EWS test facility

Geothermal probe test facility

The geothermal probe test facility in building Z IVb is used for geothermal research and to investigate the efficiency potential of geothermal heat pump systems.

The system comprises the following main components:

Cooling generator (compression chiller) to simulate heat extraction by a heat pump
Heat generator (gas condensing boiler) to simulate heat input, such as that generated by air conditioning in buildings
Thermal storage for heat and cold
Geothermal probe field (three PE-Xa 32 mm double-U probes arranged in a triangle and a centrally arranged control probe)

The four main components are connected to each other by a hydraulic system. The system design enables the application of defined heating or cooling capacities to individual or multiple probes with individually adjustable operating parameters (heat generator: max. 132 kW, cooling generator: max. 45 kW, circulation pump: max. 12.6 m³/h). The operating range of the test system extends from -10 to +90 °C in order to be able to reliably reproduce the operating limits of commercially available heat pump systems.

All three geothermal probes and the centrally located control probe have a measuring sensor system for recording the temperature along their entire length. The measured values are recorded centrally using a measuring system from Ahlborn/GESO. Data storage and visualization is implemented with the AMR-WinControl software.

Funded by the European Union and the Free State of Saxony