DOE EERE Research Reports

Geothermal heat pumps can employ deep well vertical-tube heat exchangers or relatively buried horizontal, or spiral, tubing to extract and reject heat to and from the surrounding soil. These are generally made out of a flexible plastic and buried under several feet of topsoil. Projects were undertaken to design, install, and test horizontal ground coils both in a southern climate (Tennessee) and a northern climate (Long Island). Additional work included theoretical analysis of ground coil design and economic evaluations.

1. Field Performance at the Tennessee Energy Conservation in Housing (TECH) Test Site
1. TECH House I Horizontal Coil Ground Coupled Heat Pump: 1982-83 Heating Season Performance
2. TECH House I Horizontal Coil Ground Coupled Heat Pump: 1983 Cooling Season Performance
3. Final Report: 1984-85 Annual Performance Testing and Analysis of Two Horizontal Coil Ground-Coupled Heat Pump Systems
4. Annual Performance of a Horizontal Coil Ground-Coupled Heat Pump
5. Seasonal Performance Evaluation of Two Horizontal-Coil Ground-Coupled Heat Pump Systems
2. Field Performance at a Northern Test Site (Upton, New York)
1. Ground-Coupled Heat Pump System Experimental Results
2. Design, Operation, and Performance of a Ground-Coupled Heat Pump System in a Cold Climate
3. Field Performance Validation of an Advanced Design Earth-Coupled Heat Pump System
4. Horizontal Ground-Coil Heat Exchanger Theoretical and Experimental Analysis
5. Technical and Economic Feasibility of Horizontal, Multiple Shallow-Well, and Deep-Well Ground Coupling for Residential Heat Pump Applications