Thermal Accumulators

by John Siegenthaler, P.E. June 1, 2008

Another European concept that will eventually show up in North America.

A significant advantage of hydronic heating is the ability to use heat from a ide variety of heat sources. !hese include traditional devices such as gas" and oil"fired boilers, as ell as alternative sources such as geothermal heat #um#s, solar collectors, ood"fired boilers and aste heat recovery. !he availability of heat from some of these sources is s#oradic. $bviously, solar in#ut only occurs hen the sun is out, and heat from a ood"fired or #ellet"fired device is only available hen the fire is burning. %eat in#ut from a geothermal heat #um# might only be economically desirable during #eriods of lo off"#ea& utility rates. !o further com#licate matters, the ater tem#erature su##lied from these heat sources can vary idely. So ho does one set u# a system to accommodate t o or three of these heat sources' $ne a##roach ould be to install an elaborate collection of controls. !ogether, these devices could decide hich heat source has #riority de#ending on the current and antici#ated loads, the cost of o#erating the device, the tem#erature and heat out#ut rate of each device. !he logic ould also have to address the avoidance of short"cycling the various heat sources. $nce the logic is determined, attention ould turn to #i#ing all these devices together. !his #i#ing ould #robably include devices such as mi(ing valves, #rimary)secondary #i#ing, heat e(changers and multi#le storage tan&s * the or&s. !his a##roach gets com#licated and e(#ensive at the same time.

Figure 1

+uring my visit to the ,ostra -onvegno E(#ocomfort in ,ilan, .taly, this #ast ,arch, it as evident that several Euro#ean manufacturers have recogni/ed the need to combine multi#le heat sources into a single system. !his is es#ecially relevant given the gro ing use of rene able energy in Euro#e. !heir a##roach, de#icted in 0igure 1, uses a single large storage tan& as the 1thermal accumulator2 in the system. Each heat source 1de#osits2 heat to the thermal accumulator henever it o#erates. !he thermal mass of the ater acce#ts this heat ithout abru#t changes in tem#erature, and thus hel#s #rotect the heat source3s4 from short"cycling. !hermal accumulators service both s#ace heating and domestic ater heat loads. A common configuration uses an internal heat e(changer near the bottom of the tan& to acce#t in#ut from an array of solar collectors. Placing the coil there allo s the collector circuit to o#erate at the lo est #ossible tem#erature and the highest #ossible efficiency. Another coil, located near the to# of the tan&, is used to add heat from a boiler hen necessary. !his allo s the coil to boost the tem#erature of the ater at the to# of the tan& ithout disturbing the tem#erature stratification ithin the tan& 3e.g., &ee#ing the armest ater at the to# and coolest ater at the bottom4. !he heat source connected to the u##er coil ould o#erate to maintain a suitable delivery tem#erature for domestic hot ater. !his conce#t is sho n ith a bit more detail in 0igure 2.

Figure 2

!he ma5ority of the ater in the thermal accumulator de#icted in 0igure 2 is #otable ater. An anti" scald tem#ering valve intercedes bet een this ater and the #lumbing fi(tures. !his is an absolutely critical detail given the #otential for high tan& tem#eratures during sunny arm eather. $ther thermal accumulators are designed to hold s#ace heating ater in the main tan& shell. Potable ater is heated ithin a small internal tan& mounted in the u##er #ortion of the main tan&. !he inner tan& is com#letely surrounded by hot ater and, thus, has am#le area to ra#idly transfer heat to #otable ater it contains 3see 0igure 64. $#erating modes are the same as sho n in 0igure 2.

Figure 3 Still another variation is an un#ressuri/ed #oly#ro#ylene tan& that sim#ly contains stationary ater as the mediating thermal mass. All subsystems add or remove heat from this ater via a coil or internal tan&. An e(am#le of such a tan& is sho n in 0igure 7. !he manufacturer of this #roduct em#hasi/es that the stationary ater ithin the tan& #rovides su#erior tem#erature stratification 3 armest ater at the to#, coolest ater at the bottom4. Another cited advantage of this design is that minimal volumes of domestic ater are stored ithin the +%8 coil. !his reduces the #otential for legionella gro th. 9ee# in mind that a small volume of +%8 doesn:t im#ly lo delivery ca#ability. !here:s al ays #lenty of thermal energy #ar&ed in the tan&:s stationary hot ater ready to instantly move through the coil all to &ee# the +%8 flo ing.

