Seasonal Thermal Store - Warm-temperature Seasonal Heat Stores

Warm-temperature Seasonal Heat Stores

Warm-temperature heat stores are a development of low-temperature stores in that solar collectors are used to capture surplus heat in summer and actively raise the temperature of large thermal banks of soil so that heat can be extracted more easily (and more cheaply) in winter. Interseasonal Heat Transfer uses water circulating in pipes embedded in asphalt solar collectors to transfer heat to Thermal Banks beneath the insulated foundation of buildings. A ground source heat pump is used in winter to extract the warmth from the Thermal Bank to provide space heating via underfloor heating. A high Coefficient of Performance is obtained because the heat pump starts with a warm temperature of 25 °C (77 °F) from the thermal store, instead of a cold temperature of 10 °C (50 °F) from the ground.