Final Report Summary - SOLARIS (A novel modular solar air source heat pump system)
Executive summary:
SOLARIS is a EUR 1.1 million project with a duration of 2 years supported by the of the European Commission (EC)'s Seventh Framework Programme (FP7). The project brings together renewable energy and engineering expertise from across 6 European countries to deliver a system capable of combining solar thermal and air-source heat pump (ASHP) technologies. This efficient system will result in significant savings for the European consumer and greatly reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions.
Project context and objectives:
There are 195 million households in Europe whose combined domestic heating needs account for over 26 % of Europe's energy demand and 500 billion tonnes of CO2 emissions annually. Reducing this is very important if Europe is to achieve ambitious emission reduction targets (i.e. Kyoto and beyond), decrease our excessive reliance on imported energy and reduce costs to households and industry. The most effective way to decentralise energy production is to increase the amount of generation at source, in this case within the home. A common barrier to the adoption of most energy generation / saving technologies is the high initial investment cost which results in long payback periods even considering current high energy prices. However, with prices increasingly on the rise, existing technologies such as solar thermal heating systems and heat pumps are becoming more popular (growth rate of approximately 50 % in 2006). Although both are reasonably efficient, existing solar thermal heating systems generally only provide up to approximately 60 % of a typical household's annual hot water demand. ASHPs are more effective and can provide up to 100 % of total household heating requirements but their performance decreases significantly in winter and they suffer from frost-build up. As these technologies are becoming commodity products, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in these markets are coming under increasing pressure from cheap low-quality imports from Asia and technologies from the United States of America (USA). It is paramount that European SMEs keep a technological edge over these competitors if they are to remain competitive. The SOLARIS consortium therefore propose to develop a modular novel solar ASHP system which is 25 % more efficient than a typical ASHP and 7% more efficient than a combination of a standard ASHP and a solar thermal system while only costing 60 % of the combined price of these separate systems.
Project objectives
The SOLARIS consortium brings together experts in a number of fields including ASHP technology, heat exchanger design, renewable system installation and eco-home building. The SOLARIS consortium propose to develop a modular novel solar ASHP system (ASHP) which is 25 % more efficient than a typical ASHP and 7 % more efficient than a combination of a standard ASHP and a solar thermal system while only costing 60 % of the combined price of these separate systems.
Project results:
During the first year of the project significant effort was expended in three key areas. These are:
(1) the design and manufacture of the solar collector;
(2) the development of the ASHP heat exchanger elements; and
(3) the development of a low power control system.
The three research and technological development (RTD) partners, Fraunhofer, Re/genT and ISRI focused their efforts in each of these areas respectively.
During the second year of the project significant effort has been expended to integrate the system components developed in the first year. These were:
(1) the solar collector developed in WP2;
(2) the ASHP heat exchanger elements developed in WPs 3, 4 and;
(3) the low power control system developed in WP5.
These elements were integrated and four SOLARIS prototype units have been fabricated. Two have been installed in the field; one in Ireland (QRS) and one in Spain (Teican), one unit has been installed in a climatic chamber (Re / genT) and one has been installed on a fully instrumented mobile test rig (ISRI). The variety of installation sites and types meant that the partners were able to analyse the system performance in a number of environments and additionally solve any issues remotely by working on the nearest installation. The second period of the project has seen the transition from research focussed work to validation and dissemination with the SME partners increasing their efforts in each of these areas respectively.
The initial results show that SOLARIS is more efficient than currently available systems, however the consortium have identified a number of significant design improvements that are currently being implemented to improve the efficiency further. These improvements will then be validated over the remaining six month testing period extending past the conclusion of this project. One objective that has been significantly exceeded is the costs of the unit and the cost gain calculations over currently available alternatives. The payback analysis completed by the partners indicates that SOLARIS will be a cost-effective product in the market for delivering space heating and hot water solutions throughout much of Europe.
The consortium has produced dissemination material such as a number of 6 feet free standing banners, which have been displayed around Europe at numerous trade shows and events. The consortium, led by TEV have also embarked on a robust intellectual and property right (IPR) protection strategy and intend on finalising a number of applications already made for protection of the project results in the coming months.
The technical work programme over the period 1st March 2009 to 28 February 2011 has involved the following:
- WP1: Preparatory research
- WP2: Development of the solar air collector panel
- WP3: Development of the solar ASHP infrastructure
- WP4: Development of a hydrophobic anti-fouling coating
- WP5: Development of a low power control system
- WP6: System integration and testing
- WP7: In-field trials.