Figure 4

!he heat storage ability of this thermal accumulator can be enhanced by adding u# to 77 #ounds of #araffin a(, hich melts u#on heating to ;; degrees - 3161 degrees 04 and floats on to# of the ater. As the tan& cools, the a( goes through a #hase change from li<uid to solid and gives u# significant heat in the #rocess. !he a( layer also reduces eva#oration from the tan&.

Su#erinsulation At trade sho s li&e ,ostra or .S%, it:s <uic&ly evident that Euro#ean manufacturers ta&e their insulation seriously. Seldom ill you see uninsulated #i#e, even in situations here the #i#e #asses through heated s#ace. +itto for tan& insulation. ,ost thermal accumulator tan&s have at least 6 inches of foam insulation surrounding the entire ater vessel. Some use rigid urethane foam. $thers use a fle(ible foam ra# that:s installed on site. !his allo s the tan& shell to fit through narro er door ays. $nce set in #lace, the insulation ra#s around the tan&, and closes u# ith a heavy"duty /i##er. $ne manufacturer lists the thermal loss of its thermal accumulator at 0.1 degree 9elvin)hr. !his converts to 0.18 degree 0 #er hour. .t states that a thermal accumulator initially heated to =; degrees 3206 degrees 04, remaining in standby mode, ill still be at >0 degrees - 31;8 degrees 04 eight days later. -om#are this to some ?orth American tan&s that #roudly #romote losses of only 0.; to 1 degree 0 #er hour.

!he ay . see it, if you:re going to build a high"<uality device to acce#t and deliver heat #recisely hen and ere it:s needed, hy not built it li&e a big !hermos bottle' @ou ouldn:t be #leased ith an electrical battery that self"discharges in a fe hours, hy acce#t such #erformance from a 1thermal battery'2 !an&s ?eeded !hermal accumulators #rovide a lot of synergistic benefits, includingA !hermal mass to #rotect heat sources against short"cycling.

Beduced standby heat losses due to e(cellent insulation and reduced surface area relative to se#arate buffer tan& and indirect ater heater. -om#act foot#rint relative to se#arate com#onents needed to achieve e<uivalent function. Belatively high first"hour +%8 delivery rate due to thermal mass. Ability to #rovide hydraulic se#aration bet een source and load circuits. !he #ossibility of eliminating modulating burner assemblies due to mitigating effect of thermal mass 3instead, use sim#le on)off condensing burner)heat e(changer ith outdoor reset control4. A sim#le means of incor#orating solar heat in#ut for both s#ace heating and domestic hot ater. Solar collectors can be added hen system is installed or later on ith virtually no com#lications. .n #ast columns .:ve stressed the need for more so#histicated thermal storage tan&s in the ?orth American hydronics industry. !an&s ith multi#le, generously si/ed heat e(changers, su#erinsulated shells and #lenty of #i#ing connections. !o date, the only tan&s that .:m a are of fitting this descri#tion come from across the #ond. 8ith interest in solar heating ra#idly increasing in ?orth America, #erha#s no is the time for ?orth American manufacturers to ste# for ard ith their o n thermal accumulator #roducts. . can:t hel# but thin& there:s a gro ing audience ready to #ut them to good use.

John Siegenthaler, P.E. 5ohnChydronic#ros.com John Siegenthaler, P.E., is #rinci#al of A##ro#riate +esigns, a consulting engineering firm in %olland Patent, ?.@., and author of the te(t 1,odern %ydronic %eating.2 Disit .hydronic#ros.com for information on ne soft are for hydronic system design and documentation. John is also the contributing editor to P,Es monthly F!he Glitch H !he 0i(F column, hich offers hydronic troubleshooting solutions in con5uction ith the maga/ineEs t ice"monthly Badiant H %ydronics e?e s ne sletter. @ou can reach John by e"mail at 5ohnChydronic#ros.com.