Working on solar-assisted Ground Source Heat Pump System for Space Heating Application, Vikas Verma who was motivated to take up research work that attempts to replace the electric heaters operated by high-grade energy in North India for space heating during the winter season. He completed his PhD work in Mechanical and Industrial Engineering Department, IIT Roorkee, in 2017 and is currently an Assistant Professor in the Department of Energy, Tezpur University, Tezpur, Assam.
This is one of the areas of research as part of a MoU between IIT Roorkee and Geo-environmental Research Centre, headed by Professor H. R. Thomas in Cardiff University, Cardiff, UK.
Expressing happiness on his PhD student’s work, Prof. Krishnan Murugesan, Mechanical and Industrial Engineering Department, IIT Roorkee, said: "This research is an attempt to replace the electric heaters operated by high-grade energy used widely in the cold regions of the northern part of India for space heating during the winter season."
Dr Vikas Verma fabricated and established a SAGSHP (Solar Assisted Ground Source Heat Pump) system in the Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering - MIED, IIT Roorkee, to carry out experiments during the winter season. The most interesting part of the research was that they demonstrated that the solar energy available during the winter season could be used effectively for space heating with the help of a heat pump as solar energy is a very lean form of energy.
"India is one of the largest fast-growing economies in the world with 18% of the world’s population and it consumes about 6% of the world’s primary energy use. Due to geographical location, the northern part of India requires space-heating during the winter period. Among all sectors of energy consumption, the energy spent on building sector is around 30 per cent, mostly on space heating and cooling. Solar energy data collected over ten sample cities located in northern part of India during the winter season indicates that there is a reasonable amount of energy that could be harnessed for space heating along with a heat pump. Our research indicates that the use of solar energy for space heating during winter has resulted in a significant reduction in electricity consumption," Dr Verma adds.
Also, the solar energy available in the daytime could be stored under the ground and can be used for space heating in the night time. In his dissertation work, it was estimated that SAGSHP requires only 25 per cent of the electricity used in the electric heaters to produce the same heat energy.
The payback period for this unit is only 7 years. Thus, solar energy can be tapped to charge heaters during winters in areas facing harsh climate conditions, providing medical aid at high altitudes, army base camps and homeless shelters shall all benefit alike as India is abundant with solar energy and this is in line with the Government of India’s push towards National Solar Mission.
Dr Vikas Verma an Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee PhD Scholar was among the few Indian Research Scholars who has been selected to participate in 3rd BRICS Young Scientist Conclave held in South Africa during 25th to 29th June 2018 based on his research for Solar-Assisted Ground Source Heat Pump System for Space Heating Application, an idea that won this project a ticket to the prestigious forum to showcase by proving what are the alternate methods in which India can access its solar energy and convert it to reduce CO2 emissions
