Assessing the Effectiveness of an Innovative Thermal Energy Storage System Installed in a Building in a Moderate Continental Climatic Zone
Abstract
:1. Introduction
1.1. Literature Review
1.2. System Description
2. TESSe2b Implementation in Austria
2.1. Research Steps
- TESSe2b dimensioning: Work was carried out for the proper dimensioning of the system to cover the needs of the building.
- Site preparation: It was necessary for the geothermal installation to find and collect data about the geology of the site, evaluate the geology and physical properties of the rocks, and suggest a drilling method to be used on the site. Then, technical and geological supervision of the works was conducted, as well as geological drilling support and an analysis of the geophysical borehole logging.
- TESSe2b prototype installation in the test building: During this step, all the necessary equipment and components of TESSe2b were transported to the site and the installation of the whole system took place, including the control and monitoring equipment.
- Testing of TESSe2b: The solution was tested through the monitoring of critical parameters.
- Technical and economical evaluation: The TESSe2b solution was evaluated.
2.2. Dimensioning the TESSe2b System Components for Demo Site in Austria
2.2.1. The Area—Climatic Data
2.2.2. Geology of the Site—TRT Test
2.2.3. Building Characteristics
2.2.4. Dimensioning the TESSe2b System—Installation in the Building
- Solar collectors, serving either the HTES or the DHW tanks.
- Geothermal installation with: heat pump and 4 BHEs (2 with and 2 without PCM) with a single U-tube of 40 × 3.7 mm, 75 m each, and 300 m total. The drillings for the BHEs encountered alternating layers of paragneiss and quartzite as the bedrock, after six meters of deposited soil and quaternary gravels. None of the rocks were water-bearing. The connection tubes from the BHEs into the house were installed in a pattern that ensured comparable lengths between the BHEs further from and nearer to the house [20].
- HTES tanks for heating.
- DHW supply with:
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- DHW TES tank (charged either by the solar collectors or the heat pump);
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- DHW backup;
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- DHW circulation circuit.
- Buffer tank: working as hydraulic separator between the respective loops and serving the heating circuits of both residential units.
- TESSe2b control and monitoring system.
2.3. Use of PCM in the BHEs
3. Evaluation Results for TESSe2b System Performance—Discussion
3.1. Methodology
3.2. Evaluation of TESSe2b in Comparison with the Conventional System
3.3. Storage System Performance
4. Conclusions
- The demonstrated system achieved a reduced primary energy consumption, decreased maintenance costs, and an overall economical operation. The overall system installation cost increased, but was offset by the efficient operation of the system, thus resulting in an acceptable pay-back period.
- The percentage of annual primary energy savings from the TESSe2b system in relation to the conventional system in Austria (boiler and oil burner for heating and DHW) was 84.31%, and the percentage of annual savings in operational and maintenance costs was 79.71%. Additionally, the simple pay-back period for newly installed systems was 8.7, which is less than 10 years. This is a promising technology, since the simple pay-back time is acceptable and it can be significantly reduced during its commercialization phase.
- The TES tanks exhibited an energy capacity that was capable of supplying the heating and DHW needs of the building, even during high-demand times; thus, the heat pump was turned off during hours when the PCM tanks supplied the load.
- The results presented above clearly illustrate the advantages of the TESSe2b solution comparatively to the conventional system. The thermal storage solution not only increases the use of solar thermal energy by extending the capacity of providing solar thermal energy to the house beyond a day’s solar hours, but it also gives flexibility to the heating system, concentrating the heat pump operation during the low-electricity-tariff periods.
- The overall system was designed to be compact in order to be installed in a conventional mechanical room. The overall system volume for the presented demo site was 1.55 m3.
Author Contributions
Funding
Data Availability Statement
Conflicts of Interest
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Type | Description |
---|---|
Monitoring system | Collects and stores all data needed for the monitoring and evaluation of the performance of the TESSe2b system on a remote data server, where they are stored in a structured database for later access. |
Actuators | Two-way and three-way electronic control valves: Belimo ball valves, R2025/R3025, with electronic actuators, LR24A. High-efficiency variable-speed circulating pumps with PWM speed control: Grundfos Alpha Solar (Grundfos, Bjerringbro, Denmark) and Alpha2 (Grundfos, Bjerringbro, Denmark) heat pump (operating mode and temperature set points). |
Sensors | Temperature sensors: Siemens QAE2112.015 Pt-1000 (Siemens, Munich, Germany), 4-wire, ±0.5 Κ accuracy in the required measuring range, time constant of 3 s. Room temperature and humidity sensors: SYsnsTH001 ± 0.5 Κ temperature accuracy, ±0.3% relative humidity accuracy. |
Meters | Heat meters: Kampstrup MULTICAL® 603 and MULTICAL® 6M2 with a typical accuracy of EC ± (0.5 + 2/ΔΘ) % and ET ± (0.4 + 5/ΔΘ) % according to Standard EN 1434-1. Electricity meters: Schneider iEM3000; active power accuracy Class 1 conforming to IEC 62053-21 and IEC 61557-12; reactive power accuracy Class B conforming to EN 50470-3. |
Data communication protocol converters | They were used to convert data formats between the data communication protocols control area network (CAN), MODBUS RTU, and M-BUS, as shown in Figure 10. |
Energy Source | Primary Energy Conversion Factor | Emissions TCO2/MWh |
---|---|---|
Oil | 1.230 | 0.267 |
Electrical Energy | 1.910 | 0.209 |
SPF3 | SPF4 | |
---|---|---|
May | 3.40 | 3.36 |
June | 12.50 | 11.60 |
July | 6.37 | 5.90 |
August | 4.71 | 4.35 |
Solar collectors | 4 |
Solar fraction heating | 7.0% |
Solar fraction heating + DHW | 15.8% |
Heating needs shifted day to night (total solar) | 41.6% |
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Coelho, L.; Koukou, M.K.; Konstantaras, J.; Vrachopoulos, M.G.; Rebola, A.; Benou, A.; Karytsas, C.; Tourou, P.; Sourkounis, C.; Gaich, H.; et al. Assessing the Effectiveness of an Innovative Thermal Energy Storage System Installed in a Building in a Moderate Continental Climatic Zone. Energies 2024, 17, 763. https://doi.org/10.3390/en17030763
Coelho L, Koukou MK, Konstantaras J, Vrachopoulos MG, Rebola A, Benou A, Karytsas C, Tourou P, Sourkounis C, Gaich H, et al. Assessing the Effectiveness of an Innovative Thermal Energy Storage System Installed in a Building in a Moderate Continental Climatic Zone. Energies. 2024; 17(3):763. https://doi.org/10.3390/en17030763
Chicago/Turabian StyleCoelho, Luis, Maria K. Koukou, John Konstantaras, Michail Gr. Vrachopoulos, Amandio Rebola, Anastasia Benou, Constantine Karytsas, Pavlos Tourou, Constantinos Sourkounis, Heiko Gaich, and et al. 2024. "Assessing the Effectiveness of an Innovative Thermal Energy Storage System Installed in a Building in a Moderate Continental Climatic Zone" Energies 17, no. 3: 763. https://doi.org/10.3390/en17030763
APA StyleCoelho, L., Koukou, M. K., Konstantaras, J., Vrachopoulos, M. G., Rebola, A., Benou, A., Karytsas, C., Tourou, P., Sourkounis, C., Gaich, H., & Goldbrunner, J. (2024). Assessing the Effectiveness of an Innovative Thermal Energy Storage System Installed in a Building in a Moderate Continental Climatic Zone. Energies, 17(3), 763. https://doi.org/10.3390/en17030763