Analysis of Fuel Cell Driven Ground Source Heat Pump Systems in Community Buildings

In the present study, a fuel cell driven ground source heat pump (GSHP) system is applied in a community building and heat pump system performance is analyzed by computational methods. Conduction heat transfer between the brine pipe and ground is analyzed by TEACH code in order to predict the performance of the heat pump system. The predicted coefficient of performance (COP) of the heat pump system and the energy cost were compared with the variation of the location of the objective building, the water saturation rate of the soil, and the driven powers of the heat pump system. Compared to the late-night electricity driven system, a significant reduction of energy cost can be accomplished by employing the fuel cell driven heat pump system. This is due to the low cost of electricity production of the fuel cell system and to the application of the recovered waste heat generated during the electricity production process to the heating of the community building.