Reports & Publications

In this section you will find various documents and other files relating to this project. Keep an eye on this section as files will be regularly uploaded as the project progresses. Please refer to the Contacts section should you need to contact us regarding an specific information.

WP1 – Overall Project Management and Coordination

• D1.1 – Governance structure, communication flow, and methods. Quality Plan. Risk analysis and contingency plan.
• D1.2 – Prototype and Users’ manual of the Private intranet tool.

WP2 – Improved drilling technologies for borehole implementation

• D2.1 – Report on the evaluation of available information. [Download]
• D2.2 – Fully designed & tested drilling tools, production series available. [Download]
• D2.3 – Drill rig and tooling (completely) operational and tested. [Download]
• D2.4 – Report on field trials of augers and drill rig. [Download]
• D2.5 – Manufacturing specifications. [Download]

WP3 – Cost-effective ground heat exchangers improvement

• D3.1 – Heat exchanger design review, performance specification and manufacturing development plans. [Download]
• D3.2 – Documented numerical analysis of optimal heat exchanger performance. [Download]
• D3.3 – Documented Validation Test Results And Heat Exchanger Performance Data. [Download]
• D3.4 – Ground Heat Exchanger Technical and User Documentation. [Download]

WP4 – Plug & Play Geothermal System Development

• D4.1 – Dual Source heat pump design. [Download]
• D4.2 – Heat pump prototype 1. [Download]
• D4.3 – Final design of the refrigerant circuit and strategy of operation between the two different heat sources. [Download]
• D4.4 – Heat pump prototypes 2 and 3. [Download]
• D4.6 – Global System model of Plug&Play installations. [Download]
• D4.7 – Optimal operation of the systems. [Download]
• D4.8 – Central System Controller. [Download]

WP6 – Demonstration, validation and LCA

• D6.1 – Commissioning Protocol Plug & Play systems. [Download]
• D6.6 – Life Cycle Assessment Public report.

WP7 – Market analysis, Business modelling e Business planning

• D7.1 – Market assessment. [Download]
• D7.2 – Mapping and Risk Assessment. [Download]
• D7.3 – Business Models. [Download]
• D7.5 – Intermediate plan for the Exploitation of the Results. [Download]

WP8 – Dissemination and Communication

• D8.1 – Project website.
• D8.2 – Communication and Dissemination plan.
• D8.3 – Web-gis interface.
• D8.4 – Intermediate Plan for the Dissemination of the Results.
• D8.5 – Final Plan for the Dissemination of the Results.

Dual source heat pump, a high efficiency and cost-effective alternative for heating, cooling and DHW production

Authors: Jose Corberan, Antonio Cazorla Marin, Carla Montagud, Javier Marchante-Avellaneda
Keywords: Dual source heat pump; TRNSYS; Carbon Technologies;
Abstract: This article presents the characteristics and performance of an innovative dual source heat pump (DSHP) for heating, cooling and domestic hot water (DHW) production. The research work was carried out in the framework of the H2020 European project: Geot€ch ‘GEOthermal Technology for economic Cooling and Heating’. The DSHP is able to choose the most favourable source/sink in such a way that it can work as an air-to-water heat pump using the air as a source/sink, or as a brine-to-water heat pump coupled to the ground. The DSHP is manufactured as an outdoor ‘plug & play’ unit, working with R32 refrigerant and including a variable speed compressor, which gives full capabilities for an efficient modulating operation. The DSHP was fully characterized in steady state conditions at the IUIIE laboratory. In order to assess its dynamic performance and to identify key control strategies to optimize its annual operation, a complete integrated model of the DSHP system in TRNSYS including the DSHP and all the other system components was developed. A first energy assessment, carried out for an office building located in the Netherlands, proves that the DSHP system would be able to reach a similar efficiency than a pure ground source heat pump (GSHP) system with half the ground source heat exchanger area needed. Therefore, the DSHP system could become a cost-effective alternative solution for heating, cooling and DHW production in buildings, as the initial investment would be significantly reduced compared to GSHPs, with similar or even higher energy efficiency. Download
Published with the authorization of the International Journal of Low-Carbon Technologies – DOI: 10.1093/ijlct/cty008

