COVID-19 RAPID RESPONSE: ADVANCEMENT OF A MINIMALLY INVASIVE, ECONOMICAL, EASY-TO-INSTALL GEOTHERMAL HEAT-TRANSFER CLOSED PIPING SYSTEM FOR FARMSTEAD APPLICATIONS

NON-TECHNICAL SUMMARY: The project focus is on a way to heat and/or cool new or existing farm buildings using fluid-filled "circulation" pipes underground (geothermal loop field) to transfer heat from the building to the ground (in the summer) or vice versa in the winter. Otisco Engineeringhas developed a unique geothermal loop field design and installation method that will benefit farms. The system and installation method provides a geothermal loop field design that is equivalent or superior to other currently common approaches.The Otisco design also offers the following advantages.Much easier to retrofit on a previously developed farm;Causes little to no damage to existing landscaping or farm fields; andFor an existing 6,000 square foot building (a typical farm building size), the system can be installed and commissioned in two days.The project will include advancement of the design that can be more easily assembled to customize to a system under various scenarios and/or sizes or typesof buildings that need to be heated or cooled. The installation method goes hand and hand with Otisco's design, essentially a tube-in-a-tube arrangement installed undergorund with a directional drillign machine, much like those that are commonly used for installing fiberoptic or cable communication lines. The installed system will be verified by data aquisition during the winter and summer heating/cooling periods. The measurement of flow of fluid (which flows throughthe underground circulation loop pipes) and temperatures of individual loops will provide the actual amount of heat exchanged to or from from the earth to verify the performance of the system. The resulting advanced design will be easier and more economical to install and more readily scalable than convential systems that are in place forheating and cooling buildings.