• Journal of the Korean Society for Geothermal and Hydrothermal Energy
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.32-40
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• 2012

Geothermal heat pump(GHP) systems use vertical borehole heat exchangers to transfer heat to and from the surrounding ground via a heat carrier fluid that circulates between the borehole and the heat pump. An Important feature associated with design parameters and system performance is the local thermal resistances between the heat carrier flow channels in the borehole and the surrounding ground. This paper deals with the in-situ experimental determination of the effective thermal properties of the ground. The recorded thermal responses together with the line-source theory are used to determine the thermal conductivity and thermal diffusivity, and the steady-state borehole thermal resistance. In addition, this paper compares the experimental borehole resistance with the results from the different empirical and theoretical relations to evaluate this resistance. Further, the performance simulation of a GHP system with vertical borehole heat exchangers was conducted to analyze the effect of the borehole thermal resistance on the system performance.

• Journal of the Korean Solar Energy Society
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• v.29 no.5
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• pp.20-27
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• 2009

The effect of borehole thermal resistance on the borehole length is studied. In performing this work a new concept BLRR(borehole length reduction rate) is developed based on the line source model. The solution of line source model is shown to be valid through the comparison with the data of thermal response test. It is shown that BLRR is a function of soil thermal conductivity(k) and borehole thermal resistance($R_b$). The value of BLRR increases with increasing k, which means reducing $R_b$ is more effective when k is high. The reduction of borehole length with change of $R_b$ is easily estimated with BLRR. The validity of BLRR is also examined with EED analysis.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.19 no.10
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• pp.128-135
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• 2018

Currently, vertical closed ground heat exchangers are the most widely utilized geothermal heat pump systems and the major influencing parameters on the performance of ground heat exchangers are the ground thermal conductivity(k) and borehole thermal resistance($R_b$). In this study, the borehole thermal resistance was calculated from the in-situ thermal response test data and the individual effects of design parameters (flow rate, number of pipe, grout composition) on the borehole thermal resistance were analyzed. The grout thermal resistance was also compared with the correlations in the literatures. The borehole thermal resistance of the investigated ground heat exchanger results in 0.1303 W/m.K and the grout thermal resistance (66.6% of borehole thermal resistance) is the most influencing parameter on borehole heat transfer compared to the other design parameters (pipe thermal resistance, 31.5% and convective thermal resistance, 1.9%). In addition, increasing the thermal conductivity of grout by adding silica sand to Bentonite is more effective than the other design improvements, such as an increase in circulating flowrate or number of tubes on enhancing borehole heat transfer.

• Journal of the Korean Solar Energy Society
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.71-78
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• 2010

Investigation of the effective soil thermal conductivity(k) is the first step in designing the ground loop heat exchanger(borehole) of a geothermal heat pump system. The line source method is required by New and Renewable Energy Center of Korea Energy Management Corporation in analyzing data obtained from thermal response tests. Another important factor in designing the ground loop heat exchanger is the borehole thermal resistance($R_b$). There are two methods to evaluate $R_b$ : one is to use a line source method, and the other is to use a shape factor of the borehole. In this study, we demonstrated that the line source method produces better results than the shape factor method in evaluating $R_b$. This is because the borehole thermal resistance evaluated with the line source method characteristically reduces the temperature differences between an actual and a theoretical thermal behaviors of the borehole. Evaluation of $R_b$ requires soil volumetric heat capacity. However, the effect of the soil volumetric heat capacity on the borehole thermal resistance is very small. Therefore, it is possible to use a generally accepted average value of soil volumetric heat capacity($=2MJ/m^3{\cdot}K$) in the analysis. In this work, it is also shown that an acceptable range of the initial ignoring time should be in the range of 8~16hrs. Thus, a mean value of 12 hrs is recommended.

• Journal of the Korean Solar Energy Society
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• v.32 no.5
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• pp.68-74
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• 2012

Investigation of the effective soil thermal conductivity($k$) is the first step in designing the ground loop heat exchanger(borehole) of a geothermal heat pump system. Another important factor is the borehole thermal resistance($R_b$). Thermal response tests offer a good method to determine the ground thermal properties for the total heat transport in the ground. The first step is measured for initial soil temperature. This is done by supplying a only pump power into a borehole heat exchanger. They need to supply into water unload heat power more than 30 minutes. In this study, the initial soil temperature was found to analysis $14.1{\sim}16.0^{\circ}C$,the ratio was 68.7% represented. In this case of $k$, was 2.1~3.0 $W/m{\cdot}k$, $R_b$ was 0.11~0.20 $m{\cdot}K/W$. In this work, it is also shown that the distribution of a soil thermal conductivity and borehole thermal resistance were on the influence of initial soil temperature. And soil thermal conductivity was related with factors of equation by linear least square method, borehole thermal resistance was on the influence of composite factors.