Approximate model predictive building control via machine learning

Authors: Ján Drgoňa, Damien Picard, Michal Kvasnica, Lieve Helsen
Keywords: Building climate control; Model predictive control; Machine learning; Dimensionality reduction; Time delay neural networks; Regression trees
Abstract: Many studies have proven that the building sector can significantly benefit from replacing the current practice rule-based controllers (RBC) by more advanced control strategies like model predictive control (MPC). However, the optimization-based control algorithms, like MPC, impose increasing hardware and software requirements, together with more complicated error handling capabilities required from the commissioning staff. In recent years, several studies introduced promising remedy for these problems by using machine learning algorithms. The idea is based on devising simplified control laws learned from MPC. The main advantage of the proposed methods stems from their easy implementation even on low-level hardware. However, most of the reported studies were dealing only with problems with a limited complexity of the parametric space, and devising laws only for a single control variable, which inevitably limits their applicability to more complex building control problems. In this paper, we introduce a versatile framework for synthesis of simple, yet well-performing control strategies that mimic the behavior of optimization-based controllers, also for large scale multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO) control problems which are common in the building sector. The approach employs multivariate regression and dimensionality reduction algorithms. Particularly, deep time delay neural networks (TDNN) and regression trees (RT) are used to derive the dependency of multiple real-valued control inputs on parameters. The complexity of the problem, as well as implementation cost, are further reduced by selecting the most significant features from the set of parameters. This reduction is based on straightforward manual selection, principal component analysis (PCA) and dynamic analysis of the building model. The approach is demonstrated on a case study employing temperature control in a six-zone building, described by a linear model with 286 states and 42 disturbances, resulting in an MPC problem with more than thousand of parameters. The results show that simplified control laws retain most of the performance of the complex MPC, while significantly decreasing the complexity and implementation cost. Go to ScienceDirect.com

Suitability Evaluation of Specific Shallow Geothermal Technologies Using a GIS-Based Multi Criteria Decision Analysis Implementing the Analytic Hierarchic Process

Authors: Francesco Tinti, Sara Kasmaee, Mohamed Elkarmoty, Stefano Bonduà, Villiam Bortolotti
Keywords: shallow geothermal energy; ground source heat pump; analytic hierarchic process; geographic information system; mapping
Abstract: The exploitation potential of shallow geothermal energy is usually defined in terms of site-specific ground thermal characteristics. While true, this assumption limits the complexity of the analysis, since feasibility studies involve many other components that must be taken into account when calculating the effective market viability of a geothermal technology or the economic value of a shallow geothermal project. In addition, the results of a feasibility study are not simply the sum of the various factors since some components may be conflicting while others will be of a qualitative nature only. Different approaches are therefore needed to evaluate the suitability of an area for shallow geothermal installation. This paper introduces a new GIS platform-based multicriteria decision analysis method aimed at comparing as many different shallow geothermal relevant factors as possible. Using the Analytic Hierarchic Process Tool, a geolocalized Suitability Index was obtained for a specific technological case: the integrated technologies developed within the GEOTeCH Project. A suitability map for the technologies in question was drawn up for Europe. Download
Published with the authorization of the Energies Journal – DOI: 10.3390/en11020457

Experimental calibration of underground heat transfer models under a winery building in a rural area

