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U.S. Department of Energy
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TRNSYS/GROCS simulation of the TECH House I ground-coupled-series solar-assisted heat-pump system

Conference ·
OSTI ID:6321802
The series solar-assisted heat-pump heating system with ground-coupled storage in The University of Tennessee's TECH House I in Knoxville, Tennessee, has been modeled using TRNSYS/GROCS and was compared to the experimental performance for the 1980-1981 heating season. The simulation results were within 8% of the experimental measurements. Both simulation and experimental results showed that ground coupling of thermal storage led to the elimination of electric-resistance backup heat and a large reduction in the peak heating demand of the house. Results of a parametric study showed that, in general, a ground-coupled storage tank performs better than a storage tank place outdoors in the Knoxville area. Application of a next-generation heat pump resulted in the most significant impact on the seasonal performance factor. As expected, higher-performance collectors and larger collector areas led to higher system seasonal performance. An economic analysis showed that the series solar-heat-pump system cannot economically compete with the stand-alone heat-pump system in the Knoxville area.
Research Organization:
Tennessee Univ., Knoxville (USA)
OSTI ID:
6321802
Report Number(s):
CONF-821101-19; ON: DE83901531
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English