In-field validation trials on two SOLARIS units will continue following the conclusion of the FP project with project partners Teican Medioambiental and Quinn Renewable Systems in Spain and Ireland respectively.
These developments which were achieved within the SOLARIS project, will make a significant contribution to energy consumer across the European Union (EU) by reducing CO2 emissions and providing a cheaper and more efficient alternative to those products currently on the market. SOLARIS can be scaled to fit individual requirements and supplies energy on demand without the need for expensive thermal stores and due to the reduced installation costs (versus two independent units) and improved performance it also has a payback period significantly less than its competition.
Potential impact:
There are 195 million households in Europe whose combined domestic heating needs account for over 26 % of Europe's energy demand and 500 billion tonnes of CO2 emissions annually. Reducing this is very important if Europe is to achieve ambitious emission reduction targets (i.e. Kyoto and beyond), decrease our excessive reliance on imported energy and reduce costs to households and industry. The most effective way to decentralise energy production is to increase the amount of generation at source, in this case within the home. A common barrier to the adoption of most energy generation / saving technologies is the high initial investment cost which results in long payback periods even considering current high-energy prices. However, with prices increasingly on the rise, existing technologies such as solar thermal heating systems and heat pumps are becoming more popular (growth rate of approximately 50 % in 2006). Although both are reasonably efficient, existing solar thermal heating systems generally only provide up to approximately 60 % of a typical household's annual hot water demand. ASHPs are more effective and can provide up to 100 % of total household heating requirements but their performance decreases significantly in winter and they suffer from frost build-up. As these technologies are becoming commodity products, SMEs in these markets are coming under increasing pressure from cheap low-quality imports from Asia and technologies from the USA. It is paramount that European SMEs keep a technological edge over these competitors if they are to remain competitive. The SOLARIS consortium therefore proposed to develop a modular novel solar ASHP which is 25 % more efficient than a typical ASHP and 7 % more efficient than a combination of a standard ASHP and a solar thermal system while only costing 60 % of the combined price of these separate systems.
List of Websites: http://SOLARIS.pera.com
Tony Hammersley
Director
TEV Ltd.
Armytage Road
Brighouse, United Kingdom
HD6 1QF
Tel: +44-014-84405617
Fax: +44-087-06064870
Email: TonyHammersley@Tevlimited.com
SOLARIS is a EUR 1.1 million project with a duration of 2 years supported by the of the European Commission (EC)'s Seventh Framework Programme (FP7). The project brings together renewable energy and engineering expertise from across 6 European countries to deliver a system capable of combining solar thermal and air-source heat pump (ASHP) technologies. This efficient system will result in significant savings for the European consumer and greatly reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions.
Project context and objectives:
There are 195 million households in Europe whose combined domestic heating needs account for over 26 % of Europe's energy demand and 500 billion tonnes of CO2 emissions annually. Reducing this is very important if Europe is to achieve ambitious emission reduction targets (i.e. Kyoto and beyond), decrease our excessive reliance on imported energy and reduce costs to households and industry. The most effective way to decentralise energy production is to increase the amount of generation at source, in this case within the home. A common barrier to the adoption of most energy generation / saving technologies is the high initial investment cost which results in long payback periods even considering current high energy prices. However, with prices increasingly on the rise, existing technologies such as solar thermal heating systems and heat pumps are becoming more popular (growth rate of approximately 50 % in 2006). Although both are reasonably efficient, existing solar thermal heating systems generally only provide up to approximately 60 % of a typical household's annual hot water demand. ASHPs are more effective and can provide up to 100 % of total household heating requirements but their performance decreases significantly in winter and they suffer from frost-build up. As these technologies are becoming commodity products, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in these markets are coming under increasing pressure from cheap low-quality imports from Asia and technologies from the United States of America (USA). It is paramount that European SMEs keep a technological edge over these competitors if they are to remain competitive. The SOLARIS consortium therefore propose to develop a modular novel solar ASHP system which is 25 % more efficient than a typical ASHP and 7% more efficient than a combination of a standard ASHP and a solar thermal system while only costing 60 % of the combined price of these separate systems.
Project objectives
The SOLARIS consortium brings together experts in a number of fields including ASHP technology, heat exchanger design, renewable system installation and eco-home building. The SOLARIS consortium propose to develop a modular novel solar ASHP system (ASHP) which is 25 % more efficient than a typical ASHP and 7 % more efficient than a combination of a standard ASHP and a solar thermal system while only costing 60 % of the combined price of these separate systems.
