2012 Research Projects

Being current with ground source research is difficult.

Direct involvement for those of us in the industry always held back by the daily grind. Sometimes we all must step forward and participate to move the ball.

As adjunct at Oklahoma State University, Oklahoma City Campus, with the sustainable/renewable program, I recognized a need to begin the process of "getting the research" together. This is an effort to do just that.

The OG+E Project:

Oklahma Gas and Electric Services, OG+E, is guiding a research project that is considering reducing ground source loop lengths and costs and follows ONRL's 2008 -

"Geothermal (Ground-Source) Heat Pumps:Market Status, Barriers to Adoption, and Actions to Overcome Barriers" document by Patrick Hughes.

The project focuses on borehole resistance and used various configurations of the ground heat exchanger (ghex). The site chosen was the Habitat for Humanity in NW Oklahoma City. Collaborators are OG+E (www.oge.com), Oak Ridge National Labs (ONRL www.onrl.gov), Bariod Industrial Products (www.bariodidp.com), and ClimaterMaster (www.climatemaster.com), IGSHPA (www.igshpa.okstate.edu), and Ewbank Geo Testing (www.geotctest.com). Participants provided labor, materials and installation for various ghex configurations. Two pass or normal loops, four pass or two loops per borehole, HDPE and fiberglass concentrics, and horizontal loops were installed.

The borehole drilling process was monitored and a suite of electronic logs conducted. The logs included deviation, caliper, spontaneous potential., resistance., gamma, short (16")  and long (64") normal resistance. Drill fluid weights at total depth were measured along with wall cake build. As the ghexs were installed the grouts were measured in the field for weights in #/gal and thermal conductivity. A lot was learned from this; and I will detail this in another blog.

12 ground source homes received new ClimateMaster two ton HVAC units with two speeds. Data acquisition units from OSU/IGSHPA were installed to measure the units and ghexs. While operating the systems are recorded at one minute intervals. This documentation is providing a treasure trove for our industry.

Soon a web site will be available to follow the operations, review the documentation, see the field measurements for all our industry.

I am excited with the opportunities this will provide for ground source.
Garen

Ground Source Design Process

Ground souce HVAC/R systems require sizing the ground heat exchanger (ghex) to the facility loads. Air source, direct connected fuel and power designs do not have the additional steps needed to properly size the ghex.

Three steps are the "big picture" for ground source:
1) Facility design (this is where the others stop) and this is usually done by a Engineering MEP firm
2) Local earth properties; thermal conductivity and deep earth temperatures
3) ghex sized to meet the facilities loads over a 30 to 40 year design period

Waterways and Improvements at Fairview, OK

I can see that citizens of Fairview are not getting both sides of the issue and facts are being ignored.
Phil Ewbank has documented his thoughts.

Career Tech IGSHPA Training

Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday (Nov 17,18,19 2009) I will be instructing an IGSHPA accreditation class for the HVAC instructors with the Oklahoma Department of Career and Technology Education. A great group and this will be good for Oklahoma as ground source is the topic of training.

Fairview, Oklahoma Electrical Rates

The cost of electricity has risen in Fairview in 2009. Expect more increases to come as the municipality spends and uses the income form the Fairview Utility Authority to pay off what the municipality has overspent in 2009.
View the Rates

Fairview, Oklahoma Electrical Rates

The electrical rates for Fairview have gone up. A business owner asked me to look into the rates billed to determine the accuracy. The billing was accurate. However, the new rates were not given to the community in a demontrative announcement. If you would like to see the rates they are attached so click here.

Okay, something new!

I will use this blog to inform others about ground source systems, what is new, innovations and industry moves.
One area of special interest is working on a vision for the International Ground Source Heat Pump Assoication. A group meet at Oklahoma State University on the 3rd and 4th of August, 2009, to take a look at where IGSHPA needs to be as our industry grows and changes.
The heat pump manufacturers (particularly ClimateMaster) strongly thinks IGSHPA should take on market positioning, marketing, and lobbying. I generally agree, but, research is needed. The group will recommend to the Advisory Council at the October, 2009 meeting information concerning each. The research will carry a recommendation to formally develope a lab with OSU. This I fully agree is immediately needed.
More later......
Garen