Technology:

Verizon, Cornell Create Geothermal Cooling for Cell Tower (National Driller)

Source: Koenraad Beckers

Where a typical installation calls for just three to four boreholes, this one involved almost a dozen of them, equipped with 70 sensors that monitor the system’s performance and impact on ground temperatures.

It’s all part of an innovative experiment born of a partnership between Verizon and Cornell University, one focused on creating a ground-source cooling system for a cellular tower equipment shelter located near the school’s campus.

Koenraad Beckers, another graduate student of Tester’s, is now taking a leading role in the project, helping design the system and build the data model that will ultimately determine the feasibility of installing similar systems in other parts of the country.

During the construction phase of the project, Beckers led several other students in conducting a seismic survey of the site. The team also collected and analyzed rock cuttings from one of the boreholes at 20-foot intervals in order to better understand the site’s stratigraphy.

Koenraad Beckers was a recipient of a GRC Scholarship in 2013.

In the March/April 2014 GRC Bulletin we published an article by Koenraad Beckers and Jefferson Tester on Utilizing Geothermal Heat Pumps to Provide Cooling for Cellular Towers - Demonstration Project at Cornell University.
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