During installation and operation of a geothermal heat pump system leakage of an antifreezing agent can appear in a borehole and leak out in surrounding groundwater. To guarantee high quality drinking water for generations to come Sweden has dedicated some areas as water protection areas. The local authority gives permits for the installation of heat pump systems within water protection areas. Before giving a permit the local authority makes an evaluation of the risks involved in installation and operation of the system within the area. By keeping a certain distance between the protected object in the area and the heat pump system the risk of polluting the protected object with an anti-freezing agent can be reduced. This thesis makes a comparison between three different methods of calculating an appropriate distance between the protected object and the heat pump system. These methods include different numbers of parameters to calculate the appropriate distance. The results are evaluated with regard to the parameters used. The methods used are a simplified version of an empirical point-count system made by LeGrand, an analytical solution from Baetsle and a numerical solution with Visual MODFLOW 4.0. / Miljöbalken med bakomliggande miljömål skall bidra till att skydda viktiga naturområden för en hållbar utveckling. Ett stort problem för att tillgodose detta behov är dock alla konkurrerande intressen som kan finnas inom ett och samma område. Vattenskyddsområden utfärdas i syfte att ge tillgång till rent vatten för framtida dricksvatten, men konkurrerande intressen påverkar även dessa områden. Beslut om vilka verksamheter som skall vara tillåtna inom ett vattenskyddsområde tas av den kommun inom vilken området finns. Ett ökande oljepris har under senare år lett till ett ökat intresse av att installera bergvärmeanläggningar. Denna kraftiga ökning har gjort att negativa effekter av att installera dessa anläggningar förbisetts och att installatörer med dåliga kunskaper fått en chans att etablera sig på marknaden. Före eventuell installation av en bergvärmeanläggning inom ett vattenskyddsområde är det viktigt att beakta de risker som en bergvärmeanläggning kan medföra för omgivande grundvatten. En noggrann utredning kräver beaktande av alla de riskmoment som installation och drift av en sådan anläggning kan medföra. För omgivande grundvatten är det dock främst läckage av köldbärarvätska, dvs. vatten med tillfört frostskyddsmedel, som kan ha en större inverkan. Det finns idag ingen övergripande lagstiftning över tillåtna köldbärarvätskor, men enligt de hänsynsregler som finns i miljöbalken och rekommendationer av bl.a. Sveriges Geologiska Undersökning skall etanol användas som frostskyddsmedel. Etanol för tekniskt bruk innehåller denatureringsmedel för att motverka konsumtion. Denatureringsmedel samt etanol kan ge smak och lukt till vatten och är därför inte önskvärda att ha i ett vattenskyddsområde. Dessa ämnen tillför även negativa effekter genom att de som substrat för bakterier kan ge en ökad bakteriehalt i marken. Under nedbrytning av dessa ämnen kan även syrefria förhållanden utbildas i jorden vilket kan leda till utfällningar av järn och mangan samt utbildning av svavelväte. Det finns olika riktlinjer för hur risk med att införa en bergvärmeanläggning i ett vattenskyddsområde beaktas i olika kommuner. Ett lämpligt skyddsavstånd mellan en bergvärmeanläggning och ett skyddsobjekt kan dock göra att risken för att förorena ett skyddsobjekt med etanol kan minimeras. Detta arbete har utförts i syfte att jämföra olika metoder för att ta fram ett skyddsavstånd för en första övergripande undersökning av vilken effekt ett läckage av etanol kan ha på ett skyddsobjekt ett visst avstånd från en ansatt bergvärmeanläggning. De metoder som använts är en förenklad form av en empirisk lösning av LeGrand, en analytisk lösning av Baetsle och en numerisk lösning i Visual MODFLOW.

