The same test sequences were also tested with two commercial solar combisystems:

• one storing heat within a tank (A in the following figure),

• one using the thermal mass of the building as heat storage (B in the following figure).

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These results show that the test sequences developed with the referenced SCS for two climates are also able to predict the auxiliary energy used for commercial systems with different hydraulic and concept design.

For the building type SFH100 where the heat demand is bigger, the difference between the predicted and the annual heat consumption is in the same order than for buildings type SFH60. For the building type SFH30 this difference is bigger.

Moreover the results for the SCS using the thermal mass of the building as heat storage are less precise than for the other.

3. Conclusion

Based on the CCT approach, the methodology developed at INES can provide test sequence for different climates. These test sequences have been tested, the results obtained for different solar combisystems design (different control strategies and hydraulic layout), different dimensioning characteristics for a same design (collector area and storage volume) and different building heating demands, prove that the methodology is very efficient.

Thanks to this work, it is possible to test for different climate all typologies of solar combisystems, incorporating all the innovations for hydraulic diagram or control strategy. The major aim of the test method is to be able to make an annual prediction of the final auxiliary energy use for the tested combisystem. This is done by extrapolating the 12-day test results to annual performance.

References

[1] C. Bales, (2002). Combitest _ Initial Development of the AC/DC Test Method, Technical report, IEA Solar Heating & Cooling programme Task 26, http://www. iea-shc. org/task26

[2] D J. Naron, H Visser, (2002). Development of the Direct Characterisation test procedure for Solar Combisystems, fifth draft, Technical report, IEA Solar Heating & Cooling programme Task 26, http://www. iea-shc. org/task26 [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8]