Heating system with vapour compressor heat pump and vertical U-tube ground heat exchanger

In the paper a heating system with a vapour compressor heat pump and vertical U-tube ground heat exchanger for small residential house is considered. A mathematical model of the system: heated object - vapour compressor heat pump - ground heat exchanger is presented shortly. The system investigated is equipped, apart from the heat pump, with the additional conventional source of heat. The processes taking place in the analyzed system are of unsteady character. The model consists of three elements; the first containing the calculation model of the space to be heated, the second the vertical U-tube ground heat exchanger with the adjoining area of the ground. The equations for the elements of vapour compressor heat pump form the third element of the general model. The period of one heating season is taken into consideration. The results of calculations for two variants of the ground heat exchanger are presented and compared. These results concern variable in time parameters at particular points of the system and energy consumption during the heating season. This paper presents the mutual influence of the ground heat exchanger subsystem, elements of vapour compressor heat pump and heated space.