The thesis has been conducted at Bosch Thermoteknik AB and its aim is to develop a Model Predictive Control (MPC) controller for a ground source heat pump which minimizes the power consumption while being able to keep the inside air temperature and Domestic Hot Water (DHW) temperature within certain comfortintervals. First a model of the system is derived, since the system consists of both continuous and binary states a hybrid model is used. The MPC controller utilizes the model to predict the future states of the system, and by formulating an optimizationproblem an optimal control is achieved. The MPC controller is evaluated and compared to a conventional controller using simulations. After some tuning the MPC controller is capable of maintaining the inside air and DHW temperature at their reference levels without oscillating too much. The MPC controller’s general performance is quite similar to the conventional controller, but with a power consumption which is 1-3 % lower. A simulation using an inside air temperature reference which is lowered during the night is also conducted, it achieved a power consumption which was 7.5 % lower compared to a conventional controller.

An experimental and analytical investigation on a water-coupled microchannel gas cooler was conducted in this study. With a relatively low critical temperature (31.1°C/89.9°F) and pressure (73.7 bar/1070 psi), CO2 is a supercritical fluid on the high side of a vapor compression cycle under warmer ambient conditions. This results in a non-isothermal heat rejection through the component known as the gas cooler. The large temperature glide in the heating of tap water matches well with the supercritical temperature glide of carbon dioxide. Unlike in a condensation process, here the non isothermal heat rejection can be used to advantage in a counterflow gas cooler, in which the water outlet temperature can rise to the desired high value. This minimizes temperature pinch and keeps gas cooler size economical. The focus of this thesis was to develop and experimentally validate a heat transfer model for a water-coupled microchannel gas cooler. The heat exchanger was tested in a small capacity experimental heat pump system. The heat pump system was designed to simulate conditions for heating domestic tap water to a usable temperature. A matrix of test points varying refrigerant inlet temperature, refrigerant mass flow rate, water inlet temperature and water volumetric flow rate were used to characterize the performance of the heat exchanger and validate the model.

Despite their limited commercial applications, chemical heat pumps (CHP) have been considered as an important alternative to conventional heating and cooling technologies. In this study, the adsorption-desorption of ethanol over activated carbon was applied on the CHP reactor. The ethanol vapor - activated carbon adsorption rate was determined at 30, 60, 90 and 120&deg / experimentally by using Intelligent Gravimetric Analyzer C(IGA). The experimental adsorption data were used on the transient modeling of reactor by assuming single component gas phase. Then, spatial and temporal temperature, rate of heat transfer, and total amount of heat transferred for a given period were determined. Finally, the calculated adsorption and temperature profiles were integrated over volume to predict performance of heat pump for different reactor geometries. The results showed that, with proper modeling satisfactory performance values can be attained using these systems.

Oberflächennahe Erdwärmekollektoren, insbesondere horizontale Erdwärmekollektoren, stellen eine wirtschaftlich und energetisch sinnvolle Wärmequellenanlage für Wärmepumpen dar. Auf Grund mangelnder wissenschaftlicher Untersuchungen in der Vergangenheit wurde deren Leistungsfähigkeit bisher jedoch kaum ausgenutzt. Des Weiteren fühlten sich die Planer bei der Auslegung oft unsicher, da es kaum verlässliche Auslegungsrichtlinien gab. In dieser Arbeit werden ein numerisches und ein analytisches Rechenmodell vorgestellt, mit denen Jahresverläufe der charakteristischen Soletemperaturen und der Eisbildung realitätsnah simuliert werden können. Mit Hilfe dieser Rechenmodelle wurde unter Berücksichtigung unterschiedlicher Bodentypen und Klimazonen die hydraulische und geometrische Auslegung anhand der Kriterien Energieeffizienz, Wirtschaftlichkeit, Betriebssicherheit und Umweltbeeinflussung bewertet, optimiert und Einsatzgrenzen klar ausgearbeitet. Daneben wurde auch die Auslegung für Kollektoren bei Spitzenlastnutzung und Sonderbauformen wie Grabenkollektoren und Erdwärmekörben untersucht.

