Thermodynamic Analysis of a Central Heating System Combing the Urban Heat Network With Geothermal Energy

In recent years, with the continuous urban expansion, the central heating sources are commonly insufficient in the areas of Northern China. Besides, the increasing heat transfer temperature difference results in more and more exergy loss between the primary heat network and the secondary heat network. This paper introduces a new central heating system which combines the urban heat network with geothermal energy (CHSCHNGE). In this system, the absorption heat exchange unit, which is composed of an absorption heat pump and a water to water heat exchanger, is as alternative to the conventional water to water heat exchanger at the heat exchange station, and the doing work ability of the primary heat network is utilized to drive the absorption heat pump to extract the shallow geothermal energy. In this way, the heat supply ability of the system will be increased with fewer additional energy consumptions. Since the water after driving the absorption heat pump has high temperature, it can continue to heat the supply water coming from the absorption heat pump. As a result, the water of the primary heat network will be stepped cooled and the exergy loss will be reduced. In this study, the performance of the system is simulated based on the mathematical models of the heat source, the absorption heat exchange unit, the ground heat exchanger and the room. The thermodynamic analyses are performed for three systems and the energy efficiency and exergy efficiency are compared. The results show that (a) the COP of the absorption heat exchange unit is 1.25 and the heating capacity of the system increases by 25%, which can effectively reduce the requirements of central heating sources; (b) the PER of the system increases 14.4% more than that of the conventional co-generation central heating system and 54.1% more than that of the ground source heat pump system; (c) the exergy efficiency of the CHSCHNGE is 17.6% higher than that of the conventional co-generation central heating system and 45.6% higher than that of the ground source heat pump system.