Dynamic heating control measured and simulated effects on power reduction, energy and indoor air temperature in an old apartment building with district heating

This study investigated the effects of the dynamic heating control on power reduction and indoor air temperature in a typical Finnish block of apartments built in 1981. The building operated in 2018 with conventional and in 2020 with dynamic heating control. The onsite measured data was collected from both periods. Measured data enabled calibrating the whole building simulation models with an accuracy better than 10%. A new dynamic heating curve control algorithm was developed so that outdoor air compensated supply temperature was reduced during high use of Domestic Hot Water (DHW) by applying DHW compensation differential. If the indoor air temperature in any apartment dropped below the limit, supply temperature uplift was applied. The dynamic heating control resulted in 8.9% space heating and 13.7% total heating power reduction while had practically no effect on energy use. On the contrary, dynamic heating control slightly increased indoor temperature fluctuations, but both control systems resulted in a similar value of hours below the setpoint temperature of 21 degrees C. The results demonstrate that heating power reduction without compromising indoor air temperature is possible with applied supply temperature drop during DHW peaks and preheating afterwards. (c) 2022 Published by Elsevier B.V.