Ground source heat pumps (GSHP) have the ability to significantly reduce the energy required to heat and cool buildings. Historically, deployment of GSHP's in the cooling-dominated Texas and Southwest region has been significantly less than in other regions of the United States. The long term technical and economic viability of GSHPs in arid regions such as Texas has been questioned due to failures of ground loop heat pump systems by early adopters. A proposed solution is to include a supplemental heat rejection (SHR) device to help offset the unbalanced ground loads. An integrated building load-ground source heat pump model is developed in this thesis and is designed to be a test bed for potential SHR devices. The model consists of discrete component models that can be mixed and matched to represent various types of buildings and ground source heat pumps. One of the unique features of the integrated model is the use of the Simulink/Matlab environment. This environment allows the user to develop component models that take advantage of the built-in functionality of Matlab and Simulink. Another unique feature is the full coupling of the building load, heat pump, and ground loop at every time step. The building load, heat pump, and ground loop models were chosen to allow for short time step simulations, which allows for a range of dynamic response times to be modeled and for different heat pump/SHR control methods to be explored. The integrated model can be used on any computer that has the Matlab and Simulink software. The building load model used, called HAMBASE, can model both residential and commercial buildings. HAMBASE was validated using the ASHRAE 140-2007 standard. The heat pump model uses readily available data provided by GSHP manufacturers to accurately model operation across a wide range of input conditions. The vertical borehole ground loop model, developed at Oklahoma State University, is based on Eskillson's g-function model, but included a one-dimensional numerical model to calculate the short term thermal response of the borehole and ground. The ground loop model utilizes GLHEPRO, a ground loop sizing and simulation tool, to create the required parameter files. Using the integrated building load-ground source heat pump model, a model of a single family house with a ground source heat pump was developed. The house model was validated by the results from eQuest and GELHPRO. A series of sensitivity studies were completed to determine dominant factors affecting the use of GSHPs in Texas and the Southwest regions of the United States. The results show that the life of a vertical borehole can be significantly extended/cut short if the ground parameters are properly/not properly designed prior to ground loop sizing. / text

Baigiamajame magistro darbe nagrinėjamas pastato, aprūpinimas šiluma šilumos siurbliu su šiluminiais poliais. Yra apžvelgtos esamos giliosios bei sekliosios geoterminės energijos panaudojimo panaudojimo galimybės Lietuvoje. Aprašytos prielaidos ir supaprastinimai šiluminių polių skaičiavimui, aprašytos skaičiavimo metodikos. Atlikti šiluminių polių skaičiavimai, naudojantis penkiomis metodikomis. Aprašytas pasirinktas pastatas, apskaičiuoti atitvarų šiluminiai rodikliai, nustatyta pastatui reikalinga šiluminė galia. Naudojantis „Design builder“ modeliavimo programa sukurtas pastato modelis ir apskaičiuoti pastato šilumos bei vėsos poreikiai metų laikotarpiu. Pagal nustatytus poreikius modeliavimo programa „EED“ sumodeliuoti šildymo vėsinimo ciklai dvidešimt penkeriems metams į priekį. Sistema palyginta su baziniu šilumos šaltiniu. Išnagrinėjus gautus rezultatus pateikiamos rekomendacijos bei baigiamojo darbo išvados. Darbą sudaro 11 dalių: įvadas, geoterminės energijos panaudojimo galimybės Lietuvoje, šilumos siurblių tipai, šiluminių polių skaičiavimo metodikos bei skaičiavimai, nagrinėjamo pastato aprašymas, pastato šiluminės galios skaičiavimas, pastato šilumos/vėsos poreikių modeliavimas „Design builder“ programa, šiluminių polių skaičiavimas „EED“ programa, nagrinėjamos sistemos palyginimas su baziniu šilumos šaltiniu, rekomendacijos, išvados ir literatūros sąrašas. Darbo apimtis 68 p. teksto be priedų, 49 iliustr., 16 lent., 29 literatūros šaltiniai. / The final master thesis presents analysis of heat supply to the building using a heat pump with energy piles. There is an overview