SIMULATION ON OPERATION CHARACTERISTICS OF HYBRID GROUND-AIR SOURCE HEAT PUMP SYSTEM WITH NATURAL COLD STORAGE

To solve the problem of the coefficient of performance (COP) decrease and power crunch in cooling dominated South China associated with the long-term usage of ground-source heat pump system (GSHPS), a hybrid ground-air source heat pump system (HGASHPS) with natural cold storage is presented in this paper. The system consists of a GSHP system and compound air-cooled chillers (CACC), which can be operated according to the vapor compression refrigeration cycle or separate type heat pipe natural cycle. The mathematical models of each part of the system were set up and the conversion conditions between operation modes for the system were determined. The transient simulation for HGASHPS with natural cold storage in Nanjing was carried out. The operation characteristics of the systems in operational life were comparatively analyzed. The simulation results indicated that the HGASHPS with natural cold storage could retain the thermal balance of soil temperature field in one year cycle and increase the COP and reliability of the system.