Scanning PIV Method and Its Application to the Calorimetry of Ground Source Heat Pump Systems

Ground source heat pump (GSHP) systems that use a direct expansion method？are expected to have higher energy-saving performance than conventional air conditioning systems. The heat transfer rate is evaluated by measuring the temperature, humidity, and flow rate at the indoor unit of the GSHP system. However, it is difficult to evaluate the flow rate by measuring the flow velocity distribution at the outlet of the indoor unit. In this study, the Scanning PIV method is proposed to improve the accuracy of the flow rate measured by hot wire anemometers. The flow rates obtained by the hot wire anemometers were 60.6% and 15.2% higher than those from the PIV method during cooling and heating operation, respectively. Compensation formulas are generated using the results of the Scanning PIV method to correct the measurements from the hot wire anemometers. This compensation formula reduced the error generated by the nonuniformity of velocity distribution. It was 60.6% to 2.5% in cooling operation and 15.2% to 0.9% in heating operation, respectively. The compensation formulas were applied to evaluate the performance of a GSHP system, and the result shows that the GSHP system provides improved performance stability compared to traditional air conditioning systems.