Authors: Francesco Tinti, Alberto Barbaresi, Marco Ferrari, Mohamed Elkarmoty, Daniele Torreggiani, Patrizia Tassinari, Stefano Bonduà
Keywords: Thermal impact of buildings, ground temperature, shallow geothermal energy, heat transfer via the ground
Abstract: Ground temperature and hydrogeological conditions are key parameters for many engineering applications, such as the design of building basements and underground spaces and the assessment of shallow geothermal energy potential.
Especially in urban areas, in the very shallow depths, it is difficult to find natural undisturbed underground thermal conditions because of anthropic interventions. The assessment of underground behaviour in disturbed conditions will become more and more relevant because of increasing awareness to energy efficiency and renewable energy topics. The purpose of this paper is to show a three-dimensional representation – based on models calibrated on experimental data – of the underground thermal behaviour affected by a building in a rural area in Italy. Temperature varies in space and time and it depends on ground, climate and building characteristics, and all these parameters are taken into account by the seasonal periodic modelling implemented. The results obtained in a context of low urbanization indirectly suggest the importance of these effects in dense urban areas; taking greater account of these aspects could lead to improvements in the design of underground spaces and geo-exchanger fields for geothermal energy exploitation. Download
Published with the authorization of the Mining-Geology-Petroleum Bullettin – DOI: 10.17794/rgn.2017.3.4

Macro-scale underground geomechanical and thermal mapping for very shallow geothermal applications

Authors: Francesco Tinti, Villiam Bortolotti, Roberto Bruno, Stefano Bonduà, Sara Kasmaee Yazdi, Mohamed Elkarmoty
Keywords: Ground source heat pumps, geothermal energy, geostatistics, kriging
Abstract: The exploitation of Shallow Geothermal Energy (SGE), mainly using Borehole Heat Exchangers (BHE) down to 100 – 200 m depth, has become popular for heating and cooling purposes. The widespread application of BHE to exploit SGE can help European countries to fulfill their commitment in terms of energy saving, renewable energy quota and carbon dioxide emissions reduction. Nonetheless, the current state of the uptake of the technology in the EU varies across Member States, and significant barriers that limit the investments still exist. The potential increase of the use of SGE systems can be related to: 1) moderate the investment costs (drilling, grouting, tubing, pipes), 2) reduce the complexity and safety issues (drilling depth, site-working conditions) and 3) enhance the quota of SGE recovery. All the above points are tackled by the GEOTeCH H2020 European Project, whose overall objective is to promote the very shallow geothermal sector. Download Extended Abstract
Published with the authorization of the Organizing Committee. of the Geoenv2016 Conference, Geostatistics for Environmental Applications, held in Lisbon, July 6-8 2016.

New borehole heat exchanger dynamic model in TRNSYS: adaptation of B2G model to long term simulation periods

Authors: Carla Montagud, Felix Ruiz Calvo, Antonio Cazorla Marin, Jose Corberan
Keywords: ground source heat pump, ground source heat exchanger, TRNSYS, B2G model
Abstract: The use of models that simulate the behaviour of a facility are widely spread as an aid in the design and optimization of heating and cooling systems. In a ground source heat pump system, the most important component is the ground source heat exchanger, but it is also the most complex to model. There are several ground source heat exchanger models, most of them are focused either on the short term or on the long term behaviour. However, the models that are able to predict both the short and the long term need long times of simulation. In this work, a new ground source heat exchanger dynamic model (B2G) is presented, based on an existing ground source heat exchanger located at Universitat Politecnica de Valencia. This model is able to predict the short term response of the heat exchanger with good accuracy and low computational cost. In order to model the long term behaviour, two existing models are considered: the DST model (an already existing model in TRNSYS) and the g-function model. Therefore, the B2G model is coupled with each one of the long term models to consider both the short term and the long term behaviour. The simulation of the ground source heat exchanger operation using the B2G coupled with each of the long term models is compared with the experimental results. The results show that the B2G model is able to reproduce with high accuracy the real behaviour of the ground source heat exchanger when it is coupled with the g-function model as well as with the DST model. In conclusion, this model has a good adaptability to dierent long term models. Download Abstract
Published with the authorization of the International Institute of Refrigeration (IIR). All CYTEF 2016 conference proceedings are available in the Fridoc database on the IIR website at www.iifiir.org