Comparison of earth pipe cooling performance between two different piping systems

Rational use of energy and power is a key to the economic development of human society and to achieve sustainable environment. Power and energy have been the major contributors to the global warming and researchers around the world have put a lot of effort to find new ways to save and control energy through energy efficient measures. Earth pipe cooling technology is considered as one of the viable options to save energy for a hot and humid subtropical climate. This paper presents the comparison of earth pipe cooling performance between two different piping systems for a hot and humid subtropical climatic zone in Queensland, Australia. Two different piping systems of vertical and horizontal were laid in the ground in order to compare the cooling performance. A thermal model is developed for the earth pipe cooling system using ANSYS Fluent. Data were collected from two modelled rooms connected with the two different piping layouts and systems. Impact of air temperature and velocity on room cooling performance is also assessed. A temperature reduction is observed for both the piping systems. The results indicate that the vertical piping system shows better performance in comparison with the horizontal piping system.