• Journal of the Korean Solar Energy Society
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• v.32 no.5
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• pp.59-67
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• 2012

In this study,the compact type solar thermal and ground coupled heat pump hybrid system for space heating/cooling and hot water supply has been developed. This hybrid system was installed in Zero Energy Solar House(ZeSH) in KIER for the demonstration. The thermal performance and operational characteristics of this hybrid system were analysed especially. The results are as follows. (1) This hybrid system was designed in order to address the existing disadvantages of solar thermal/ground coupled heat pump system. For this design, all parts except solar collector and ground coupled heat pump were integrated into a single product in a factory. The compact type unit includes two buffer tanks, an expansion tank, pumps, valves, a controller, etc. This system has an advantage of easy installation with simple plumbing work even in narrow space. (2) The thermal charging and discharging time of the buffer tanks and its characteristics by ground coupled heat pump, and heat pump COP according to geo-source temperature and buffer storage temperature have been studied. This system was found to meet well to the heat load without any other auxiliary heating equipment. (3) The operating hours of the ground coupled heat pump as a backup device of solar thermal can be reduced significantly by using solar heat. It was also found that the minimum heating water supply setting temperature and maximum cooling water supply setting temperature make an influence on the heat pump COP. The lower heating water and the higher cooling water temperature, the higher COP. In this respect, the hybrid system's performance can be improved in ZeSH than conventional house.