A Long-Term Dynamic Analysis of Heat Pumps Coupled to Ground Heated by Solar Collectors

In agreement with the decarbonization of the building sector to meet the 2050 climate neutrality targets, borehole thermal storage for solar energy represents a potential solution to increase the energy efficiency of renewable energy plants. As is well known, electricity is not the optimum solution to integrate large inflows of fluctuating renewable energy. In the present paper, we investigate the possibility to use the solar collector to give energy to the borehole field. In detail, a solar-assisted geothermal heat pump is applied to a school located in Milan, Italy. In winter, both the energy from the solar collector and the heat pump are collected into a storage tank connected to the emission terminals, whereas, in summer, as there is no energy demand, the hot water from the solar collector flows into the geothermal probes. By means of this seasonal thermal energy storage technology, the intermittent solar energy collected and stored during the summer months can be utilized during the winter months when the heating demand is high. A long-term dynamic analysis is performed by employing Trnsys. The results show that solar collectors coupled with ground-source heat pumps can give an important contribution to the soil temperature drift, and this also applies in cases of un-balanced loads during the heating season. Moreover, the employment of solar collectors increases the seasonal coefficient of performance of the heat pumps and may rise to reductions to the probes field.

[1]  O. Arslan,et al.  Modelling and Optimization of Domestic Thermal Energy Storage Based Heat Pump System for Geothermal District Heating , 2023, Energy and Buildings.

[2]  Paolo Maria Congedo,et al.  Climate Change Will Affect Photovoltaic Performances? A Long-Term Analysis from 1971 to 2100 in Italy , 2022, Energies.

[3]  P. Valdiserri,et al.  Hourly data for evaluating the carbon dioxide emission factor of heat pumps or other devices connected to the Italian grid , 2022, Data in brief.

[4]  P. Valdiserri,et al.  Interpolating functions for CO2 emission factors in dynamic simulations: The special case of a heat pump , 2022, Sustainable Energy Technologies and Assessments.

[5]  M. G. Gomes,et al.  Performance of Solar Control Films on Building Glazing: A Literature Review , 2022, Applied Sciences.

[6]  Y. Nam,et al.  Performance Analysis of Integrated Photovoltaic-Thermal and Air Source Heat Pump System through Energy Simulation , 2022, Energies.

[7]  B. Pulvirenti,et al.  Analysis of the effects of shading screens on the microclimate of greenhouses and glass facade buildings , 2022, Building and Environment.

[8]  Hongxing Yang,et al.  Hybrid photovoltaic/thermal and ground source heat pump: Review and perspective , 2021 .

[9]  P. Valdiserri,et al.  Defrosting of Air-Source Heat Pumps: Effect of Real Temperature Data on Seasonal Energy Performance for Different Locations in Italy , 2021, Applied Sciences.

[10]  Niccolò Aste,et al.  Photovoltaic-thermal solar-assisted heat pump systems for building applications: Integration and design methods , 2021, Energy and Built Environment.

[11]  Feng Xu,et al.  Performance Analysis of Solar-Assisted Ground-Coupled Heat Pump Systems with Seasonal Thermal Energy Storage to Supply Domestic Hot Water for Campus Buildings in Southern China , 2021, Sustainability.

[12]  C. Biserni,et al.  Effects of the Circuit Arrangement on the Thermal Performance of Double U-Tube Ground Heat Exchangers , 2020, Energies.

[13]  V. Verda,et al.  Thermal energy storage in district heating and cooling systems: A review , 2019, Applied Energy.

[14]  V. Bianco,et al.  Heat pumps for buildings heating: Energy, environmental, and economic issues , 2018, Energy & Environment.

[15]  Giovanni Ciampi,et al.  Thermo-economic sensitivity analysis by dynamic simulations of a small Italian solar district heating system with a seasonal borehole thermal energy storage , 2018 .

[16]  Shiu-keung Tang,et al.  A Review on Natural Ventilation-enabling Façade Noise Control Devices for Congested High-Rise Cities , 2017 .

[17]  Brian Vad Mathiesen,et al.  Energy Storage and Smart Energy Systems , 2016 .

[18]  S. Lazzari,et al.  Natural convection effects in the heat transfer from a buried pipeline , 2016 .

[19]  G. Fraisse,et al.  Experimental study of a ground-coupled heat pump combined with thermal solar collectors , 2006 .

[20]  Marco Lorenzini,et al.  Energy performance of a ventilation system for a block of apartments with a ground source heat pump as generation system , 2017 .

[21]  Takashi Tomita,et al.  Feasibility study of a district energy system with seasonal water thermal storage , 2000 .