CFD Based Study on an Earth Pipe Heat Exchanger With Different Pipe Geometries

Abstract

Heating and cooling is a prime need for various day to day operations and one of the most basic requirements is space conditioning. A huge amount of energy all across the globe is being used for this purpose using various conventional & non-conventional energy based resources. But environmental problems, fast depletion nature and high prices associated with the use of conventional energy sources is becoming a big problem, due to which promotion of non-conventional energy sources becomes important. The use of an in-ground heat exchanger is a unique technique for space conditioning with reduced energy consumption. A lot of research and studies have been done on the design of such systems. This paper presents a study based on the CFD modelling and simulation to analyze the effect on the effective performance of the system by varying the geometry of ducts and using the extended surface to increase the heat transfer rate. Also, a comparative study of performance of earth tube heat exchanger for different cross section of ducts is also presented.