of shallow and deep geothermal energy utilization current possibilities in Lithuania. The assumptions and simplifications of the calculation for the energy piles are described as well as the calculation methodology. Calculations of the energy piles are performed, using five methods. The chosen building is described, thermal performance of partitions are calculated and the building heating capacity is calculated. . Using the "Design Builder" building simulation program a model was generated and the calculations of annual heating and cooling demand are performed. According to the demand of building using simulation program "EED" heating /cooling cycles are calculated of twenty-five years ahead. The system was compared with the basic heat source. After analyzing all results conclusions are given. Thesis consists of 11 parts: introduction, overview of geothermal energy resources usage posibilities in Lithuania, types of heat pumps, calculation methods and calculations of energy piles, description of the building data, calculation of building heating system power, simulation of heat /cooling demand of the building with "Design Builder" program, calculation of energy piles with "EED" modeling program, Comparison of the system with the basic source of heat, recommendations, conclusions and references, Volume of the thesis 68 p. of the text... [to full text]

Historiskt sett har den Svenska värmemarknaden dominerats av fjärrvärmen som i princip varit det enda kostnadseffektiva alternativet där det funnits tillgängligt. På senare tid har dock spelreglerna börjat på att förändras, bland annat på grund av värmepumparnas intåg, en förändrad energipolitik och ökade kundkrav – vilket har lett till en mer konkurrensutsatt marknad. Denna studie syftar till att både kvantitativt och kvalitativt analysera fjärrvärmens konkurrenskraft jämfört med alternativa uppvärmningstekniker, med fokus på segmenten flerbostadshus, övriga- samt offentliga lokaler. Efter en inledande marknadsundersökning bedömdes värmepumpar i kombination med el eller fjärrvärme, samt pellets i kombination med RME, kunna vara konkurrenskraftiga med fjärrvärme. Därefter beräknades livscykelkostnaden för dessa värmesystem för en generell fastighet som en funktion av dess energibehov och utnyttjningstid, samt för ett antal typanvändare. Dessa typanvändare identifierades genom att analysera förbrukningsstatistik från Vattenfall. Vidare genomfördes flera intervjuer med branschexperter parallellt med att en enkät sammanställdes som riktade sig till energi- och klimatrådgivare i Sverige. Enkäten syftade till att få en nulägesbeskrivning av fastighetsägares syn på värmemarknaden och på så sätt bidra till den kvalitativa analysdelen. Resultatet visar att det rent kostnadsmässigt är små skillnader mellan fjärrvärme och övriga alternativ givet de antaganden som författarna anser är rimliga. För ett typiskt flerbostadshus är fjärrvärme mer fördelaktigt men för en typisk övrig eller offentlig lokal är bergvärme ett marginellt bättre alternativ. Frånluftsvärmepump med fjärrvärme är i båda fallen en billig lösning. Dock visar känslighetsanalysen att det kan skilja med mer än en faktor 2,5 i livscykelkostnad för samtliga alternativ beroende på vilka antaganden som görs. Således är valet av värmesystem ur fastighetsägarens perspektiv nära kopplat till riskbedömning, vad denne tror om framtiden och vilken relation de har till nuvarande värmeleverantör. För alla fastighetsägare är säker och problemfri drift den viktigaste parametern utöver kostnaden. Det finns även en ovisshet kring framtida prishöjningar av både el- och fjärrvärme, vilket leder till osäkra kalkyler. Därför kan förtroendet och relationen med nuvarande värmeleverantör vara avgörande vid en beslutssituation. En hög investeringskostnad är också en tydlig barriär - parallellt som investeringen ofta konkurrerar med andra energi- och fastighetsåtgärder om samma budget. Miljöfrågan är viktig för offentliga lokaler och kan vara det även för övriga lokaler, men är sällan av stor betydelse för flerbostadshus. Sammanfattningsvis är det svårt att avgöra vilket alternativ som är mest konkurrenskraftigt i dagsläget. Flera faktorer spelar in och livscykelkostnaden kan variera kraftigt mellan bästa och sämsta fall för uppvärmningsalternativen. Emellertid indikerar denna studie att en effektbaserad prismodell leder till att