3177.23 - Geothermal Energy and Heat Pumps

3177.23

Geothermal Energy and Heat Pumps

7.5

Thermodynamics.

To enable students to describe and critically evaluate geothermal energy systems, e.g. geothermal energy and hydrothermal energy, and relevant energy production technology.

Geothermal energy and production from this is relatively new branch of industry in the Faroe Islands, although some 300 geothermal wells have been constructed in the last 15 years. This course takes into account the most important aspects of such energy production, from a basic introduction to Faroese geology and other technical subjects of the production. The technical part of a geothermal ground source heat-pump system is very important, and this will be described both with physical and mathematical theoretical teaching. Hydrothermalpump systems have been installed on the Faroe Islands during the last decade or so. Technically these are somewhat similar to ground source heat pump systems, albeit the energy source is different. The ability to model and plan small and larger geothermal systems is a core function of the energy engineer. To give the student this experience, industry software by experts in the field will make real data based projects using the Earth Energy Designer (EED) during the course. The students will as part of the course be visiting relevant research institutes. Furthermore visits will be made to buildings with different types of running heat pump systems, in order to achieve a practical experience with the different types of heat pump systems.

Lectures, exercises, group work, self-study, project based learning, visits to research institutes and consulting engineering companies.

A student who has met the objectives of the course will be able to: - Describe all the important aspects of a geothermal heat pump system, both geological and technical. - Understand the geology in the Faroe Islands that has direct influence on geothermal energy production. - Explain the theoretical background for geothermal energy, such as Furier´s Law, thermal conductivity, specific heat capacity. - Describe mathematically the heat balance in the underground in a geothermal well. - Will be able to evolve and utilize simple models in excel for use to describe the heat conditions in the underground. - Describe al the important aspects of a sea heat pump system, both the technical parts and data analysis. - Use and implement data from geothermal system sin Earth Energy Designer (EED) software. - Evaluate critically dimensions of a geothermal system, such as well depth, size of heat pump using EED software.

Project report.

External

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