Geothermal Heat Pump Simulation for Hourly Ground Loop Sizing
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current geothermal heat pump design and simulation software is inadequate, lacking user-friendly web-based accessibility, real-time data integration, and detailed building parameter settings, leading to inefficient and costly design processes for commercial applications.
Innovation Solution
A web-based geothermal heat pump design program that allows for detailed building energy analysis, simulating hourly energy consumption and demand, incorporating real-time geographical and weather data, and enabling hybrid system designs to optimize heat exchanger size and operating costs.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If conventional design software is used, then design capability is provided, but user accessibility and ease of operation deteriorate due to lack of web-based interface
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces traditional desktop software applications with a web-based interface accessible through web browsers. This substitution eliminates the need for complex local software installations and provides universal accessibility through standard web technologies, directly improving ease of operation while maintaining design functionality.
Solution Approach 2:
The web-based platform provides universal access to geothermal heat pump design tools through standard web browsers, eliminating the need for separate software applications. This multi-functional approach allows users to access design, simulation, and analysis capabilities through a single unified interface, improving accessibility without sacrificing functionality.
2Measurement precision
If detailed building parameters are incorporated, then design accuracy improves, but computational complexity and processing time increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary calculations and pre-processing of building parameters before main simulations. By preparing data structures, validating inputs, and pre-computing certain parameters in advance, the system reduces the computational burden during actual design simulations, thereby maintaining high accuracy while reducing processing time.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent divides the design and simulation process into multiple modular segments that can be executed independently and in parallel. This segmentation allows complex calculations to be broken down into manageable tasks, improving both accuracy through detailed parameter analysis and efficiency through parallel processing of different building zones and time periods.
3Reliability
If real-time data integration is implemented, then design relevance improves, but data processing complexity and computational load increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system introduces data processing intermediaries that standardize and validate incoming real-time building parameters before they are used in simulations. These intermediary layers filter, normalize, and verify data from multiple sources, ensuring design relevance while managing complexity through structured data processing pipelines rather than direct handling of raw data.
4Measurement precision
If hourly energy simulation is performed, then energy analysis accuracy improves, but computational time and resource requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system implements periodic simulation steps at hourly intervals to capture diurnal variations in building energy consumption and geothermal heat pump performance. This periodic approach maintains high accuracy by resolving temporal patterns while optimizing computational resources by using representative time steps rather than continuous simulation, balancing precision with productivity.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The program provides accurate, efficient, and cost-effective geothermal heat pump system designs by simulating hourly energy fluctuations and interactions, reducing installation and operational costs while avoiding earth thermal degradation.
Implementation Method 1
GHPs employ a heat exchanger in contact with the ground or groundwater to extract or dissipate heat
Implementation Method 2
the ground loop provides a closed circuit for the circulating heat exchange fluid
Data Source
AI summary
An in-ground geothermal heat pump (GHP) closed loop design program is disclosed for designing, analyzing, and simulating a detailed model and analysis of a proposed buildings in-ground geothermal heat pump system, including borehole length, number of boreholes, heat pump capacity, grid layout, total electric operating costs, efficiency ratios, and hybrid designs, among others. In one aspect of the disclosure described herein, the GHP design program can reliably and efficiently predict the fluctuations of the GHP equipment performance in very small increments which enables the determination of energy consumption and demand information on a specific and unique hourly schedule basis for a proposed building design, including incorporating thermal load data for each individual zone of the building. More specifically, the small increment method here can be used to eliminate overly broad approximations by evaluating GHP performance that is specific to building dynamics, constants, and variables for all of the building individual zones and the building's hourly operating schedule, thereby providing an efficient, reliable, simple, and effective geothermal heat pump design and simulation model.