ABSTRACT
Heat pump technology is one of the most sophisticated engineering accomplishments to come out of the twentieth century. Heat pumps are simple devices that operate at the highest efficiency levels accomplished by heat-transporting systems. They are, in essence, Carnot cycles made manifest. They transfer heat in ways that can accomplish both heating and cooling, while consuming a small fraction of the amount of energy they move. Their great advantage comes from the fact that they move heat that already exists, using basic thermodynamic principles, and thus do not require that heat be generated. In this sense they provide the ideal means to satisfy energy demands for heating and cooling buildings and spaces. This chapter considers the principles that need to be addressed when coupling heat pumps to the Earth’s near surface heat reservoir, design concepts for such systems, and issues that need to be considered to successfully complete such an application
Heat pumps that utilize the Earth’s heat energy are fluid-mediated mechanical devices that transfer heat from one location to another, relying on the thermodynamics of fluid systems. The first known use of a heat pump was a device invented by Peter Ritter von Rittenberg in the mid-1850s in Austria that employed exhaust steam for heat in salt mines. But it wasn’t until the early 1900s that heat pumps, mainly as the heart of household refrigerators, became commonplace.
