Study on COP Variations with the duration of Ground Source Heat Pump Systems Operation

In this study, the COP variation with the duration of Ground Source Heat Pump (GSHP) systems operation was analyzed by experiment. This experimental facility was installed in residential house as a back-up device of solar thermal heating system. The capacity of heat pump is 2.5 kW with a vertical bore hole of 150m depth. The COP of GSHP is varied, depending on the ground temperature which is used as a heat source. The ground heat source temperature influencing heating COP is the soil or rock temperature which adjoin with geo-source heat exchanger. This temperature is decreased rapidly according to the operation duration of heat pump. As a result, COP of GSHP is decreased to 3 in one hour of continuous operation time.