Heating Performance of a Ground Source Multi-Heat Pump for a Greenhouse

Good plant-growth conditions can be achieved by means of using greenhouses. One of the main issues in greenhouse cultivation is energy savings through the development of high efficient heating and cooling system. GSHPs are one of the recommended systems to cope with this pending need. The aim of this study is to investigate the heating performance of ground source multi-heat pump system installed in a greenhouse under part load conditions. Daily average heating COP of the heat pump unit was very high by at least 7.4, because of relatively large condenser, evaporator, and mass flow rate through ground loop heat exchanger. However, the system COP, overall heating coefficient of the performance of the system with heat pump unit and GLHX, decreased drastically due to relatively large power consumption of circulating pump under part load condition. It is suggested that the technology to enhance the performance of the ground source multi-heat pump system for a greenhouse under part load conditions should be developed.