METHOD FOR CALCULATING GROUND STORAGE DEVICE TEMPERATURES FOR THE OPERATION OF A GEOTHERMAL FACILITY

Abstract

A method for calculating ground storage device temperatures for operating a geothermal facility with a circulation system by means of at least one geothermal heat exchanger or an energy pile with inflow and outflow lines leading to the geothermal heat exchanger or energy pile. The underground temperature in the ground storage device and/or the temperatures on the inflow and outflow lines are measured. The method includes the following steps: designing a ground storage device model (2) for converting the measured temperature variations into dynamic energy flows in the ground storage device; designing an energy flow model (3) based on statistically determined models and influencing variables relating to heat and cold; and calculating the future temperature variations (5) in the ground storage device using the energy flow model (3) and the ground storage device model (2).

Claims

1. A method for calculation of ground storage device temperatures for the operation of a geothermal facility with a circulation system via at least one geothermal heat exchanger or an energy pile with inflow and outflow lines leading to the geothermal heat exchanger or energy pile, wherein the underground temperature in the ground storage device and/or the temperatures at the inlet and outlet lines are measured, comprising the steps: designing a ground storage device model (2) for converting the measured temperature variations into dynamic energy flows in the ground storage device; designing an energy flow model (3) based on statistically determined models and influencing variables relating to heat and cold; and calculating the future temperature variations (5) in the ground storage device using the energy flow model (3) and the ground storage device model (2).

2. The method for calculation of ground storage device temperatures for the operation of a geothermal facility with a circulation system via at least one geothermal heat exchanger or an energy pile with inflow and outflow lines leading to the geothermal heat exchanger or energy pile, wherein energy flow is measured at the inflow and outflow lines, comprising by the steps: designing an energy flow model (3) based on statistically determined models and influencing variables relating to heat and cold; and designing a ground storage device model (2) for converting the energy flows from the energy flow model (3) into future temperature gradients (5) in the ground storage device.

3. The method according to claim 1 wherein, for the creation and parameterization of the energy flow model (3), recurring patterns, namely annual, weekly and daily cycles of energy flows in the ground storage device, are taken into account.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein with the energy flow model (3) and expected future input variables and parameters for operational management and use of the system, the outside air temperature and other microclimate and/or weather data as well as possible loads on the ground's storage by neighboring facilities the future expected energy flows are simulated.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein the calculated future temperature progressions (31, 5) are evaluated in the ground storage device in terms of periods in which the simulated ground storage device temperature falls below a lower limit or exceeds an upper limit.

6. The method according to claim 5, wherein the lower limit for the ground storage device temperature is 0.0 C. to 4.0 C.

7. The method according to claim 5, wherein the upper limit in the case of direct cooling is 11.0 C. to 16.0 C.

8. The method according to claim 5, wherein in the case of increase of time periods when the upper limit value is exceeded, an alarm signal is emitted and a greater cooling of the ground storage device is attempted in future operating situations.

9. The method according to claim 5, wherein as the periods increase below the lower limit, an alarm signal is emitted and a stronger warming of the ground storage device is attempted in future operating situations.

10. The method according to claim 2, wherein, for the creation and parameterization of the energy flow model (3), recurring patterns, namely annual, weekly and daily cycles of energy flows in the ground storage device, are taken into account.

11. The method according to claim 2, wherein with the energy flow model (3) and expected future input variables and parameters for operational management and use of the system, the outside air temperature and other microclimate and/or weather data as well as possible loads on the ground's storage by neighboring facilities the future expected energy flows are simulated.

12. The method according to claim 5, wherein the lower limit for the ground storage device temperature is 1.5 C.

13. The method according to claim 5, wherein the upper limit in the case of direct cooling is 14 C.

Description

[0020] There is shown in:

[0021] FIG. 1 a schematic flow diagram of the method in two alternatives,

[0022] FIG. 2 readings of the geothermal brine temperature over a period of more than three months,

[0023] FIG. 3 calculation of the energy flow from the measured geothermal brine temperature according to FIG. 2 on the basis of a ground storage model,

[0024] FIG. 4 the parameterization of the energy flow with the outside air temperature,

[0025] FIG. 5 creation of an energy flow model as a function of the seasonally fluctuating outside air temperatures and expected dynamic energy flows in the ground storage,

[0026] FIG. 6 calculation of the future temperature progression in the ground storage based on the expected dynamic energy flows in the ground storage and the energy storage model and

[0027] FIG. 7 calculated future temperature progression on the basis of three different outside temperature scenarios.

[0028] FIG. 1 shows a schematic flow chart of the prediction method. In a survey 1 readings are taken over a period of time t.sub.m (reference 11 or 12).

[0029] In the preferred embodiment, a temperature measurement 11 takes place at the geothermal heat exchanger or at the (not shown here) inlet/outlet lines for the circulation medium for the geothermal heat exchanger. In the temperature measurement 11 thus T.sub.ews(t.sub.m) (FIG. 2) is detected. The temperature measurement 11 can be carried out by a temperature sensor used in the borehole with inserted temperature sensor, a temperature sensor in the geothermal heat exchangers, for example, as a measuring head, or by a temperature measurement at the inlet and outlet pipes of the ground storage device.

