Experimental Evaluation of the Ground Source Heat Pump System with a New Control Strategy - A Case Study in Tianjin

In order to improve the cooling performance of the ground source heat pump (GSHP) system, save the operating cost and reduce the heat discharged into the ground soil, a new free cooling control strategy is proposed in this paper, with which the circulating water in the ground heat exchanger is used to cool the building directly. Firstly, an office building located in Tianjin is selected. Then, the measurement of the GSHP system is conducted during the cooling season. Finally, the experimental evaluation of the new strategy is performed. The results show that the free cooling strategy can meet the cooling demand of the case building at the beginning of the cooling season, there is no dewing phenomenon on the floor surface during the floor radiation free cooling period and the average system energy efficiency ratio (EER) (with the value of 49.29) of the free cooling mode is 16.6 times that of active cooling mode. The electricity consumption and operation cost have a great saving potential. The total heat discharged into the ground soil is reduced largely. This will slow the performance deterioration of the GSPH system.