Research Outputs

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Now showing 1 - 10 of 13
  • Publication
    Towards distributed enthalpy measurement in large-scale air conditioning systems
    (IEEE, 2015)
    Sauter, Thilo 
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    Steiner, Harald 
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    Glatzl, Thomas 
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    Hortschitz, Wilfried 
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    ;
    Air conditioning systems are among the major energy consumers in buildings. Energy-efficient operation of AC systems is an important step towards better energy management in building automation, but requires efficient monitoring of the energy or enthalpy flows within the AC installation, which is currently still difficult because of the lack of appropriate equipment. This paper introduces a distributed data acquisition system for large-scale AC systems based on low-cost flow sensors implemented by means of standard printed circuit board technology and interconnected via a wireless sensor network. A critical issue for the system installation is the placement of the sensors in the air ducts to obtain representative measurements of the air flow. To this end, extensive aerodynamical simulations are carried out to analyze the flow distributions in typical building blocks for air ducts, particularly with respect to turbulences. The simulation results are compared with experimental data from the literature and are shown to be reliable.
      145  1Scopus© Citations 7
  • Publication
    Monitoring data from an office room in a real operating building, suitable for state-space energy modelling
    The dataset provides all necessary variables for data-driven energy modelling of an office room. The measurement data have been obtained from an office building operating as living lab in a temperate climate of Central Europe. The temperatures and the ventilation air flowrate are raw measurements, while the heat flows are calculated from measurements. The incoming solar irradiance is calculated with two façade models –simple and enhanced–, using measurements (solar irradiance, movable shading settings) and building characteristics (geometry, glazing and shading properties). One year and four months of data is provided with a fine one-minute time step and a coarser fifteen-minute time step. The dataset can be used to test and validate data-driven models, for example for predictive control applications.
      14  146
  • Publication
    System efficiency of pvt collector-driven heat pumps
    (Elsevier, 2020)
    Hengel, Franz 
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    ; ;
    The use of standard heat pump (HP) systems offers an efficient option to replace conventional heating systems (e.g. oil and gas boilers) for space heating and domestic hot water. Due to the higher noise emissions and the lower overall energy efficiency of air-to-water heat pumps, the use of ground-coupled heat pump systems is increasingly in demand. The cost-efficient dimensioning of horizontal ground heat exchanger (HGHE) systems, considering possible solar waste heat potentials to improve regeneration behaviour, is particularly challenging. The reason for this is the complex system and control engineering optimisation possibilities resulting from the dynamic heat transport behaviour of the horizontal ground heat exchanger. Essential influencing variables such as the water content of the soil due to the groundwater level, rainwater infiltration and surface evaporation can only be described with massive effort using the model equations of the unsaturated zones. However, these variables are necessary to obtain a better fundamental understanding of the usable storage potential of solar-coupled systems and to be able to derive targeted optimisations at the system level. Therefore, the waste heat utilisation potential of PVT collectors for the regeneration of heat pump coupled horizontal ground heat exchanger systems are analysed employing simulations. For this purpose, a PVT-collector model and a HGHE model based on a single-family were developed and validated by experimental investigations. Based on this, a system simulation model consisting of the components PVT-collector, heat pump, heat delivery system, HGHE and the corresponding control units were built using TRNSYS. With the help of the simulation model, parameter studies were carried out, and the main factors influencing the overall energy efficiency (COP) of the system and the seasonal performance factors (SPF) were identified. Furthermore, the solar waste heat utilisation potential of the PVT collectors was analysed to increase the efficiency of the heat pump system.