Project results:
During the first year of the project significant effort was expended in three key areas. These are:
(1) the design and manufacture of the solar collector;
(2) the development of the ASHP heat exchanger elements; and
(3) the development of a low power control system.
The three research and technological development (RTD) partners, Fraunhofer, Re/genT and ISRI focused their efforts in each of these areas respectively.
During the second year of the project significant effort has been expended to integrate the system components developed in the first year. These were:
(1) the solar collector developed in WP2;
(2) the ASHP heat exchanger elements developed in WPs 3, 4 and;
(3) the low power control system developed in WP5.
These elements were integrated and four SOLARIS prototype units have been fabricated. Two have been installed in the field; one in Ireland (QRS) and one in Spain (Teican), one unit has been installed in a climatic chamber (Re / genT) and one has been installed on a fully instrumented mobile test rig (ISRI). The variety of installation sites and types meant that the partners were able to analyse the system performance in a number of environments and additionally solve any issues remotely by working on the nearest installation. The second period of the project has seen the transition from research focussed work to validation and dissemination with the SME partners increasing their efforts in each of these areas respectively.
The initial results show that SOLARIS is more efficient than currently available systems, however the consortium have identified a number of significant design improvements that are currently being implemented to improve the efficiency further. These improvements will then be validated over the remaining six month testing period extending past the conclusion of this project. One objective that has been significantly exceeded is the costs of the unit and the cost gain calculations over currently available alternatives. The payback analysis completed by the partners indicates that SOLARIS will be a cost-effective product in the market for delivering space heating and hot water solutions throughout much of Europe.
The consortium has produced dissemination material such as a number of 6 feet free standing banners, which have been displayed around Europe at numerous trade shows and events. The consortium, led by TEV have also embarked on a robust intellectual and property right (IPR) protection strategy and intend on finalising a number of applications already made for protection of the project results in the coming months.
The technical work programme over the period 1st March 2009 to 28 February 2011 has involved the following:
- WP1: Preparatory research
- WP2: Development of the solar air collector panel
- WP3: Development of the solar ASHP infrastructure
- WP4: Development of a hydrophobic anti-fouling coating
- WP5: Development of a low power control system
- WP6: System integration and testing
- WP7: In-field trials.
In-field validation trials on two SOLARIS units will continue following the conclusion of the FP project with project partners Teican Medioambiental and Quinn Renewable Systems in Spain and Ireland respectively.
These developments which were achieved within the SOLARIS project, will make a significant contribution to energy consumer across the European Union (EU) by reducing CO2 emissions and providing a cheaper and more efficient alternative to those products currently on the market. SOLARIS can be scaled to fit individual requirements and supplies energy on demand without the need for expensive thermal stores and due to the reduced installation costs (versus two independent units) and improved performance it also has a payback period significantly less than its competition.
Potential impact:
There are 195 million households in Europe whose combined domestic heating needs account for over 26 % of Europe's energy demand and 500 billion tonnes of CO2 emissions annually. Reducing this is very important if Europe is to achieve ambitious emission reduction targets (i.e. Kyoto and beyond), decrease our excessive reliance on imported energy and reduce costs to households and industry. The most effective way to decentralise energy production is to increase the amount of generation at source, in this case within the home. A common barrier to the adoption of most energy generation / saving technologies is the high initial investment cost which results in long payback periods even considering current high-energy prices. However, with prices increasingly on the rise, existing technologies such as solar thermal heating systems and heat pumps are becoming more popular (growth rate of approximately 50 % in 2006). Although both are reasonably efficient, existing solar thermal heating systems generally only provide up to approximately 60 % of a typical household's annual hot water demand. ASHPs are more effective and can provide up to 100 % of total household heating requirements but their performance decreases significantly in winter and they suffer from frost build-up. As these technologies are becoming commodity products, SMEs in these markets are coming under increasing pressure from cheap low-quality imports from Asia and technologies from the USA. It is paramount that European SMEs keep a technological edge over these competitors if they are to remain competitive. The SOLARIS consortium therefore proposed to develop a modular novel solar ASHP which is 25 % more efficient than a typical ASHP and 7 % more efficient than a combination of a standard ASHP and a solar thermal system while only costing 60 % of the combined price of these separate systems.
List of Websites: http://SOLARIS.pera.com
Tony Hammersley
Director
TEV Ltd.
Armytage Road
Brighouse, United Kingdom
HD6 1QF
Tel: +44-014-84405617
Fax: +44-087-06064870
Email: TonyHammersley@Tevlimited.com