fjärrvärmen stärker sin konkurrenssituation bland flerbostadshus men blir mer utsatt i segmenten offentliga respektive övriga lokaler. Särskilt i det senare är bergvärmepumpar ett växande hot. För att bibehålla sin konkurrenskraft är det viktigt att fjärrvärmeleverantörerna är transparenta och tydliga i kommunikationen mot sina kunder, framförallt när det gäller prisutvecklingen. På sikt kan affärsmodellen och erbjudandet behöva innafatta mer än bara värmeleveransen, exempelvis stöd vid energieffektivisering, miljöcertifierad värme samt ett komforterbjudande. / Historically, the Swedish heat market has been dominated by district heating, which basically has been the only cost effective option where it’s available. Lately, however, the situation has begun to change, partly because of the increased efficiency of heat pumps, but also due to changes in energy policies and increased customer demands - which has led to a more competitive heating market. This study aims to quantitatively and qualitatively analyze the competitiveness of district heating compared to alternative heating technologies, focusing on three segments; apartment buildings, public facilities and other premises. After an initial market analysis, heat pumps in combination with electricity or district heating as peak load, as well as pellets in combination with RME, were identified as the most competitive alternatives to district heating. The estimated life cycle cost of the heating systems was then calculated for a number of facilities, as a function of its energy needs and utilization time. These facilities were chosen based on consumption statistics from Vattenfall. Furthermore, several interviews with industry experts were conducted, in parallel with an inquiry that was addressed to energy and climate advisers in Sweden. The survey aimed to get an up-to-date status report of property owners' views on the heat market and thus contribute to the qualitative analysis. The result shows, given the assumptions that the authors find reasonable, that there are minor differences between district heating and its competition if viewed from a cost perspective only. For a typical apartment building, district heating is slightly more beneficial, but for a typical public facility/other premise geothermal heat is a marginally cheaper option. Exhaust air heat pump with district heating as peak load is in both cases a cost effective option. However, the sensitivity analysis shows that the life cycle cost can differ by more than a factor of 2,5 for all heating systems depending on what assumptions are made. Hence, the choice of heating system is from the property owner's perspective closely related to perceived risk and the extent to which trust towards the heat supplier exists. Effortless and reliable operations appear to be the most important factor besides costs for all customer types. Also, there is uncertainity about future price development among all segments, which can lead to impaired calculations. Thus, the customers’ trust for the existing heat distributor, as well as the relationship between them, may fundamentally affect the choice of heating system. A high investment cost is a crucial barrier since it carries a higher risk while also competing with other efficiency measures about the same budget. Public facility owners are keen about the environmental aspects while this question is of less importance for apartment buildings owners. It may be of importance for other premise owners depending on the owner. In summary, it’s difficult to determine the most competitive heating system since the cost effectiveness for all heating systems can vary a lot depending on the assumptions. However, this study indicates that a power based price model will strengthen the competitiveness for district heating among apartment buildings. Among public facilities and other premises it will become more vulnerable to other heating technologies, especially to geological heat pumps. To stay competitive it’s important for district heating distributors to be transparent and clear in the communication with their customers, particularly in regards of price development. In the long term it may be necessary to include more than district heating in their offer, for example support in energy efficiency measures, an environmentally certified heat supply or an offer of guaranteed indoor- comfort.

