Working With It: Sizing
Heat Exchangers
There are several information sources on sizing ground heat exchangers, such as the International Ground Source Heat Pump Association installation guide.
There are also manufacturer's manuals and software programs to facilitate the design calculations.
These sources include needed design engineering data, such as:
- Pipe size and thermal resistance data.
- Minimum gpm fluid flow in pipe for turbulence.
- Pressure drop design equations.
- Fluid properties of viscosity and density.
- Piping feet of head loss at different flow rates.
- Pipe and soil/field resistance.
- Earth temperature data for various locations.
- Other soil data, thermal properties and general characteristics.
The general steps in the design are:
- Select the ground heat exchanger layout.
- Check the minimum fluid velocity.
- Design for air removal so all potential air traps are designed out.
- Size the ground heat exchanger length.
Rule
Learn more about:
How It Works: Geothermal Concepts
Resources: Incentives & Financing
rule
Brochures and fact sheets
GeoThermal: Bringing Comfort to Your World
By Alliant Energy
[PDF format – 7 pages, 174kb]
