Ground coupled heat exchangers: A review and applications

The use of ground coupled heat exchanger (GCHE) systems is increasing worldwide. They are mainly used for space conditioning, water heating, agricultural drying, bathing, swimming, etc. They reduce cooling load in summer and heating load in winter. GCHE systems make available excellent scope to conserve significant amount of primary energy and thus mitigating the impact on environment through emission reduction. This paper reviews the experimental and modeling studies carried out on GCHE systems. The reviewed literature focuses on performance of both types of GCHE systems viz. earth-air heat exchanger (EAHE) and ground source heat pump (GSHP) systems and brings out their merits and demerits.