Performance analysis of horizontal ground source heat pump systems for cooling in southern climate

Abstract

The aim of this present study was to verify the reliability of the simulation model of the ground source heat pump, for this purpose a TRNSYS model has been built for a GSHP coupled with horizontal ground heat exchanger (HGHX) used for cooling a demonstration unit equipped with radiant floor located at the Research Center and Technologies of Energy (CRTEn), Tunisia and a good agreement was obtained between the simulation and experimental results. After the thermal modeling of GSHP including HGHX which were done using TRNSYS software, the optimum design parameters of the system for the severe hot zone were estimated subject to a list of economic constraints.The results obtained from this study demonstrate that the utilization of ground source heat pump is a promising and profitable solution for the cooling in the Southern climate; it is possible to lower the mean indoor air temperature below 26 °C and raise the average relative humidity to reach 65%.