• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.14 no.12
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• pp.6053-6059
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• 2013

Heat pumps have attracted considerable attention as a green energy system because they use renewable energy, such as geothermal, solar energy and waste heat, and can have a low electricity consumption rate compared to other conventional electric heating system. Many studies of high efficient heat pump system design was performed previously,but it is not easy to find any an analytical model that consists of components (e.g. compressor, heat exchangers, and expansion valve), not only having an interrelation and interconnection each other but also being flexible to any change in geometry and operating parameters. In this study, a computational model was developed for a heat pump with warm air as a heat source using the one-dimensional modeling software, AMESim. In combination with an independently-developed analytical model for a scroll compressor, the heat pump model can simulate the physical characteristics and actual behavior of the heat pump precisely. In addition, the reliability of the model was improved by verifying the simulation results using experimental data. The simulation data fell into the 10% error range compared with the experimental data. The heat pump model can be used for system optimization studies of product development and applied to other applications in a range of industrial field.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.573-577
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• 2013

Heat pumps come into wide use because high energy efficiency can be obtained and diverse heat sources like geothermal heat, waste heat and air are available. It is necessary for an air source heat pump to defrost in order to remove frost on the surfaces of an outdoor heat exchanger. It is impossible for continuous heating if reverse cycle operation is used as defrosting method, furthermore it causes the degradation of COP. In this study an fin-tube heat exchanger with three rows was used as an outdoor coil. One row among three rows of the heat exchanger was used like a condenser in order to remove frost on it, the others were used as evaporator to accomplish continuous heating. Each row was switched in order from a condenser to an evaporator in specified time interval. Tests were carried out during minimum 180 minutes at the defrost-heating test condition(dry bulb temperature $2^{\circ}C$, wet bulb temperature $1^{\circ}C$) described in KS C 9306. Time-averaged COP was about 20% higher than that of conventional defrosting method.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.28-35
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• 2016

The in-situ thermal response test for the design of a ground heat exchanger of geothermal heat pumps have difficulty in predicting the outlet temperature according to the variation of conditions due to the expense and time. This paper suggests a 3-D CFD analysis method to predict the heat transfer performance of vertical type ground heat exchanger, which is mostly used in national, and the outlet temperature and the slope of two in-situ thermal response tests were compared to test the proposed CFD reliability. The results of CFD analysis showed that the outlet temperature was predicted to within $0.5^{\circ}C$ of the actual value and the slope was predicted to within 1.6%. The reliability of the CFD analysis method was confirmed using this process, and the outlet temperature prediction of the two in-situ thermal response tests was obtained by changing ${\pm}20%$ of the flow rate and the effective thermal conductivity conditions, respectively. The results of CFD analysis showed that the outlet temperature of Case 1 was 28.0 (-20%) and $29.6^{\circ}C$ (+20%) for the flow rate variation and $29.6^{\circ}C$ (-20%) and $28.0^{\circ}C$ (+20%) for the effective thermal conductivity variation, and the outlet temperature of Case 2 was 28.4 (-20%) and $29.8^{\circ}C$ (+20%) for the flow rate variation and $29.7^{\circ}C$(-20%) and $28.4^{\circ}C$(+20%) for the effective thermal conductivity variation.

• Korean Journal of Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Engineering
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• v.22 no.7
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• pp.492-507
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• 2010

