Examination of Operational Methods for a Low-Temperature Aquifer Thermal Storage Air Conditioning System Based on Operational Performance and Considerations of Thermal Storage and Pumping Volume Balance

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

This paper studied Thermal Energy Storage (ATES) systems. Some useful conclusions were attained an operational method was proposed through performance analysis based on four years of operational data. There are some problems, which must be solved before it is considered for publication. If the following problems are well-addressed, this reviewer believes that the essential contribution of this paper are important for the application of Aquifer Thermal Storage Air Conditioning System.

1.“the imbalance in the heat storage volume due to water return and pumping will be reduced”

Is the imbalance here reduced or increased？why?

2. For a specific building, the total heating load in a specific winter and cooling load in summer are fixed values. The inlet water temperature and flow rate will affect the cooling capacity and heating capacity of the heat pump, further affecting the heat release of the condenser and the heat absorption of the evaporator. If additional heat such as heat loss along the pipe and heat converted from pump power are not considered, the heat release of the condenser will equal to the heat storage of the ground source water, and the heat absorption of the evaporator will equal to the heat extraction of the ground source water. Is it reasonable to only consider the water quantity and temperature when formulating operational method without considering the performance of the heat pump? After all, the heat generated by a heat pump will decrease as the evaporation temperature decreases, and the cooling capacity will decrease as the condensation temperature increases.

3. Japanese words in Fig.s1-2 should be revised to English.

4. In the operational plan for ATES, a injection temperature of 15°C during heating operation and 25°C during cooling operation have been made. In actual operation, how to maintain these two temperatures as constant values to meet user load requirements?  

5. The significance of this paper is not expound sufficiently. The author need to highlight this paper's innovative contributions.

 

Comments on the Quality of English Language

There are at least two Spelling error or grammatical mistakesin the manuscript, such as,

1.“Determination of umping volume” should be “Determination of pumping volume”

2. “a injection temperature", here an should be used, not a.

Author Response

Please see the attachment.

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 2 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

This paper focuses on an Aquifer Thermal Energy Storage system constructed in Japan, characterized by its complex geological conditions and thin aquifer layers. The paper is well organized and the results are also clearly presented. If the following contents are adressed, the paper quality may be improved.

1.  A more quantitative description can be employed in the abstract.

2. Please give the scope of application of the research results.

3. Please revise the format of the contents in the figrues and tables.

 

Comments on the Quality of English Language

 Minor editing of English language required

Author Response

Please see the attachment.

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf