In order to enhance the utilization of underground heat including underground water, the comparison between the existing high density polyethylene underground heat exchanger and the newly developed metal heat exchanger was conducted to suggest the potential use of geothermal energy corresponding to the geological characteristics of Jeju Island. When the acquired heat of the underground loop system test condition of the KS B 8292 water-water geothermal heat pump unit was compared by installing heat exchanger of HDPE material and the heat exchanger of STS material under the same bore hole condition, the total heat area of the heat exchanger of STS material was about 15% less than HDPE, but the acquired heat was estimated to be about 4 times or more.

In this study, a plate heat exchanger was developed for applying to a heat pump system using the heated effluent from a thermal power plant. Since seawater is used as a heat source and a heat sink in this heat pump system, Titanium was chosen as the heat plate material for its high corrosion resistance. One of the purposes of the study was to get an optimized distribution area in the heat plate in order that better thermal performances could be achieved through equal flow rates along the heat transfer area. It was revealed from the performance tests that the mean heat transfer rate and the overall heat transfer coefficient were enhanced by 2.9% and 7.7%, respectively, compared to those measured before the design optimization.