Item 2 of 3: Notable test results.
One of the leaders in the field of heat pumps is Durocan from Eindhoven. Thanks to their high-temperature heat pumps it is also possible to heat homes without underfloor heating sustainably without gas. Since early 2021 Envitron has been developing technology for more efficient control of Durocan’s heat pumps. The goal is to shorten the installation time of heat pump systems and increase efficiency.
While the system is currently still in the midst of testing, we would like to share with you a remarkable test result.
The test setup
Ruurd van Buiten, Electrical engineer at Envitron, together with his team designed a special controller to control heat pumps. The controller was developed to control the heating and cooling of the heating system more efficiently. Together with Rik van Bavel, founder at Durocan, they built a test setup where the controller was connected to the existing heat pump. Besides the new controller and heat pump, the test setup consists of a delivery system and a heat pump
The first tests
During the initial tests, we looked at whether more efficiency could be achieved with the smart controller. With the controller, the heat pump should be able to regulate itself based on water temperature and flow. By regulating the speed of the circulation pump, the CH water has more or less time to transfer its heat to the room.
The results
Figure 1 shows the results of two setups. The left graph shows the test results of the heat pump without the smart controller. The right graph shows the results with the new controller.
The graph shows the supply temperature, the actual return temperature and the optimum return temperature. The left graph is a system running without the energy saving control, the right graph is with the energy saving control. What you see is that the right graph the return temperature is closer to the optimum return temperature because the circulation rate adjusts based on sensor values. At this point, there is a whopping 7% gain over a “normal” control. How much return will follow from additional test scenarios.
Our expectation
In the near future, the controller will be further optimized. As a result, we expect the total gain to go towards 10%. After the optimization, the controllers will be tested in the field. For these field tests we are looking for customers who want to participate in a pilot at a reduced rate. Are you interested or do you know someone who is interested in a smart and energy efficient heat pump? Then please contact info@envitron.com
