Renewable energy as an auxiliary to heat pumps: Performance evaluation of hybrid solar-geothermal-systems

The aim of this study is to combine renewable energy sources with heat pumps so that the usage of electricity needed to operate heat pumps is minimized along with associated fuel combustion. The aforementioned objective leads to reduce the energy consumption, the operational cost and the environment...

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Main Authors: Rabih Murr, Jalal Faraj, Hicham El Hage, Mahmoud Khaled
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Elsevier 2024-11-01
Series:International Journal of Thermofluids
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666202724003628
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author Rabih Murr
Jalal Faraj
Hicham El Hage
Mahmoud Khaled
author_facet Rabih Murr
Jalal Faraj
Hicham El Hage
Mahmoud Khaled
author_sort Rabih Murr
collection DOAJ
description The aim of this study is to combine renewable energy sources with heat pumps so that the usage of electricity needed to operate heat pumps is minimized along with associated fuel combustion. The aforementioned objective leads to reduce the energy consumption, the operational cost and the environmental impact of the heat pump. To minimize the usage of electricity, it is proposed that the heat pump (HP) system is combined by two renewable energy systems, a Solar Air Heater (SAH) and a Geothermal Well Water (G). To enrich this study, five prospective combinations of Heat Pump (HP), Solar Air Heater (SAH) placed Upstream (U) and Downstream (D) of the condenser, and Geothermal Water Well (G) were investigated. Hereafter, these five combinations are referred as HP-G, HP-S-U, HP-S-D, HP-G-S-U and HP-G-S-D. The thermal modeling of the aforementioned combinations in addition to baseline HP were developed and examined using an in-house computational code. To ensure that the input data used in the computational code are reliable, experiments were conducted to validate that the geothermal water temperature is higher than the ambient temperature in winter, in addition to confirming the analytical thermal modeling of the solar air heater. Numerical analyses and associated parametric studies revealed that the combination of Solar Air Heater (SAH) and a Geothermal Well Water (G) can efficiently increase the performance of the system by reducing the power needed to operate the compressor of HP. The gain in COP was found to be 48, 43, 81, 105 and 191 % for HP-G, HP-S-U, HP-S-D, HP-G-S-U and HP-G-S-D respectively. In addition, results revealed that the most efficient system is the (HP-G-S-D) for all simulated conditions and assumptions with a gain in COP that can reach up to 191 % in comparison to the baseline heat pump system.
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spelling doaj-art-e723d0b6bb044f35ab7da17d5bdce59e2024-12-13T11:04:22ZengElsevierInternational Journal of Thermofluids2666-20272024-11-0124100922Renewable energy as an auxiliary to heat pumps: Performance evaluation of hybrid solar-geothermal-systemsRabih Murr0Jalal Faraj1Hicham El Hage2Mahmoud Khaled3Energy and Thermo-Fluid group, Lebanese International University LIU, Bekaa, LebanonEnergy and Thermo-Fluid group, Lebanese International University LIU, Bekaa, Lebanon; Energy and Thermo-Fluid group, The International University of Beirut BIU, Beirut, LebanonEnergy and Thermo-Fluid group, Lebanese International University LIU, Bekaa, LebanonEnergy and Thermo-Fluid group, Lebanese International University LIU, Bekaa, Lebanon; GUST Center for Sustainable Development, Gulf University for Science and Technology, Kuwait; Corresponding author at: Energy and Thermo-Fluid group, Lebanese International University LIU, Bekaa, Lebanon.The aim of this study is to combine renewable energy sources with heat pumps so that the usage of electricity needed to operate heat pumps is minimized along with associated fuel combustion. The aforementioned objective leads to reduce the energy consumption, the operational cost and the environmental impact of the heat pump. To minimize the usage of electricity, it is proposed that the heat pump (HP) system is combined by two renewable energy systems, a Solar Air Heater (SAH) and a Geothermal Well Water (G). To enrich this study, five prospective combinations of Heat Pump (HP), Solar Air Heater (SAH) placed Upstream (U) and Downstream (D) of the condenser, and Geothermal Water Well (G) were investigated. Hereafter, these five combinations are referred as HP-G, HP-S-U, HP-S-D, HP-G-S-U and HP-G-S-D. The thermal modeling of the aforementioned combinations in addition to baseline HP were developed and examined using an in-house computational code. To ensure that the input data used in the computational code are reliable, experiments were conducted to validate that the geothermal water temperature is higher than the ambient temperature in winter, in addition to confirming the analytical thermal modeling of the solar air heater. Numerical analyses and associated parametric studies revealed that the combination of Solar Air Heater (SAH) and a Geothermal Well Water (G) can efficiently increase the performance of the system by reducing the power needed to operate the compressor of HP. The gain in COP was found to be 48, 43, 81, 105 and 191 % for HP-G, HP-S-U, HP-S-D, HP-G-S-U and HP-G-S-D respectively. In addition, results revealed that the most efficient system is the (HP-G-S-D) for all simulated conditions and assumptions with a gain in COP that can reach up to 191 % in comparison to the baseline heat pump system.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666202724003628ExperimentsGeothermal well waterHeat pumpPerformanceSolar air heaterThermal modeling
spellingShingle Rabih Murr
Jalal Faraj
Hicham El Hage
Mahmoud Khaled
Renewable energy as an auxiliary to heat pumps: Performance evaluation of hybrid solar-geothermal-systems
International Journal of Thermofluids
Experiments
Geothermal well water
Heat pump
Performance
Solar air heater
Thermal modeling
title Renewable energy as an auxiliary to heat pumps: Performance evaluation of hybrid solar-geothermal-systems
title_full Renewable energy as an auxiliary to heat pumps: Performance evaluation of hybrid solar-geothermal-systems
title_fullStr Renewable energy as an auxiliary to heat pumps: Performance evaluation of hybrid solar-geothermal-systems
title_full_unstemmed Renewable energy as an auxiliary to heat pumps: Performance evaluation of hybrid solar-geothermal-systems
title_short Renewable energy as an auxiliary to heat pumps: Performance evaluation of hybrid solar-geothermal-systems
title_sort renewable energy as an auxiliary to heat pumps performance evaluation of hybrid solar geothermal systems
topic Experiments
Geothermal well water
Heat pump
Performance
Solar air heater
Thermal modeling
url http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666202724003628
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AT jalalfaraj renewableenergyasanauxiliarytoheatpumpsperformanceevaluationofhybridsolargeothermalsystems
AT hichamelhage renewableenergyasanauxiliarytoheatpumpsperformanceevaluationofhybridsolargeothermalsystems
AT mahmoudkhaled renewableenergyasanauxiliarytoheatpumpsperformanceevaluationofhybridsolargeothermalsystems