Heat pumps and hybrid options
Obviously, the hart of a ground source heat pump system is the heat pump. A heat pump is able to transfer energy from low to high temperature at very high efficiency, thereby saving primary energy use and greenhouse gas emissions. If you like to know more about how a heat pump works follow this link.
For a good matching between building loads and installed heatpump capacity, the total capacity is devided in a number of steps by using one or more heat pumps with one or more compressors each. In this way a total capacity of, say, 200 kW can be devided in 4 x 50 kW steps. This, together with the buffer capacity, prevents frequent cycling of the heat pump. Cycling (switching on/off) should be avoided as both the service life and the performance of the heat pump decreases dramatically.
Heat pumps can be switched between heating and cooling mode internally (reversible heat pumps) or externally.
Peak demand and backup heating capacity can be provided by gas-fired boilers while additional cooling capacity can be provided by dry-air coolers or other means. These systems are directly integrated with the low temperature heating or high temperature cooling system, guaranteeing optimal integration and performance.