Journal
APPLIED THERMAL ENGINEERING
Volume 90, Issue -, Pages 1044-1051Publisher
PERGAMON-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD
DOI: 10.1016/j.applthermaleng.2015.04.002
Keywords
Phase change materials; Porous media; Numerical simulation; Ground heat exchanger; Underground thermal energy storage
Ask authors/readers for more resources
The use of a horizontal ground heat exchanger may represent a reliable and cost effective option for ground-source thermal applications. This study presents the thermal performance analysis of a drainage trench used as ground heat exchanger (GHE) coupled with underground thermal energy storage (UTES). The trench is dug in shallow soil and filled with encapsulated phase change materials (PCMs) as granular filler. Two types of PCMs with different melting points are supposed to operate in summer and winter. Fluid flow and heat transfer in porous media are solved via a 2D finite element model to perform a yearly simulation under hourly-scale boundary conditions. The equivalent heat capacity approach is applied to consider the latent heat of the PCMs. The results show a significant capacity of the trench to smooth thermal waves produced by the heat pump. The effect of the PCMs is analysed by comparing with the corresponding case using coarse gravel as filling material instead of PCMs. The case without PCMs still shows good performance, but PCMs offers the advantages of a seasonal UTES and smoothing thermal wave as well. The proposed solution can be therefore considered as an advanced alternative to other widespread common GHEs. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available