[0030] A mathematical model of the ground memory is then created and parameterized. Preferably, the ground storage device model takes into account the pure heat conduction processes that occurs along a line source, namely along the geothermal heat exchanger in the bore or in the energy pile, mathematically from the known relationship between a current change in energy and the therefrom resulting temporal temperature change. This relationship can be simulated, for example, using the g-function known from the literatureEskilson P., 1987; Thermal analysis of heat extraction boreholes; Dissertation; Department of Mathematical Physics; Lund University of Technology, Lund, Sweden (see page 10 formula 5.6). Since the heat conduction is described by a linear differential equation, after a sequence of an arbitrary number of energy changes, the therefrom resulting temperature change at a particular time may be calculated by superposition of the individual solutions of the function.

[0031] This application is regularly used today in the planning of geothermal heat exchanger or energy pile facilities. The present method newly uses this mathematical procedure in the ground storage device model both for the above-mentioned calculation of the temperature changes from the energy flows in the ground storage device, as well as in the other direction, namely for the calculation of energy flows into the ground storage device from the temperature changes (see FIG. 1, ground storage model 2).

[0032] The calculation of the dynamic energy flows in the ground storage device from the measured temperature curves or progressions is carried out by a step-by-step procedure. Here, the instantaneous change of the measured temperature is determined in a certain time step and this is corrected by the temperature effect of all energy flow changes in the previous time steps. Thus, at the end of the current time step only one temperature change remains, which exclusively is the effect of the energy flow change at the beginning of the current time step. Thus, the energy flow change of the current time step can be calculated and the next time step is proceeded to. If the measured temperatures are measured in the circulating brine, the remaining temperature change is corrected in the last calculation step by the heat transfer between the borehole wall and brine. This results in a gapless time series of the energy flows in the ground storage device, which is based on the measured temperature progressions. Thus, this ground storage device model 2 is used for calculating the energy flow E.sub.ews(t.sub.m) (FIG. 3, in FIG. 1, derived energy flow 13) via the geothermal heat exchanger from the measured temperatures of the temperature measurement 11. The calculation of future temperature progressions 5 in the ground storage device with the energy flow model 3 is then carried out again with the known procedure described in the first section.

[0033] Alternatively to the embodiment with a temperature measurement 11, the measured value acquisition 1 can also be accomplished by energy flow measurement 12 directly on the inlet/outlet line of the geothermal heat exchanger. With the energy flow measurement 12 E.sub.ews(t.sub.m) is measured directly. However, an energy flow meter is considerably more expensive than temperature sensors, so that for many applications, the first embodiment with temperature sensors is likely to be more economical. A possible energy flow difference between the energy flow measurement 12 and the energy flow 13, which is derived from the temperature measurement 11, indicates processes not considered in the ground storage model. For example groundwater flows, influence of neighboring facilities etc.

[0034] The energy flow calculated from the temperature measurement over the considered time interval t.sub.m or, as the case may be, the measured energy flow from the energy flow measurement 12 is then parameterized with the outside air temperature T.sub.a over the measurement period t.sub.m, as shown in the graph in FIG. 4.

[0035] When parameterizing, for example, in relation to the daily averages (open circles in FIG. 5) or daily maximum values (black circles in FIG. 5) of the outdoor temperature T.sub.a, an energy flow model E.sub.ews(T.sub.a) is derived, which is then used for future scenario determining parameters such as, for example, the future outside air temperature T.sub.a (designated by reference numeral 31 in FIG. 1). From the energy flow model, with the future outside air temperature, energy flow scenarios 4 can then be calculated, i.e. future energy flow values E.sub.ews(t.sub.future) for the geothermal heat exchanger field.

[0036] In a further step, which is shown in FIG. 6 with corresponding graphs, the temperature progressions in the ground storage are now calculated based on the energy flow scenarios 4 and the ground storage device model 2, so that as a result, a temperature prediction 5, namely future temperature as a function of time T.sub.ews(t.sub.future) is calculated. By way of example, FIG. 7 shows such a representation for the 25th year, namely in three different variants for warm, normal and cold years. The x-axis shows the time, i.e. for the 25th year, whereas the y-axis shows the predicted temperature of the ground storage.

[0037] The future temperature progressions 5 determined in this way can then be supplied to a further evaluation 6 with various possible alerts and controls of the geothermal facility. Limit values can be defined and monitored. If limit values are exceeded, an alarm can then be issued and, if necessary, a countermeasure of the system can occur.

LIST OF REFERENCE NUMBERS

[0038] 1 measured value acquisition [0039] 11 temperature measurement [0040] 12 energy flow measurement [0041] 13 energy flow, derived [0042] 2 ground storage device model [0043] 3 energy flow model [0044] 31 future outdoor air temperature progression [0045] 4 future energy flow [0046] 5 future temperature progression, temperature forecast in the ground storage device [0047] 6 evaluation and control