An Economic Analysis and Performance Prediction for a Ground Heat Pump System with Barrette Pile

Ground source heat pump systems (GSHP) can achieve higher performance of the system, by supplying more efficient heat source to the heat pump, than the conventional air-source heat pump system. But building clients and designers have hesitated to use GSHP systems, due to expensive initial cost, and uncertain economic feasibility. In order to reduce the initial cost, many researches have focused on the energy-pile system, using the structure of the building as a heat exchanger. Even though several experimental studies for the energy-pile system have been conducted, there was not enough data of quantitative evaluation with economic analysis and comprehensive analysis for the energy-pile. In this study, a prediction method has been developed for the energy pile system with barrette pile, using the ground heat transfer model and ground heat exchanger model. Moreover, a feasibility study for the energy pile system with barrette pile was conducted, by performance analysis and LCC assessment. As a result, it was found that the heat exchange rate of a barrette pile was 2.55 kW, and the payback period using LCC analysis was 8.8 years.