W. Sparber1*, A. Thuer2, F. Besana1, W. Streicher3, H. M. Henning4

1 EURAC Research, Institute of Renewable Energies, Viale Druso 1, 39100 Bolzano, Italy

2 AEE INTEC, Feldgasse 19, A-8200 Gleisdorf

3 TU Graz, IWT, Infeldgasse 25/B, A-8010 Graz

4 Fraunhofer ISE, Haidenhofstrasse 2, D — 79110 Freiburg im Breisgau * Corresponding Author, wolfram. sparber@eurac. edu Abstract

In the present paper a monitoring procedure for Solar assisted Heating and Cooling (SHC) systems is presented. The procedure is subdivided in three different levels of complexity, allowing a first evaluation with a limited set of sensors or a precise evaluation with a full monitoring system. The procedure has been elaborated within a project of the International Energy Agency. The application of the procedure should allow a direct comparison of the functioning of different solar cooling systems and of simulation results. Further information can be found as well on the related task homepage [5].

Keywords: Solar heating and cooling, monitoring procedure, performance assessment

1. Introduction

Monitoring of installed solar assisted cooling systems represents a fundamental tool in order not only to optimise the monitored system it self, but as well to draw conclusions for the optimisation of the design and control for future installations. This is especially true for a technology in an early stage of market penetration as it is the case for solar assisted cooling systems. In fact today, to the knowledge of the authors, only around 300 solar assisted cooling systems are installed world wide, and most of these show different designs and surrounding conditions [1][2][3].

In order to allow a clear comparison between monitoring results of different installed systems, and as well between measured and simulated values, a comprehensive and unified monitoring procedure is required.

The purpose of the present work is the presentation of such a monitoring procedure which has been developed within the frame of the international perennial years project — Task 38 — under the umbrella of the International Energy Agency (IEA) Solar Heating and Cooling Program [5].

Within Task 38 in the years 2008 and 2009 14 small scale (< 20 kW cooling capacity) and 12 large scale systems are planned to be monitored. The procedure should not be restricted to the IEA activities and the mentioned systems but support future monitoring activities in general.

For the elaboration of the monitoring procedure several boundary conditions have been considered. On one hand the procedure defines minimum requirements to be respected by all running monitoring projects, on the other hand detailed data and single energy flows should be measured where feasible in order to acquire a possibly complete picture of the functioning and to allow detailed analysis. The procedure should allow a comparison between different systems and as well permit to draw (with the results) a learning curve over the coming years on the cost development of installed solar assisted heating and cooling systems.

In order to respect these requirements a three step monitoring procedure will be presented in the following, differing in level of detail, necessary hardware, measured data and complexity. DEC systems are included only in the third level calculation

2. Monitoring procedure

In order to have a common starting point for the single monitoring levels a basic scheme and a reference system had to be defined. In the following Figure 1 and Figure 2 the proposed reference solar assisted heating and cooling (SHC) system including the detailed energy fluxes for full monitoring and the conventional reference system are shown:

Figure 1. Proposed reference solar heating and cooling system including the single energy fluxes (SHC Max System)

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Figure 2. Proposed schematics of the conventional reference systems including the single energy fluxes