Integration of ground source heat pump with other technologies

Abstract

Ground source heat pump is able to transform the low-grade heat energy into the high-grade heat energy through the energy stored in the soil and a small amount of power so as to make full use of all energy and alleviate environmental pollution. It is considered as a "green" system, mainly because of its use of geothermal energy, a type of renewable energy, which has enormous potential to reduce the CO 2 emission as well as the fossil fuel consumption. Currently, the GSHP has integrated with many other kinds of energy technologies, such as photovoltaic generator, solar energy, thermal storage, cooling tower, and organic Rankine cycles. As for different kinds of energy technologies integrating with GSHP, the thermodynamics performance and the cycling configurations of the integrated system differ in many ways. In this chapter, all discussions about the integration of GSHP with other technologies are presented including the topics of GSHP integrated with photovoltaic generator, solar energy, thermal storage, cooling tower, as well as organic Rankine cycles, respectively. Additionally, the most typical schematic diagrams, recent developments, practical projects, and case study of some integrated system are shown in this chapter.