 and the performance tests have been carried out since then. The average performance coefficients of the system (COPS) for horizontal ground heat exchanger (GHE) in the different trenches, at 1 and 2 m depths, were obtained to be 2.92 and 3.2, respectively. Experimental performances were performed to verify the results from the ANFIS approach. In order to achieve the optimal result, several computer simulations have been carried out with different membership functions and various number of membership functions. The most suitable membership function and number of membership functions are found as Gauss and 2, respectively. For this number level, after the training, it is found that root-mean squared (RMS) value is 0.0047, and absolute fraction of variance (R²) value is 0.9999 and coefficient of variation in percent (cov) value is 0.1363. This paper shows that the values predicted with the ANFIS, especially with the hybrid learning algorithm, can be used to predict the performance of the GCHP system quite accurately.     

Naturally circulating probes and collectors for ground-coupled heat pumps

Both vertically and horizontally installed heat source systems for ground-coupled heat pumps based on the thermosyphon principle using CO₂ as the working fluid have been investigated theoretically as well as experimentally.

The investigation of the vertical type (CO₂ probe) has started in 1997. During the last years various design and operational parameters have been analyzed in depth, e.g. optimum number of parallel earth probes, probe length, CO₂ charge required etc. In Austria up to now more than 100 systems have been installed, and the experience confirms that a heat pump system consisting of heat pump, probe head, and CO₂ probe is a reliable, highly efficient as well as environmentally friendly alternative to commonly used ground-coupled systems.

The great success with the CO₂ probe initiated further research activities on a horizontal type (CO₂ collector). The first experimental results carried out with a test rig in the laboratory confirm that CO₂ can be used as heat carrier in collectors.