Heat transfer and pressure drop of horizontal heat exchangers with different configurations and installations numerically characterized. Three different heat exchangers were used and shaped as linear, wavy, and horizontal slinky, respectively. Installation depth was set from 0.5m to 3.0m and pipe spacing was ranged from 0.3m to 2.1m. The results showed that heat transfer rate and pressure drop were increased with the increase in the installation depth and the pipe spacing. The horizontal slinky heat exchanger carried more heat compared to others due to the greater effective heat transfer surface area per installation area. In terms of a ratio of heat transfer rate to pressure drop indicating the system efficiency, the linear heat exchanger performed better than others. On the other hand, the horizontal slinky heat exchanger was the most effective with respect to a ratio of heat transfer rate to installation cost.

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.