Hybrid Ground-Source Heat Pump Installations: Experiences, Improvements and Tools

Technical Report · Thu Jun 30 04:00:00 EDT 2011

OSTI ID:1038748

Hackel, Scott Paul ^[1]; Pertzborn, Amanda ^[2]

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1. Energy Center of Wisconsin, Madison, WI (United States); Energy Center of Wisconsin
2. Univ. of Wisconsin, Madison, WI (United States)

One innovation to ground-source heat pump (GSHP, or geothermal systems is the hybrid GSHP (HyGSHP) system. A HyGSHP system can dramatically decrease the first cost of GSHP systems by using conventional technology (such as a cooling tower or a boiler) to meet a portion of the peak heating or cooling load. We monitored and analyzed three buildings employing HyGSHP systems (two cooling-dominated, one heating-dominated) to demonstrate the performance of the hybrid approach. The buildings were monitored for a year and the measured data was used to validate models of each system. Additionally, we used the models to analyze further improvements to the hybrid approach and established that it has positive impacts, both economically and environmentally. We also documented the lessons learned by those who design and operate the three systems, including discussions of equipment sizing, pump operation, and cooling tower control. Finally, we described the measured data sets and models from this work and have made them freely available for further study of hybrid systems.

• Research Organization: Energy Center of Wisconsin, Madison, WI (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Renewable Power Office. Geothermal Technologies Office
• DOE Contract Number: EE0002944
• OSTI ID: 1038748
• Report Number(s): DOE-DE-EE--00029442; ECW-Report-262-1
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

15 GEOTHERMAL ENERGY
32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATION
Control
Geothermal
Ground Source
Heat Pump
Hybrid
System