Ground-coupled heat-pump-system experimental results

Conference · Sat Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1983

OSTI ID:5997987

Metz, P D

Since October 1980, a small house in Upton, Long Island, New York has been heated and cooled by a liquid source heat pump using a shallow serpentine earth coil as a heat source/sink. After a brief introduction and system description, system performance data are presented, for the winter of 1981-82 and the summer of 1982, followed by a discussion of these results. The experimental test house is a 104 m/sup 2/ (1120 ft/sup 2/) 3-bedroom ranch of energy-saving construction with a heating load of 7.8 x 10/sup 6/ J//sup 0/C-day (4.1 x 10/sup 3/ Btu//sup 0/F-day). The heat pump used during most of the period reported on here is a commercially available water-to-air unit sized to just meet the building design heating load with no auxiliary heat. The earth coil contains 155 m (507 ft) of nominal 1-1/2 in. medium density polyethylene pipe, and is buried 1.2 m (4 ft) deep. An antifreeze solution, consisting of approximately 25% ethylene glycol in water, is employed to permit subfreezing earth coil operation. Two independent data acquisition systems, a datalogger-microcomputer system backed up by a Btu-meter, monitor the space conditioning system performance. During the winter of 1981-82, the system, which extracted 15.5 x 10/sup 9/ J (14.7 x 10/sup 6/ Btu) of heat from the ground, operated with a seasonal performance factor (SPF) of 2.46. No resistance heating was used. The minimum earth coil daily U-value observed during this season was 3.34 W/m/sup 0/C (1.93 Btu/ft-hr-/sup 0/F). During the summer of 1982, a total of 10.6 x 10/sup 9/ J (10.0 x 10/sup 6/ Btu) of heat was rejected to the ground. The system SPF was 1.91, with a minimum daily U-value of 3.53 W/m/sup 0/C (2.04 Btu/ft-hr-/sup 0/F).

• Research Organization: Brookhaven National Lab., Upton, NY (USA)
• DOE Contract Number: W-7405-ENG-26
• OSTI ID: 5997987
• Report Number(s): CONF-830640-6; ON: DE83014011
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATION
320101* -- Energy Conservation
Consumption
& Utilization-- Residential Buildings-- (-1987)
BUILDINGS
DATA ACQUISITION
FEDERAL REGION II
GROUND SOURCE HEAT PUMPS
HEAT EXTRACTION
HEAT PUMPS
HOUSES
NEW YORK
NORTH AMERICA
PERFORMANCE
PIPES
RESIDENTIAL BUILDINGS
USA
WATER SOURCE HEAT PUMPS