Recipient Organization
OTISCO ENGINEERING LTD.
446 MAPLEBROOKE DRIVE E
WESTERVILLE,OH 430828621
Performing Department
(N/A)
Non Technical Summary
The project focus is on a way to heat and/or cool new or existing farm buildings using fluid-filled "circulation" pipes underground (geothermal loop field) to transfer heat from the building to the ground (in the summer) or vice versa in the winter. Otisco Engineeringhas developed a unique geothermal loop field design and installation method that will benefit farms. The system and installation method provides a geothermal loop field design that is equivalent or superior to other currently common approaches.The Otisco design also offers the following advantages.Much easier to retrofit on a previously developed farm;Causes little to no damage to existing landscaping or farm fields; andFor an existing 6,000 square foot building (a typical farm building size), the system can be installed and commissioned in two days.The project will include advancement of the design that can be more easily assembled to customize to a system under various scenarios and/or sizes or typesof buildings that need to be heated or cooled. The installation method goes hand and hand with Otisco's design, essentially a tube-in-a-tube arrangement installed undergorund with a directional drillign machine, much like those that are commonly used for installing fiberoptic or cable communication lines. The installed system will be verified by data aquisition during the winter and summer heating/cooling periods. The measurement of flow of fluid (which flows throughthe underground circulation loop pipes) and temperatures of individual loops will provide the actual amount of heat exchanged to or from from the earth to verify the performance of the system. The resulting advanced design will be easier and more economical to install and more readily scalable than convential systems that are in place forheating and cooling buildings.
Animal Health Component
60%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
10%
Applied
60%
Developmental
30%
Goals / Objectives
Major Goals (aka Technical Objectives)A. Develop through rapid prototypes a manifold that can be manufactured with injection molding equipment to allow for a simplified installation of a piping manifold to support Otisco Engineering's "tube-in-tube" geothermal heat-transfer closed piping system.B. Make the product easy enough to install such that most local plumbers, mechanical contractors or perhaps the farmers themselves can easily and efficiently connect the piping from the geothermal heat exchange wells; andC. Install a closed loop system, including the tube-in-tube piping and commercially advanced manifold, and interior heat-exchange equipment, and circulation pump, to demonstrate a reduction in the cost of the underground components of the system as compared to a vertical well system with u-tube piping arrangements.
Project Methods
Research and Development ApproachTo help meet Objective C, we plan to install the prototype system at a property in Otisco NY. We will design a geothermal system to heat an approximately 800 sf cottage the on the property.Each ton of heat capacity generally requires 300 feet of geothermal heat exchange piping in saturated high hydraulic conductivity soils, which is the case at the subject property. We preliminarily estimate the 800-sf structurewill require 1.5 tons of heating and cooling capacity. Based on a need for 1.5 tons of heating capacity and at 300 feet per ton, we estimate we need 450 feet of horizonal well. We will conduct more detailed calculations during the project to finalize our estimate of the pipe length and other aspects of the system.We will consider depth to groundwater and aim for the directional bores containing the geothermal piping to be below the typical seasonally low groundwater level along most of their length. We will do this because water surrounding the geothermal piping creates better heat transfer. Since these wells are arched, the beginning and end segments of the wells will be shallower and above the groundwater. A perennial stream at the edge of the property dictates the groundwater level; so we can conservatively assume the stream bottom elevation as the seasonally low groundwater level. Field work will be necessary to confirm the stream and groundwater levels. An onsite water supply well will be used to obtain the static depth to groundwater. The stream level and stream bottom will also be measured against a known elevation.The geothermal wells, specifically Otisco's tube-in-tube well design, will be installed using a directional boring machine. We will select a location that allows for easy setup of the machine and that allows for a location to install the manifold. Currently, we are thinking the manifold can be installed in a subgrade vault and the piping from the field connected to the manifold within that space. Additionally, the inlet and outlet pipes from the vault will enter the building and tie into a commercially available heat exchange unit inside.To meet Objectives Aand B, we will convert our current 2-dimensional manifold design to a 3-dimensional computer file that will allow it to be efficiently injection molded into a modular plastic injection-molded manifold. The three-dimensional drawing will be generated in SOLIDWORKS® or similar three-dimensional software. In converting the design from a two-dimensional to a 3-dimensional drawing, we will seek to make the manifold more compact, such that it will require less space and allow for it to be easily fastened and stabilized inside a utility room, vault or shed.We will conduct testing of the system using thermal sensors on the manifold to measure temperatures and flow on each dual tube well line as well as a combined line coming in and out of the manifold.We will assess the effectiveness of the system by running standard statistics (e.g., min, max, mean, standard deviation) of the temperatures and flow rates during various ambient temperature conditions. We have years of data, including energy usage and temperature tracking, from a past "tube-in-tube" installation that we can compare to the new system installed for this project. We will also draw upon the costs of vertical well closed-loop systems such as a study at the University of Tennessee Knoxville (Birchfield et al., 2014).Tasks to be performedBelow is a listing of tasks to be performed during the project.Perform a detailed study for the site features to guide locating of the design. This study will help in determiningNumber of wellsLength of each wellSubsurface profile of each wellLocation of each wellLocation of the manifoldSpecial provisions for mounting or housing the manifoldMeans of future monitoring of the installed systemPrepare drawings of the design includingPlan view showing the location of the system features, site features, such as a stream, topographic features, vegetation/trees, the building being heated/cooled, drive areas, septic system, on-site water well, and other utilities.Profile views of each well and any potential conflicts to be avoided (e.g., septic tank and leach field).Details of the manifold and piping, including various cut sections.A three-dimensional file of the manifold.Retain a contractor to injection mold the manifoldRetain a contractor to install the geothermal wells and weld the high-density polyethylene (HDPE) components, including the well end cap, the well piping to the manifold and theSchedule and implement the construction work including:Directionally drilled wellsThe vault for manifoldWelding of the HDPE wells to the HDPE manifold and end cap at the far end of the outer "tube"Install temperature and flow sensors on the system at the manifold for each of the following and log the data through "the cloud." This information will be used to calculate the actual heat transferred from the ground to each loop.Tabulate and graph the data to provide a statistical analysis and comparisons with a past installation that was similarly monitored.Prepare the necessary reports for the project including, at a minimum, an interim report approximately halfway through the project and a final report including:Summary of activitiesDrawingsProcedures for installing such a systemLessons learnedRecommendations for commercialization and possible Phase II researchComparisons of collected dataA summary of the market opportunity at the time of completion of the project.