• Korean Journal of Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Engineering
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• v.19 no.7
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• pp.512-520
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• 2007

The design of a ground-source heat pump system includes specifications for a ground loop heat exchanger where the heat transfer rate depends on the effective thermal conductivity of the ground and the effective thermal resistance of the borehole. To evaluate these heat transfer properties, in-situ thermal response tests on four vertical test boreholes with different grouting materials were conducted by adding a monitored amount of heat to circulating water. The line-source method is applied to the temperature rise in an in-situ test and extended to also give an estimate of borehole effective thermal resistance. The effect of increasing thermal conductivity of the grouting materials from 0.818 to $1.104W/m^{\circ}C$ resulted in overall increases in effective thermal conductivity by 15.8 to 56.3% and reductions in effective thermal resistance by 13.0 to 31.1%.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2009.11a
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• pp.581-586
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• 2009

Knowledge of ground thermal properties is most important for the proper design of large scale BHE(borehole heat exchanger) systems. The type, pipe size and thermal performance of the BHE is highly dependent on the ground source heatpump system-efficiency and instruction cost. Thermal response tests with mobile measurement devices were developed primarily for insitu determination of design data for large diameter BHE for triple-U spacer apply. The main purpose has been to determine insitu values of effective ground thermal conductivity and thermal resistance, including the effect of ground-water flow and natural convection in the boreholes. The test rig is set up on a some trailer, and contains a circulation pump, a inline heater, temperature sensors, flow meter, power analysis meter and a data logger for recording the temperature, fluid flow data. A constant heat power is injected into the borehole through the tripl-U pipes system of test rig and the resulting temperature change in the borehole is recorded. The recorded temperature data are analysed with a line-source model, which gives the effective insitu values of rock thermal conductivity and borehole thermal resistance of large diameter BHE for spacer apply.

• Korean Journal of Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Engineering
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.95-102
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• 2011

A ground loop heat exchanger in a ground source heat pump system is an important unit that determines the thermal performance of a system and its initial cost. A proper design requires certain site specific parameters, most importantly the ground effective thermal conductivity, the borehole thermal resistance and the undisturbed ground temperature. This study was performed to investigate the effect of some parameters such as borehole lengths, various grouting materials and U tube configurations on ground effective thermal conductivity and borehole thermal resistance. In this study, thermal response tests were conducted using a testing device to 9 different ground loop heat exchangers. From the experimental results, the length of ground loop heat exchanger affects to the effective thermal conductivity. The results of this experiment shows that higher thermal conductivity of grouting materials leads to the increase effective thermal conductivity from 22 to 32%. Also, mounting spacers have increased by 14%.

• Journal of the Korean Solar Energy Society
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.80-86
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• 2011

Investigation of the effective soil thermal conductivity(k) is the first step in designing the ground loop heat exchanger(borehole) of a geothermal heat pump system. Another important factor is the borehole thermal resistance($R_b$). Thermal response tests offer a good method to determine the ground thermal properties for the total heat transport in the ground. This is done by supplying a constant heat power into a borehole heat exchanger. There are two methods to supply a constant heat power. One is to employ the electricity provided by Korea Electric Power Corporation(KEPCO). The other is to use electricity generated by a generator. In this study, the power supply regulation was found to reduce when the electricity generated by the generator was used. This is because the generator evaluated with the power supply characteristically reduces the power supply regulation between an overload and a complex using. But it sometimes occurs a power supply regulation in In-situ thermal response test. In this case getting of k,$R_b$ requires delay times and restored normal state. However, the effect of the delay times and restored normal state on the soil thermal conductivity and borehole thermal resistance is very small. Therefore it is possible to use a generally accepted delay times and restored normal state in the analysis. In this work, it is also shown that an acceptable range of ${\Delta}k$, ${\Delta}R_b$ for normal state and regulation state might be approximately 0.01-0.16W/m k, and -0.004-0.007m K/W, respectively. Thus, restored normal state of power supply regulation is valuable to recommend.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.30 no.8 s.251
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• pp.764-771
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• 2006

Knowledge of ground thermal properties is most important for the proper design of large BHE(borehole heat exchanger) systems. Thermal response tests with mobile measurement devices were first introduced in Sweden and USA in 1995. Thermal response tests have so far been used primarily for in insitu determination of design data for BHE systems, but also for evaluation of grout material, heat exchanger types and ground water effects. The main purpose has been to determine insitu values of effective ground thermal conductivity, including the effect of ground-water flow and natural convection in the boreholes. Test rig is set up on a small trailer, and contains a circulation pump, a heater, temperature sensors and a data logger for recording the temperature data. A constant heat power is injected into the borehole through the pipe system of test rig and the resulting temperature change in the borehole is recorded. The recorded temperature data are analysed with a line-source model, which gives the effective insitu values of rock thermal conductivity and borehole thermal resistance.