A review on earth tube heat exchanger in heating and cooling systems

Abstract

About 40% of the primary energy in the building sector is consumed for heating and cooling applications, where it started by relying on the use of sustainable energy sources through using an Earth tube heat exchanger (ETHE). ETHE is apparatus that works to transfer heat from ambient air to underground and vice versa which is used in heating and cooling applications. ETHE depends on undisturbed subsoil temperature, where the underground temperature doesn't change through the year at a certain depth. Ambient air passes through the buried heat exchanger in the ground and then cools down in summer and warms in winter. The good performance of this system depends on design efficiency. This paper reviews the experimental and numerical researches of ETHE which focuses on its design. The use of geothermal energy through ETHE leads to meeting energy demand and preserving the environment by reducing carbon dioxide emissions, which in turn affects the ozone.