Efficient heat management in energy intensive applications such as server and data centers has become a national concern due to the magnitude of the energy consumed. In that matter, the absorption refrigeration system is an attractive solution because the abundant waste heat available in the data centers can be recycled to run the heat pump, which will bring about significant cooling cost savings. The use of absorption refrigeration has been limited due to the drawbacks related to the working fluids in commercially available equipment. Recently, ionic liquids (ILs) have been suggested as the absorbent in absorption heat pumps due to their tunable properties, negligible volatility and high thermal stability. The non-random-two-liquid-model was initially used to analyze the feasibility of the new IL based working fluid. Hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) were paired with IL absorbents due to their good properties as refrigerants. The cooling-to-total-energy (CE) efficiency had a local maximum with respect to desorber temperature due to the solubility limit at lower temperatures and large heating requirements at higher temperatures. The waste heat recycling coefficient of performance (COP) continually increased with respect to desorber temperature and among the HFCs studied in this work, R134 gave the highest COP value, which is up to 40 times higher than that of typical vapor compression systems and 60 times higher than NH3/H2O and H2O/LiBr absorption refrigeration systems. A Redlich-Kwong equation of state (RK-EOS) was employed for accurate computation of mixture properties over a wide range of operating conditions. Analysis using the RK-EOS model showed that the CE trend in refrigerants followed the trend of solubility in the [bmim][PF6] IL. However, the trend in COP was different from that of CE as the operating pressure ranges became an important factor. Required pumping work of the working fluids has also been analyzed using a two phase pressure drop equation and the results show that the impact of viscous IL flow is insignificant compared to the total pumping work. The HFCs studied in this work have very similar structures. However, the extent of solubility and system efficiency in the same IL, [bmim][PF6], made a large difference. Most surprisingly, even when the refrigerant had the same chemical formula, the change in fluorine position in tetrafluoroethane showed significantly different system performance. The symmetrical tetrafluoroethane had superior CE and COP over the asymmetrical tetrafluoroethane most likely due to the higher probability to form hydrogen bonding with the absorbent. The computational results for various HFC/IL pairs show that in selecting the working fluid pairs, the refrigerant should have high overall solubility in the IL and a large gradient of solubility with respect to temperature. Also, refrigerants with small pressure ranges are preferred. In addition to the simulation study, a bench-top absorption refrigeration system was built and operated using IL based working fluids for the first time. The effect of cooling was observed by operating the test system. The experimental results were congruent with the predictions from the modeling work. In conclusion, an absorption refrigeration system based on the IL chemical compressor has been shown to be a promising solution in applications which need efficient cooling and generate abundant waste heat.

In recent years carbon dioxide (CO2, R-744)has moved to the foreground as an environmentally friendly alternative to commonly used CFCs and HFCs, which are being phased out due to its high ozone depleting and global warming potentials. R-744 is not only environmentally friendly but due to its unique properties, it is also ideally suited for the use in heat pump water heaters. High cycle efficiencies are achievable even at high hot water temperatures. The high cycle efficiency not only leads to energy and cost savings but also ties in with the drive for implementation of energy saving measures in South Africa. It is therefore paramount to continue development and implementation of R-744 in heat pump water heaters. Optimizing the cycle efficiency is only possible if detailed component simulation models, taking these unique properties of R-744 into account, are available. The purpose of this study therefore was to develop a detail simulation model of a concentric tube-in-tube water-to-refrigerant evaporator, as well as a fin-and-tube air-to-refrigerant evaporator model. Data from the North-West University R-744 heat pump test bench were used to verify the tube-in-tube evaporator simulation model. The discrepancies in the cooling capacity between the simulation and test bench can be attributed to the presence of lubricant in the system.The fin-and-tube model was verified by testing it against the NIST program EVAP-COND (NIST 2010). Overall there was good agreement between the results of the two programs, with EVAP-COND predicting a lower cooling capacity(6% to 14%) and and a higher pressure refrigerant pressure drop (30% to 50%). It was found that both the heat transfer correlation of Jung et al. (1989) and the pressure drop correlation of Choi et al. (1999) are able to predict the experimental values accurately and are valid for use in both the evaporator models developed. To demonstrate the use of the detail evaporator fin-and-tube model, an evaluation of the different tube geometries, commercially available in South Africa, for use with R-744 fin-and-tube evaporators was done. For a fin-and-tube evaporator it was found that the most cost effective option is to use ⅜" (10.05 mm)copper tubes and the least effective is " (12.6 mm) stainless steel tubes. / Thesis (MIng (Mechanical Engineering))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2013.