EGTWC Equipamento de Energia Geotérmica com Sistema de Dois Poços, Controlado por Computador (PC)

The Computer Controlled Geothermal Energy Unit with Two-Well System, "EGTWC", is a laboratory scale unit designed to study a two-well system used for the exploitation of thermal energy stored under the Earth’s surface.

This unit has two main elements. Firstly, a plate heat exchanger where the energy exchange between the external flow and the well flow takes place, and secondly, a transparent main tank where the behavior of the soil to be studied will be visualized.

The main element is a tank with one working section and two side chambers, one for water inlet and one for water outlet. The sand bed through which the groundwater flows is located in this tank. Its flow can be adjusted by means of height-adjustable overflows. In addition, manometric tubes have been inserted throughout the section to allow us to visualize the fluid dynamic behavior of the simulated soil.

It is a self-contained unit with a water supply tank (groundwater simulation) from which a computer controlled pump drives the water to the sand bed feed chamber. Before entering the feed chamber, the water is heated by a computer controlled heating element, allowing the groundwater temperature to be controlled.

The water crosses the working section, where there is a two-well system, a production well and an absorption well. Both wells are separated from the sand bed through chambers of filtering material (stones). In the production well, water is pumped into a plate heat exchanger to transfer its thermal energy to an external flow (working fluid). The flow of groundwater pumped to the exchanger can be adjusted and the unit has the measurements of flow rates and temperatures of both streams allowing the energy balance to be made.

The working fluid flow to be heated in the exchanger can be tap water from the laboratory.

At the outlet of the exchanger, the water flows to the bottom of the absorption well. Finally, the water leaves the working section through the height-adjustable overflow in the outlet chamber into the supply tank.

This Computer Controlled Unit is supplied with the EDIBON Computer Control System (SCADA), and includes: The unit itself + a Control Interface Box + a Data Acquisition Board + Computer Control, Data Acquisition and Data Management Software Packages, for controlling the process and all parameters involved in the process.