Ground Source Heat Pump

From Factsheets: Limiting UK Emissions
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GSHP in a suburban setting - a case study

In the following scenario an early adopter installs a Ground Source Heat Pump (GSHP) and initially enjoys uncontended use of the sensible heat contained within a hemispherical volume of sub-soil beneath her - and her neighbours' properties. Later, under a policy of mass adoption of GSHP technology, all the surrounding properties are competing for the same heat and the effective source volume is bounded by the area of property, straight down.

Early Adopter

Mass uptake

This latter case can be mathematically modelled as "Transient Heat Conduction in a Semi-infinite Solid". The housing estate is an infinite surface plane, held at the heat extraction temperature T0°C. The ground extends to an infinite distance in all horizontal directions - and downward (hence semi-infinite solid) and is initially at a uniform temperature Ti. Since Ti > T0 heat flows from below ground towards the surface where it is collected by the slinky coils and used to heat the house. The mathematical solution (proof not given here) provides equations for the temperature distribution within the sub-soil, as a function of time and depth and the heat flux, that is the quantity of heat that can be extracted at the surface, a function of time alone

Temperature distribution