Feasibility and performance of coupled air-ground source heat pump systems with thermal storage

Yubo Wang, Zhenhua Quan, Yaohua Zhao, Gary Rosengarten and Ahmad Mojiri

Energy, 2025, vol. 315, issue C

Abstract: Harnessing thermal energy from ambient air to maintain a balanced heat extraction and release from the soil throughout the year can potentially improve the performance of ground source heat pump systems. This paper proposes and analyzes a specific configuration a coupled air-ground source heat pump system. The focus of this study is to investigate the impact of climatic variations on the feasibility of the system, as well as to analyze the economic and environmental benefits associated with the inclusion or exclusion of a thermal energy storage device. The results show that in cold regions, the ground serves as the primary heat source for heat pumps, whereas during transitional seasons, air energy is mainly utilized to transfer heat directly to the soil. As the climate warms, the fraction of heat supplied by air gradually increases, reducing electrical consumption by up to 17 % compared to the conventional air source heat pumps. Despite the negative impact of thermal energy storage on the coefficient of performance, it is still advantageous as it decreases the electricity consumption during peak price periods, leading to at least a 20 % reduction in life cycle costs in most regions. Additionally, the coupled air-ground source heat pump system is more competitive than air source heat pump systems in scenarios with longer design life, colder climates, and lower borehole heat exchanger costs.

Keywords: Air source; Ground source; Heat pump; Thermal energy storage; Renewable energy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0360544225000738
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:energy:v:315:y:2025:i:c:s0360544225000738

DOI: 10.1016/j.energy.2025.134431

Access Statistics for this article

Energy is currently edited by Henrik Lund and Mark J. Kaiser

More articles in Energy from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().