A Performance Comparison Between an Open Source and a Vertical Closed Source Heat Pump System for Residential Heating In the Cold Climate Iran

Abstract

The investigation presented in this article is aimed at demonstrating the technical and design feasibility of using ground coupled heat pump systems in the cold climate applications for residential heating, where heating load is dominant. An experimental comparison between an open loop ground coupled heat pump system and a vertical closed loop ground coupled heat pump system was shown by focusing on the heating performance. For this purpose, an experimental set-up was constructed. The heating system mainly consists of two different ground heat exchangers, a heat pump, measuring units and a heating space of a house with 65 m2 located in the building. The heating coefficient of performances of the two ground coupled heat pumps (COPHP, O-C) and the overall system (COP sys, O-C) were obtained to be in the range of 3.2-3.9 for OGCHP and 2.2-4.2 for CGCHP and 3.5-4.2 for OGCHP and 2.5-4.5 for CGCHP respectively. Although significant savings are possible with these heating systems, a substantial investment in equipment and facilities may be required. The experimental results were obtained from November to March in heating seasons of 2010-2011. The results showed that the utilization of the