Two projects being directed by Dr Cy Yavuzturk and Dr. Tom Filburn have been funded by the U.S. Department of Energy. The grants total more than $250,000 for the University and CETA.
The first project involves the development of an integrated system simulation and design model for hybrid GHP (geothermal heat pump) systems aimed at balancing ground thermal loads. Using the ground as a thermal energy source and heat sink is more efficient than using the ambient air because ground temperatures at 3 feet or lower are less variable than the air and because at that depth, the ground is warmer than the air during the coldest winter months. Hybrid systems can be used in places where geological conditions will not allow a large enough ground heat exchanger for a particular building; a cooling tower or some other option is used to handle excess heat loads during cooling.
This project will allow the study of such systems by developing a menu-driven software tool for designing the systems for both heating- and cooling-dominated buildings. While one goal of the project is to develop an easy-to-use tool, another is to make ensure that the resulting tool is based on mathematically robust, validated models. No such design tool currently exists. The method that will be used is based on state-of-the-art life-cycle system simulation tools for GHP systems using TRNSYS.
The second project is the development of a least-cost design tool aimed at improving GHP efficiency in varying climate zones and building types. On this project, the University is acting as a subcontractor to ENVIRON Corporation of New Jersey in collaboration with the University of Vermont and Princeton University. The aim of this project is a decision-making system that will enable ground-source heat pump (GSHP) customers to analyze system cost and performance in a variety of building applications, residential, commercial, government, school, and university to aid in design and purchase decisions. The proposed methodology is based on simulation and optimization and is general insofar as it can be applied to a variety of loop designs and sizes, climate zones, and ground conditions.
The proposed design tool will combine the GSHP-specific interfaces of an existing HVAC software design tool with a groundwater flow and heat transport modeling software piece to allow the modeling of vertical, horizontal, and pond/lake loops in different climate zones and building types in the presence of groundwater flow. Most GSHP designs do not get credit for groundwater flow and so are overdesigned. In addition, the proposed tool will integrate a set of optimization software that makes it particularly powerful for least-life-cycle-cost analysis. That software was developed at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the University of Vermont
The proposed design tool will be applied to the ground-coupled system at Lawrence Apartments Complex on the Princeton University campus. The application will demonstrate the importance of incorporating groundwater flow and heat transport into the design of GSHP systems and the significance of a systems approach to the design of GSHP systems.
Undergraduate and graduate students will work on these projects under the supervision of Drs. Yavuzturk and Filburn and graduate research projects will result from the work.
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