      103  1Scopus© Citations 32
  • Publication
    Improving predictions of heat transfer in indoor environments with eddy viscosity turbulence models
    (Springer, 2016) ;
    Tao, Yao 
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    Inthavong, Kiao
    ;
    Heat transfer modelling in indoor environments requires an accurate prediction of the convective heat transfer phenomenon. Because of the lower computational cost and numerical stability, eddy viscosity turbulence models are often used. These models allow modification to turbulent Prandtl number, and near wall correction which influences stagnation points, entrainment, and velocity and time scales. A modified v 2–f model was made to correct the entrainment behaviour in the near wall and at the stagnation point. This new model was evaluated on six cases involving free and forced convection and room airflow scenarios and compared with the standard k–ε, and k–ω–SST models. The results showed that the modification to the v 2–f model provided better predictions of the buoyant heat transfer flows while the standard k–ε failed to reproduce and underestimate the convective heat transfer. The k–ω–SST model was able to predict the flow field well only for a 2D square cavity room, and 3D partitioned room case, while it was poor for the other four cases.
      156  1Scopus© Citations 2
  • Publication
    Modeling of solar radiation transmission through triple glazing based only on on-site measurements
    A model is developed which can calculate the irradiance behind a glazed façade, based on measured incident solar radiation. Data from a real office building is used to establish and test the model. Onsite irradiance measurements on both sides of the facades are exploited to calibrate the model. The main parameters are the average diffuse transmittance and a correlation for the direct transmittance, as a function of the incidence angle. Correction of the measurements, including the frame reflection, are taken into account. Hence, the model contributes to the solar heat flux identification, in the perspective of model predictive control application.
      25  142
  • Publication
    Measurement data from real operation of a hybrid photovoltaic-thermal solar collectors, used for the development of a data-driven model
    This article presents a measurement dataset from real operation of a hybrid photovoltaic-thermal solar collector. The data is from a summer period, when the collector works at its higher temperature limit, with low thermal efficiency. The dataset characterizes the output of the collector: thermal (heat transfer fluid flowrate, inlet and outlet temperatures) and electrical (raw current and voltage, Hampel filtered power). Further information on the collector are the PV cell temperature and the back surface temperature (in three points). It provides detailed weather information: ambient temperature, solar resource (direct normal, global and diffuse horizontal, global tilted in the collector plane), equivalent radiative sky temperature (calculated from a pyrgeometer), wind speed and direction both horizontal and in the tilted collector plane. The calculated sun position with Duffie and Beckmann method is also given (elevation and azimuth) . The dataset covers 58 summer days from 11th July to 6th September, with a 5 second time step. The data is available as .mat file (MATLAB) and .csv file. A selection of variables from this dataset has already been used in the development of a data-driven model (see related article) [1]. The extended data presented in this article offers mode detailed weather information, opening further investigations opportunities. Further options for data-driven modelling of PVT collectors could be investigated. The correlation of wind related losses to horizontal wind measurements could be compared to a model with wind measurements in the collector plane. The dataset could support the validation of solar models, with direct and diffuse shares on the horizontal or in the tilted plane. [Duck Duck Go](https://duckduckgo.com)
      67  589
  • Publication
    Evaluation and improvements of RANS turbulence models for linear diffuser flows
    (Elsevier, 2013-01-30) ;
    Inthavong, kiao
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    Sanz, Wolfgang 
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    Flow patterns produced by linear diffusers are highly dependent on the turbulent momentum exchange process. Hence a realistic computation of indoor room airflows that are produced from plane wall and free jets requires an accurate prediction of the anisotropic turbulent stresses. This is particularly the case in regions near the wall and entrainment effects which are caused by the turbulent shear stresses. For this reason a non-linear eddy viscosity assumption is presented which can be adjusted to account for the turbulent mixing process in the free shear flow region, and to reproduce the redistribution of the turbulent normal stresses near the wall. Based on several test cases such as a free and plane wall jet, IEA (International Energy Agency) Annex 20 room airflow, and a 3D room with a partition, the essential characteristics of the linear and non-linear k-epsilon, k-omega and v(2)-f turbulence models are analysed. Thereby it is shown that the proposed non-linear assumption can improve the prediction of linear diffuser airflows.
      138  1Scopus© Citations 33