Ice storage geothermal heat pump

The use of geothermal heat pumps allows significant savings of energy, Fuel, and financial resources, but in many cases they can't be used because of the absence of underground water sources in the given area. In such cases, it is feasible to use a geothermal heat pump installation which was developed and patented by Z. Melikyan (Russian Patent # 776168). It is proposed to build underground water storage which will serve as a potential low heat source. The evaporator of the heat pump is immersed in the water, and the condenser is linked with the heat supply system. The compressor is located on the insulated cover of the water storage unit and circulates the refrigerant between condenser and evaporator. During the entire heating season, the water from underground storage provides heat which is used for the heating of buildings and lowers its thermal potential. At the end of the heating season, all water is converted to ice. As soon as the temperature of the stored water is lower than the temperature of the ground, the ground also becomes a heat source for the heat pump. The stored ice becomes a source of cold for air conditioning purposes in the summer. This provides a cold air supply to the buildings without use of refrigerators and lowers energy consumption by circulating cold water between the ice storage and the building's air-handling units. At the end of the cooling season, the ice is converted into warm water and is ready to be used in the heating season. A method for design and calculation is developed and energy efficiency analysis of proposed system is carried out. The analysis of this system, done by the authors, shows that the fuel consumption for heating and cooling purposes will be reduced by 2 - 2.5 times compared to the most efficient known heating and cooling systems.