Abstract:

The seasonally running performance of the hydronic icesnow melting (HISM) on the road by using the ground source heat pump (GSHP) for many seasons was investigated. A innovate numerical simulation module of all HISM systen were established. Results show that the HISM in both heavy and frequent snowfall leads to the further drop of underground temperature and the more power consumption. The maximal instantaneous rate of the heat extracted from the ground appears in begin of every ice-snow melting, and this rate gradually decreases and fluctuates. The seasonal running for many years results in a gradual drop of the ground equilibrium temperature and COP (coefficient of performance) of heat pump system year after year. In the computational example, the COP decreases 8.5% after 5 years. Therefore, the combination of slab solar collection (SSC) and underground thermal energy storage (UTES), which actually supplements the thermal energy to the ground and increases the underground temperature, will provide a sustainable development for the HISM.

Key words: ground thermal energy utilization, road traffic engineering, hydronic ice-snow melting (HISM), heat transfer analysis