SBIR Phase II: Ground-Loop Heat Exchanger Solution for Low Cost Ground-Source Heat Pumps

这个小型企业创新研究（SBIR）项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力是，它将大大降低用于空间供暖和制冷应用的住宅和商业地源热泵（GSHP）系统的初始成本。GSHPs本质上比大多数加热和冷却技术更节能。这项技术将加速美国经济的电气化，减少国家对化石燃料的依赖，减少峰值电力需求，并降低二氧化碳等温室气体的排放。GSHP运行安静可靠，提供湿度控制，并可提供加热和冷却，大大提高了建筑环境的舒适度和生活质量。GSHP还可以减少和平摊低收入住房的水电费，并提高向有需要的人提供能源援助计划的能力。SBIR第二阶段项目建议进一步开发一种新技术，以克服GSHP系统的适用性，可取性和成本竞争力方面的障碍。该项目的主要技术目标是改进与拟议的新型地下换热器技术应用相关的工具和技术诀窍，并在目标地理市场的实际应用中展示该技术的可行性和性能。具体而言，该项目将进一步完善用于确定热交换器系统尺寸的计算建模工具;并开发和整合这些模型将使用的复杂地理空间数据集/这将导致在特定场地的基础上更准确，更快速地确定热交换器尺寸。接下来，该项目将通过对安装在家庭系统上的原型系统进行扩展测试和数据收集来验证这些工具。最后，该项目将在目标地理市场的三个商业系统的部署过程中应用这些工具，并收集有关其性能随时间推移的额外数据。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) project is that it will significantly lower the initial cost of residential and commercial ground-source heat pump (GSHP) systems used in space heating and cooling applications. GSHPs are inherently more energy efficient than most heating and cooling technologies. This technology will accelerate electrification of the US economy, lessen the nation’s dependence on fossil fuels, reduce peak electricity demand, and lower emissions of greenhouse gases such as CO2. GSHPs operate quietly and reliably, provide humidity control, and can provide both heating and cooling, greatly increasing the comfort of building environments and quality of life. GSHPs can also reduce and levelize utility bills in low-income housing and enhance the ability to provide energy assistance programs to those in need.This SBIR Phase II project proposes to further develop a novel technology that will overcome barriers in the applicability, desirability and cost-competitiveness of GSHP systems. The project’s chief technical objectives are to improve tools and knowhow relating to the application of the proposed novel in-ground heat exchanger technology and to demonstrate the feasibility and performance of this technology in real-world applications in targeted geographical markets. Specifically, the project will further refine the computational modeling tools used to size heat exchanger systems; and develop and integrate sophisticated geospatial data sets that these models will use/ This will result in more accurate and more rapid heat exchanger sizing on a site-specific basis. Next, the project will validate these tools through extended testing and data collection on a prototype system installed on a home system. Finally, this project will apply these tools during the deployment of three commercial systems in targeted geographic markets and collect additional data regarding their performance over time.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.