A reply on a geothermal heating and cooling solution

Ontario-SEA@yahoogroups.com, "jenn2eddie" wrote:
I joined the Ontario SEA list hoping members could/would impart some guidance.

My family erected two 20' x 96' double poly greenhouses this Autumn. We are in the process of installing hydro to the greenhouses. I would liked to have gone with a solar/wind combo tied to the grid, but the cost was prohibitive - $85,000. So, my dream of running a truly sustainable grower nursery starts to wain.

I have done some research on the most efficient and cost-effective method of heating the greenhouses for the two to three month period we'll need for growing. Tried and true greenhouse propane heaters with a backup generator seem to meet our requirements.

What I would like, is to install geo-thermal furnaces, and get the added benefits of cooling in the summer. My concern is that they may be too 'green'. I have only found one article in a recent trade publication that discussed geo-thermal in greenhouses. The case study involved a huge grower in Europe. The article wasn't helpful for a newbie grower on a small scale. In twenty years time, I may be an expert on greenhouse heating.

For the moment, I am having difficulty finding someone, or some source, that can help us design a sustainable venture without breaking the bank. Will the plants be CO2 deprived? If so, we'd need to supplement the CO2 - negating the reason for installing a greener heating system. Would it not? Maybe someone knows a grower who is already using geo-thermal on a small scale? Any sage advice, before I write the cheque to the propane company for two new heaters?

Jenn[@more@]

Hi Jenn:
I might be a little bit familiar with the geothermal application, since I took a one year course in geothermal energy technology. If you are interested in the geothermal/wind power applications, we can discuss.

I took a look at about your requirements: geo-heating in winter and geo-cooling in summer. To meet both of your requirements in one geothermal application, a heat pump might be your solution.

There is not much geothermal resources in Ontario, which means hot springs/geyser, faults, dead volcano and etc. The geothermal gradient averages 25-30°C/1000m, which is not feasible for generating electricity or drying. But one good thing for geo-water is, if the well is deep enough, the underground water will keep an ambient temperature, just like the lake Ontario under lake water. The ambient temperature (e.g. 10 degree in depth of 50m) will not change much with the season or weather, which makes the underground water a constant temperature source.

The principle of the heat pump is to get heat from the heat source (ambient water) in the winter and release heat to the cool source (ambient water) in the summer, like a dual-function air-condition machine, whose heating function is less efficient than its air-condition function.

In order to take advantage of this temperature source, a heat pump is needed, which exchanges heat with the ambient temperature water in the well.

The process would be like the following:
1. pump the underground ambient water from the wells.
2. heat exchange with secondary working fluid, which has much lower evaporation temperature than water, like ammonia, or mixture of ammonia with water and etc.
3. use the secondary working fluid to heat exchange with the air in the green house.
4. re-inject the heat-exchanged underground water back to the ground in different wells.

The main devices needed are:
1. pumps to get water out of the well and re-injection.
2. heat exchanger between underground water and ammonia, the heat-exchange wall might need titanium to resist the corrosion/deposition from both underground water and ammonia, and special seal should be carried out on-site.
3. heat exchanger between ammonia and air in green house.
4. controller to adjust temperature and switch the air-condition and heating.

The consumption of the system would be only electricity.

Combined with a small wind power device, it might fit your need. Since solar device doesn't work cost-efficient for your simple heating application in winter. The green house itself can be exposed to the sun shine directly to get heat in a sunny winter day time. In the evening, wind turbine normally will run quite well because of the more stable and powerful night wind. The electricity would make the heat pump run in fully power, while the heating is needed most.

Hope the information provided above will help you a little bit.

Yours

Ken Hong

吸收式冰箱

利用吸收-擴散製冷原理製成的冰箱(圖3 吸收式冰箱製冷系統 )。由發生器﹑精餾器﹑冷凝器﹑蒸發器﹑吸收器﹑貯液罐組成封閉的製冷系統﹐系統中充入氨(製冷劑)﹑水(吸收劑)﹑氫(擴散劑)三種組分。
吸收式冰箱靠工質的液位差和密度差產生自然循環實現製冷。來自貯液罐的濃氨液經液-液熱交換器換熱後進入發生器。發生器中的濃氨液受到電或氣體加熱器加熱而產生氣泡。由於熱虹吸的作用﹐帶氣泡的氨水自提昇管上行﹐至發生器上部時氣泡破裂﹐含有水蒸氣和氨蒸氣的混合氣體進入精餾器﹐並在其內分餾。分餾後﹐因氨蒸氣較水蒸氣的冷凝溫度低﹐故氨蒸氣進入冷凝器﹐水蒸氣則凝成液滴返回發生器的外套管中。進入冷凝器的氨蒸氣被外界空氣冷卻﹐放出熱量﹐在10多個大氣壓(相當於1MPa以上的壓力)下變為液態氨。液態氨進入蒸發器﹐並在擴散劑氫氣中迅速蒸發擴散﹐吸收周圍的熱量﹐產生製冷效果。
在蒸發器中形成的氫氨混合氣因密度大於氫氣﹐隨即下行﹐經氣-氣熱交換器換熱後﹐通過貯液罐上部空間進入吸收器中。同時﹐發生器中氨蒸發後剩餘的稀氨水由於提昇管的作用被汲到發生器上部﹐經連通管進入吸收器上部﹐形成從上向下的液流﹐它與由下向上流動的氫氨混合氣在吸收器內相遇﹐氨氣被稀氨水溶液吸收﹐氫氣則經過吸收器上部返回蒸發器。在吸收器中吸入氨氣的稀氨水變為濃氨水進入貯液罐﹐再送往發生器﹐使循環周而復始。
吸收式冰箱系統內沒有機械咿D部件﹐無機械磨損﹐使用壽命長﹐且咿D時沒有振動和噪聲﹐特別適用於醫院﹑臥室等需要保持寧靜的場所。這種冰箱可以使用電﹑煤氣﹑煤油﹑液化石油氣﹑天然氣﹑太陽能等多種能源製冷﹐因而也適於電力不足﹑無電源的農林牧地區﹑邊防哨卡﹑船舶等的食物冷藏。吸收式冰箱比相同功率的壓縮式冰箱的製冷量小﹐故首次降溫速度慢﹔使用電能製冷時﹐耗電比壓縮式冰箱高。

冷热空调系统流程

夏季，空调循环水流过机组的蒸发器，把从房间吸收的热量，通过不锈钢钎焊板式换热器传递给制冷剂，然后通过制冷剂的循环，从机组的冷凝器里把热量再传递给流经的井水，通过井水带入地下。冬季，井水流经机组的蒸发器，把地下水中的热量，通过不锈钢钎焊板式换热器传递给制冷剂，然后通过制冷剂的循环，从机组的冷凝器里把热量再传递给流经的空调循环水，供用户取暖。为避免泥沙的影响，在五口井水的汇流处设一旋流避沙罐，为平衡循环水的供回水压力差，在分水器与集水器间设一电动阀，通过压差控制器来调整。系统的补水通过补水泵由井水的排水来提供，系统水的压力稳定有电子定压系统来保障，代替了膨胀水箱，节省了安装空间。

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