All ETDs from UAB

Advisory Committee Chair

Hessam Taherian

Advisory Committee Members

David Littlefield

Lee Moradi

Yao Yu

Zheng O'Neill

Document Type

Dissertation

Date of Award

2019

Degree Name by School

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) School of Engineering

Abstract

Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC) systems contribute significantly to building energy efficiency. Most conventional HVAC systems, such as electrical resistance heater or air to air heat pumps, require high energy consumption while generating a large amount of carbon emission. Therefore, the HVAC system of a building has become the core part of the building design process to improve energy efficiency. Ground source heat pumps (GSHP) offering a relatively high coefficient of performance (COP) and low carbon emission have become a widely-accepted choice. By adding assistive components or alternative heat exchangers, the overall performance can be boosted to a new level. The so-called hybrid GSHP (HGSHP) system shows better capability when applied to various climates from severely cooling-dominant to very hot areas by adding appropriate assistive components. This research focuses on developing computer models of innovative HGSHP systems with various configurations of horizontal ground loops, and by optimizing the overall design and configurations. Several different configurations of ground source heat pump systems are simulated and analyzed using the Transient System Simulation Tool (TRNSYS). Liquid dry cooler serving as a supplemental component is connected to the GSHP to implement the hybrid system according to the building cooling/heating demand. The research reports on the feasibility of ground source heat pump systems design with a combination of the latest GSHP technology and applicable design algorithms.

Included in

Engineering Commons

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