A Thermal deposit is necessary for Solar heating to be viable, as the stored heat can be used outside the period of the Solar daily cycle, or fulfil a requirement to regulate a transfer of heat.
A HW Cylinder can store drinkable water (for Domestic HW) or treated circulated hot water. A DHW cylinder uses a separate Heat Exchanger to transfer heat from a circulated Solar HW circuit to the stored potable DHW.
A cylinder used to store circulated HW is 'Buffer' of Heat.
Thermal stratification occurs naturally inside the HW storage cylinder, due to the rise of heat. To maintain maximum efficiency of energy input systems (solar collectors and heat pump for example), this thermal stratification feature is paramount.
The Sequence of energy entering into the Hot Water storage cylinder is important to control.
For example, if the heat pump and solar energy inputs are not controlled the results could be inefficient use of energy or unnecessary work of the heat pump compressor.
Added to this, there is the possible using of low-tariff electricity, which can be used overnight, therefore a control strategy becomes an important factor in achieving low-cost heating.
Optimisation further, Intelligence by introducing weather forecasting Algorithums
The cost of Fossil Energy has been rising every year, as the risks global warming, so replacing a conventional fossil fueled system with solar energy is a logical option to make. Many national Building Regulations now mandate solar assisted HW systems.
The EU Strategy of 'Fit for 55' aims to make gas Boilers redundant by 2030, replacing Fossil Gases with Hydrogen. Therefore Boilers connected to the Natural Gas Infrastructure would be replaced by Fuel Cells throughout Europe.
We use only Heat Pipe Collectors in our Projects.
Different sized systems will require a related number of Components functioning with the contents of Hot water Storage, controlling the heat exchange rate, characterises of water at different temperatures and Control strategies. Each Solution will have different Design Criteria to size the following Components, to the System Characteristics/Requirements:
PIPEWORK & CONNECTIONS:
CIRCULATION:
ISOLATION AND CONTROL:
EXPANSION:
SAFETY AND MAINTENANCE:
