Solar assisted heat pump systems with ground heat exchanger-simulation studies

Different concepts of solar assisted heat pump systems with ground heat exchanger are simulated according to IEA SHC Task44/HPP Annex38 reference conditions. Two aspects of the concepts are investigated using TRNSYS simulations. First, the solar impact on system efficiency is assessed by the seasonal performance factor. Second, the solar impact on the possible shortening of the ground heat exchanger is evaluated by the minimum temperature at the ground heat exchanger inlet. The simulation results reveal diverging optimums for the concepts. The direct use of solar energy clearly achieves the best effect on the efficiency improvement. A simple domestic hot water system reaches a seasonal performance factor of 4.5 and solar combi-systems seasonal performance factors up to 6. In contrast, the use of solar energy on the cold side of the heat pump achieves the best effects on the shortening of the ground heat exchanger of up to 20%. Two highly sensitive influences are investigated with the developed transient system model. First, the minimum allowed heat source temperature is varied. Here 1 K equals a variation of 0.25 in the seasonal performance or of around 10% ground heat exchanger length. Second, the ground heat exchanger model is simulated without and with a pre-pipe that improves the transient model behavior. The influence of this pre-pipe on the SPF is small for conventionally designed ground heat exchangers, but of around 2 K for the minimum inlet temperature. Therefore, the dynamic model quality reveals potential to reduce the size of the ground heat exchanger corresponding to investment costs. (C) 2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.