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Horizontal geothermal heat exchangers (HGHEs) with vertical spiral coils have been increasingly used in ground source heat pump (GSHP) systems. Research studies have been conducted using field tests and simulations trying to reveal the heat transfer mechanism of HGHEs with vertical spiral coils and to provide a good heat transfer performance. However, there is no analytical solution has been established for HGHEs with vertical spiral coils. Of particular interest is the temperature variation at the soil surface. The study presented in this paper proposes the development of a mathematical vertical ring-coil model used to describe the heat transfer process of HGHEs with vertical spiral coils. In this new model, the spiral heat exchanger is simplified as a series of ring coils that inject/extract heat in/from a semi-infinite medium. A single ring model in an infinite medium is first introduced. Using images and superposition, a multiple ring-coils analytical solution is then given. The significant influence on the heat transfer performance of HGHEs temperature variation of the ground surface is then considered. A periodically changed boundary condition is being taken into consideration in the modeling process. The validity of the model was examined by a field test and a 3-D simulation model. The analytical solutions may provide a desirable and better tool for the simulation/design HGHEs with vertical spiral coils. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This paper investigates the transient heat conduction around the buried spiral coils which could be applied in the ground-coupled heat pump systems with the pile foundation as a geothermal heat exchanger. A transient ring-coil heat source model is developed, and the explicit analytical solutions for the temperature response are derived by means of the Green’s function theory and the image method. The influences of the coil pitch and locations are evaluated and discussed according to the solutions. In addition, comparisons between the ring-coil and cylindrical source models give that the improved finite ring-coil source model can accurately describe the heat transfer process of the pile geothermal heat exchanger (PGHE). The analytical solutions may provide a desirable and better tool for the PGHE simulation/design. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]