Advanced Research and Commercialization of the Otisco Ground-loop System (TM) for Geothermal Heating and Cooling for Farmstead Applications

PROJECT SUMMARYTM Title:Advanced Research and Commercialization of the Otisco Ground-loop System forGeothermal Heating and Cooling for Farmstead Applications.PD.: Nortz Patrick E Institution:Otisco Engineering Ltd.CO-PD.: Nortz Gregory JInstitution:Otisco Engineering Ltd.CO-PD.: Chen Qian Institution:The Ohio State UniversityFood Agric. and Biol. EngineeringUnder this Small Business Innovation Research Program Phase II grant application to USDA- NIFA Otisco Engineering and its collaborating partners in research (The Ohio State UniversityColumbus Ohio USA) and manufacturing (Water Furnace Fort Wayne Indiana USA) willadvance a geothermal heating and cooling ground-loop system design the Otisco Ground-loopTM TM System .The ground-loop for the Otisco Ground-loop System is installed using a horizontaldirectional drilling (HDD) machine positioned at one location.Each ground loop is directedradially outward from the HDD machine directed underground in a slight arc essentiallyhorizontal.Otisco Engineering's Phase I project included an on-farm installation of the Otisco Ground-loopTM System in Johnstown Ohio with data acquisition to demonstrate the operational viability of thesytem.The Phase I report also documented cost reductions offered by the system.The main goal of the Phase II project is to advance the design of the manifold element of theTM Otisco Ground-loop System so that it can be easily produced and packaged with the sale ofgeothermal heat pumps.The system will benefit the agricultural community and will helpimprove the sustainability and profitability of small and mid-size farms (USDA-NIFA TopicArea 8.12).The Phase II application will advance the design to improve upon the following three problemswith the current state of the art.1. Significant drilling and excavation costs.2. Time and cost of ground-loop installation.3. The high level of effort and skill for current state-of-the-art.The Phase II application proposes the following technical objectives.1. Research additive or subtractive manufacturing processes for the manifold component of theTM Otisco Ground-loop System to identify a production approach that is more cost-effectivecan be installed more quickly and meets the performance requirements of the overall system.TM 2. Through the installation operation and testing of the Otisco Ground-loop System at thetwo demonstration/prototype sites under this grant and drawing on the experience from thePhase I installation develop documentation to be used in the future to reduce the time andcost of installation.3. Verify performance of the systems through up-front thermal conductivity testing andmeasurement of operational parameters (i.e. temperature differentials and amp draw of heatpump and fluid pumps) to enable calculation of the coefficient of performance of the system.