C11 - System Integration

Host: University of Innsbruck
Date: February 4th to 7th, 2014

The aim of the course on system integration was to show the interaction of different elements in a solar thermal system. The topics included components, guidelines, characterization, analysis of applications, hydraulics, control systems, dimensioning and optimization, design exercise and an excursion to built examples. The different elements were solar collector, solar loop and its components, storage, auxiliary heater, building and space heating system, domestic hot water demand, the climate and the control system. The course gave insight in how to optimize these elements with respect to their function in the system. “Very good components can be put together to a very bad system”.

The students could check that a simpler solution can most of the times improve the system  without adding new components. In this case they could see that was enough to slightly change the system setup and a few controls, for example, a valve was moved to another position to enable cold water pre-heating or heating DHWC depending on the storage temperature.

Another update that was shown was demounting a wrong connection between DHWC supply and return pipes (and thereby the safety valve). Thermosyphoning in pipes from storage to solar heat exchanger also needed to be fixed.

Univ.-Prof. Dipl.-Ing. Dr. Wolfgang Streicher
Technikerstraße 13
A-6020 Innsbruck
Tel: +43 512 50763650
wolfgang.streicher[at]uibk.ac[dot]at