Modelamiento numérico de un intercambiador de calor aire tierra para el enfriamiento de una vivienda unifamiliar en la ciudad de Villavicencio

Abstract

The use of cooling systems, such as air conditioners, has intensified in recent years. This trend, driven by the demand for thermal comfort in hot and tropical climates, has led to an increase in energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. In addition, traditional cooling systems often use refrigerants that, despite existing regulations, still have a negative impact on the environment. Colombia stands out for having one of the cleanest electricity generation matrices worldwide, with 68% of its energy coming from renewable sources, of which hydropower represents the largest contribution. However, the dependence on hydropower limits generation due to droughts that affect reservoirs, which increases the use of thermal generation to meet demand. Conventional cooling systems account for 48% of the average monthly electricity consumption of 157 kWh of Colombian households, increasing greenhouse gas emissions and energy costs. This highlights the need to implement more efficient and sustainable cooling alternatives that reduce both greenhouse gas emissions and energy costs. As an alternative to traditional energy sources and in order to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions, the use of renewable energies such as solar, wind, hydraulic and geothermal has increased worldwide; and by diversifying energy sources in the country, dependence on fossil fuels is reduced, providing energy sustainability. In particular, geothermal energy is a sustainable alternative in cooling applications. Air- to-ground heat exchangers (ICTA) are a technology that takes advantage of the natural heat of the earth to reduce the temperature of the outside air that circulates in a set of ducts buried in the ground, significantly reducing energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions compared to traditional cooling systems. The implementation of an ICTA in the city of Villavicencio can be an alternative to the high environmental pollution caused by the excessive use of air conditioning for cooling inhabited spaces. In particular, this work focuses on the numerical study of an ICTA for a single-family home in order to obtain the behavior of the system under the climatic conditions and geometric configurations to which it would be subjected, which were simulated in the computational fluid dynamics software Ansys fluent and it was determined that the coil configuration with a length of 30 m and a 6” PVC pipe reduces the temperature of the air that would be dispersed in the home, using the least amount of resources and obtaining the lowest pressure losses.