This article reviews the papers published in the Korean Journal of Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Engineering during 2009. It is intended to understand the status of current research in the areas of heating, cooling, ventilation, sanitation, and indoor environments of buildings and plant facilities. Conclusions are as follows. (1) Research trends of thermal and fluid engineering have been surveyed as groups of general thermal and fluid flow, fluid machinery and piping, and new and renewable energy. Various topics were covered in the field of general thermal and fluid flow such as an expander, a capillary tube, the flow of micro-channel water blocks, the friction and anti-wear characteristics of nano oils with mixtures of refrigerant oils, etc. Research issues mainly focused on the design of micro-pumps and fans, the heat resistance reliability of axial smoke exhaust fans, and hood systems in the field of fluid machinery and piping. Studies on ground water sources were executed concerning two well type geothermal heat pumps and multi-heat pumps in the field of new and renewable energy. (2) Research works on heat transfer area have been reviewed in the categories of heat transfer characteristics and industrial heat exchangers. Researches on heat transfer characteristics included the heat transfer in thermoelectric cooling systems, refrigerants, evaporators, dryers, desiccant rotors. In the area of industrial heat exchangers, researches on high temperature ceramic heat exchangers, plate heat exchangers, frosting on fins of heat exchangers were performed. (3) In the field of refrigeration, papers were presented on alternative refrigerants, system improvements, and the utilization of various energy sources. Refrigeration systems with alternative refrigerants such as hydrocarbons, mixed refrigerants, and $CO_2$ were studied. Efforts to improve the performance of refrigeration systems were made applying various ideas of suction line heat exchangers, subcooling bypass lines and gas injection systems. Studies on heat pump systems using unutilized energy sources such as river water, underground water, and waste heat were also reported. (4) Research trend in the field of mechanical building facilities has been found to be mainly focused on field applications rather than performance improvements. In the area of cogeneration systems, papers on energy and economic analysis, LCC analysis and cost estimating were reported. Studies on ventilation and heat recovery systems introduced the effect on fire and smoke control, and energy reduction. Papers on district cooling and heating systems dealt with design capacity evaluation, application plan and field application. Also, the maintenance and management of building service equipments were presented for HVAC systems. (5) In the field of architectural environment, various studies were carried to improve indoor air quality and to analyze the heat load characteristics of buildings by energy simulation. These studies helped to understand the physics related to building load characteristics and to improve the quality of architectural environment where human beings reside in.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.40 no.6
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• pp.833-841
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• 2007

The groundwater heat pump system(GWHP) is one of the most efficient ground source heat pump system(GSHP) which uses low grade and shallow geothermal energy for cooling and heating purpose. The GWHP system shall be designed properly based on peak block load performance and optimum pumping rate of groundwater comparable to ground coupled heat pump system(GCHP). The optimum pumping rate depends on groundwater temperature at a specific site, size of plate heat exchanger, and total head loss occurred by whole system comprising pumps and pipings. The required optimum flow rates of the system per RT are ranged from 3.8 to 9.8lpm being less than the typical building loop flow of 9.5 to 11.4lpm.

• Korean Journal of Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Engineering
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• v.28 no.10
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• pp.402-407
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• 2016

Ground-coupled heat pump systems have been widely used, as they are regarded as a renewable energy source and ensure a high annual efficiency. Among the system components, borehole heat exchangers (BHE) play an important role in decreasing the entering water temperature (EWT) to heat pumps in the cooling season, and consequently improve the COP. The optimal sizing of the BHEs is crucial for a successful project. Other than the existing sizing methods, a simulation-based design tool is more applicable for modern complex geothermal systems, and it may also be useful since design and engineering works operate on the same platform. A simulation-based sizing method is proposed in this study using the well-known Duct STorage (DST) model in Trnsys. TRNOPT, the Trnsys optimization tool, is used to search for an optimal value of the length of BHEs under given ground loads and ground properties. The result shows that a maximum EWT of BHEs during a design period (10 years) successfully approaches the design EWT while providing an optimal BHE length. Compared to the existing design tool, very similar lengths are calculated by both methods with a small error of 1.07%.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.32 no.2C
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• pp.69-77
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• 2012

In general, geothermal energy pile and horizontal ground heat exchangers are installed in shallower depths than conventional vertical ground coupled heat pumps. Consequently their heat exchange performance is strongly governed by thermal conductivity of soil layer. Previous studies have shown that the thermal conductivity of soil above ground water table significantly affects the heat exchange rate because of partially saturated condition in soil and consequent variation of soil thermal conductivity. This paper presents a study result on the prediction of thermal conductivity of weathered granite soils. For weathered granite soils sampled from 5 locations, thermal conductivity tests were conducted with varying porosity and degree of saturation. The existing thermal conductivity models in literatures appeared inappropriate to the weathered granite soils. Hence, an empirical equation was proposed in this paper and its validity was examined by applying it to thermal conductivity test results obtained for weathered granite soils in this study and from literatures.