US 9,852,243 B1Granted

Hybrid geothermal heat pump design simulation and analysis

OwnerDennis J. Koopinventor

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Abstract

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 building's 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 enable the determination of energy consumption and demand information on a specific and unique hourly schedule basis for the 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.

Claims20

Dependent claims

A method of simulating and interacting between an in-ground geothermal heat pump and a supplemental heating or cooling component, the method comprising:

receiving a geographical location;
receiving temperature data based on the geographical location, wherein the temperature data comprises a plurality of ambient temperature values for each of the 8760 hours in a year;
receiving a building type;
receiving an operating schedule for the building type, wherein the operating schedule is comprised of operating hours for the building type for one or more days in a week;
receiving one or more zones for the building type;
receiving an in-ground geothermal heat pump type for the one or more zones;
receiving a load amount to be transferred to a supplemental cooling or heating component;
receiving one or more internal heat conditions for each of the one or more zones;
receiving a block heating or cooling load condition for each of the one or more zones;
determining a plurality of zone load conditions for each of the one or more zones from the block heating or cooling load condition, wherein the plurality of zone load conditions are determined for each of the ambient temperature values based on the operating hours in the operating schedule;
applying the internal heat conditions to the plurality of zone load conditions;
determining an event wherein the plurality of zone load conditions for each of the ambient temperature values based on the operating hours in the operating schedule are at least partially split between the in-ground geothermal heat pump and the supplemental cooling or heating component, wherein the event is further based on the received load amount to be transferred to the supplemental cooling or heating component;
determining a first operation capacity for the in-ground geothermal heat pump and a second operation capacity for the supplemental heating or cooling component;
and
upon triggering of the event, initiating operation of the supplemental heating or cooling component for the second operation capacity.

12 more elements

A method of simulating a hybrid ground geothermal heat pump system, the method comprising:

receiving a geographical location;
receiving temperature data based on the geographical location, wherein the temperature data comprises a plurality of ambient temperature values for each of the 8760 hours in a year;
receiving a building type;
receiving an operating schedule for the building type, wherein the operating schedule is comprised of operating hours for the building type for one or more days in a week;
receiving one or more zones for the building type;
receiving a geothermal heat pump system type for the one or more zones;
receiving an amount to be directed to a supplemental cooling or heating component comprised of at least of one of:
a cooling tower, fluid cooler, chiller, boiler, furnace, hot water heater, or secondary ground loop;
receiving one or more internal heat conditions for each of the one or more zones;
receiving a block heating or cooling load condition for each of the one or more zones;
determining a plurality of zone load conditions for each of the one or more zones from the block heating or cooling load condition, wherein the plurality of zone load conditions are determined for each of the ambient temperature values based on the operating hours in the operating schedule;
applying the internal heat conditions to the plurality of zone load conditions;
determining a first condition wherein the plurality of zone load conditions for each of the ambient temperature values based on the operating hours in the operating schedule are at least partially split between the geothermal heat pump system and the cooling or heating component, wherein the first condition is further based on the received amount to be directed to the supplemental cooling or heating component;
determining a first operation capacity for the geothermal heat pump system and a second operation capacity for the supplemental heating or cooling component;
operating the first operation capacity for the geothermal heat pump system;
and
upon meeting the first condition, initiating the second operation capacity for the supplemental heating or cooling equipment for handling a portion of the received amount.

14 more elements

A method of simulating a hybrid ground geothermal heat pump system, the method comprising:

receiving a geographical location;
receiving temperature data based on the geographical location, wherein the temperature data comprises a plurality of ambient temperature values for each of the 8760 hours in a year;
receiving a building type;
receiving an operating schedule for the building type, wherein the operating schedule is comprised of operating hours for the building type for one or more days in a week;
receiving one or more zones for the building type;
receiving a geothermal heat pump system type for the one or more zones;
receiving one or more internal heat conditions for each of the one or more zones;
receiving a block heating or cooling load condition for each of the one or more zones;
determining a plurality of zone load conditions for each of the one or more zones from the block heating or cooling load condition, wherein the plurality of zone load conditions are determined for each of the ambient temperature values based on the operating hours in the operating schedule;
applying the internal heat conditions to the plurality of zone load conditions;
calculating a threshold event wherein a portion of the zone load conditions are transferred to a supplemental cooling or heating component;
determining a first operation capacity for the geothermal heat pump system and a second operation capacity for the supplemental heating or cooling component;
operating the first operation capacity for the geothermal heat pump system;
and
upon meeting the threshold event, initiating the second operation capacity for the supplemental heating or cooling component.

12 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Facts

Application: 15/261,927Filed 10 Sep 2016 · continuation in part
Priority: 28 Mar 2014
Granted: 26 Dec 2017
Term ends: Not estimatedThe source records don’t support an estimate.

Classification11 codes

F24F 5/0046
Air-conditioning systems or apparatus not covered by F24F1/00 or F24F3/00 , e.g. using solar heat or combined with household units such as an…
G06F 30/13
Geometric CAD: architectural design, e.g. computer-aided architectural design [CAAD] related to design of buildings, bridges, landscapes,…
G06F 30/17
Geometric CAD: mechanical parametric or variational design
G06F 30/20
Computer-aided design [CAD]: design optimisation, verification or simulation

Family

Application61/971,716Us provisional application · filed 28 Mar 2014
Application14/673,805Parent of this continuation-in-part · filed 30 Mar 2015
Application15/231,520Parent of this continuation-in-part · filed 8 Aug 2016
US 9,443,043 B1Parent of this continuation-in-part
US 10,204,189 B1Related patent
US 9,852,243 B1This patent

From the US filing history. Foreign family members aren’t listed.