Experimental investigation of a ground-coupled heat exchanger combined with an air conditioner for southern India

Increasing the energy ratio of an air conditioner that has a cooled air condenser is a difficult problem, particularly in areas where the temperature and humidity are very high. The efficiency of air conditioners based on standard vapor compression technology can be enhanced by combining active cooling technologies with less energy-intensive inactive cooling technologies. In this study, the cooling performance of combined cooling systems has been experimentally explored. Using four different modes of a hybrid ground-coupled heat exchanger (GCHE), an analysis was carried out to enhance the energy ratio of the active cooling system connected to the GCHE. This was achieved by using the fact that the GCHE outlet air temperature is lower than the ambient temperature and can directly supply space heating or cooling to the condenser tubes of conventional air conditioners. It was observed that with the use of a GCHE for the condenser tubes, the energy consumption of a traditional window air conditioner was reduced by 16.18%.

Automated summary

The study experimentally explored the cooling performance of combined cooling systems, finding that using a hybrid ground-coupled heat exchanger can effectively reduce the energy consumption of traditional window air conditioners.