Method for installing a radial geothermal energy probe field
A method for installing a radial geothermal probe field includes the steps of defining a total number of geothermal energy probes to be introduced, defining the directions of incidence of the individual geothermal energy probes, determining perforation points of the geothermal energy probes in a spherical projection, determining the included angles between nearby geothermal energy probes, determining a mean value of the included angles, determining a mean value of the geothermal energy probe lengths, determining a mean center spacing using the mean values for the included angles and the length of the geothermal energy probes, calculating the total heat removal capacity by using conventional computing methods for vertical geothermal energy probe fields and the mean center spacing for the distance between probes, and COMPARING the computed total heat removal capacity with a predetermined desired heat removal capacity.
1. A method for designing a radial geothermal energy probe field, comprising the steps of:
using a computer to perform the following:
defining a total number of geothermal energy probes in the radial geothermal energy probe field;
defining a length and a direction of incidence of each geothermal energy probe;
determining perforation points of the geothermal energy probes in a spherical projection;
determining included angles between nearby geothermal energy probes;
determining a mean value of the included angles;
determining a mean value of the geothermal energy probe lengths;
determining from the mean values for the included angles and the lengths of the geothermal energy probes a mean center spacing;
calculating with a computing method for vertical geothermal energy probe fields a total heat removal capacity by using the determined mean center spacing as distance between probes; and
comparing the calculated total heat removal capacity with a predetermined desired heat removal capacity.
2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising the steps of:
determining smallest included angles between directly adjacent geothermal energy probes, and
determining a mean value of the determined smallest included angles.
3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising the steps of:
determining a value of an arithmetic mean and a value of a median of the included angles, and
determining the mean value of the included angles from a smaller of the values determined for the arithmetic mean and the median.
4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising the steps of:
determining a value of an arithmetic mean and a value of a median of the geothermal energy probe lengths, and
determining the mean value of the geothermal energy probe lengths from a smaller of the values determined for the arithmetic mean and the median.
5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising the steps of:
computing a difference between the calculated total heat removal capacity and the desired heat removal capacity, and
adapting the length of a geothermal energy probe commensurate with the computed difference.