The project implementation plan was divided into 10 work packages (WPs), seven of which were of technical nature, as shown in Figure 1. The project had a total duration of 42 months. The first two years were focused on prototype development (WP2-WP5), periods of about 12 months were dedicated testing the prototypes under relevant and real-life operational conditions.
Non-technical activities (WP1, WP9 and WP10) were distributed along the project duration. WP1 concerned with the project coordination. Eight meetings were held to discuss general progress. Deliverables were submitted with the project management (D1.1) and data management plan (D1.2). The activities within WP9 focused on dissemination, communication and exploitation of the results, in order to maximise the impact of the Hybrid-BioVGE technology. The activities within WP9 were reported through three deliverable documents. The project implementation involves voluntary participation of humans during field-testing. In WP10, the ethics principles to be respected by all persons working in the project were laid out.
WP2 focused on the thermal load assessment of the selected buildings for prototype installations, a newly built family home near Porto and office rooms in Steyr (Solarfocus). Thermal loads were estimated by applying dynamic models. Results indicated that the prototypes should be designed for cooling capacities of 5 kW and 10 kW for Porto and Steyr, respectively. Two deliverables were produced.
Full technical details of the main system components for the prototypes were defined in WP3. This includes solar collector type, size and configuration (Figure 2); biomass boiler; PCM type, storage mass and VGE chiller (Figure 3). The work involved theoretical and experimental approaches. Three deliverables were produced.
WP4 concerned with the optimisation of the prototype assembly and building integration. The most suitable system configurations and hydraulic connections were defined for each test site. Two deliverables were produced.
The energy monitoring and control unit for the Hybrid-BioVGE system was developed under WP5. This WP ended with some delay, mostly because of the termination of the lead beneficiary. The restructured work plan was reallocated to Solarfocus partner. The monitoring and control unit is made up by hardware and software components. The hardware includes a master control unit and modular functional modules (Figure 4). Two deliverable documents were produced in WP5.
Within WP6, standalone unified computer tools were developed that assist component selection and forecast the expected performance of the Hybrid – BioVGE system, depending on required system capacity and geographical location. The main computer tool was written in TRNSYS and validated using field test data from WP7 and WP8 (Figure 5). The simplified HybridVGE-eTool design application was developed in MS Excel.
WP7 was designed with the objective to perform dynamic testing of a 5kW Hybrid-BioVGE prototype under relevant operating conditions. The tests were carried out according to a hardware-in-the-loop test principle. This work package was made up of several tasks including, adaption of the test bench (Figure 6), test method definition; installation; CCT testing, fuel flexibility testing. This work package suffered from some delays due the delay in WP5. Details of the work carried out were reported in three deliverable documents.
Under WP8, the installation, commissioning and performance testing of two Hybrid – BioVGE systems, with two different heating/cooling capacities, in real buildings, under two different European climate conditions were carried out (Figure 7). During the tests, a full heating and cooling seasons were covered. Millions of data points were collected at the two test sites. During heating season, a seasonal solar fraction of 61% was obtained in Porto. Cooling cycle performance was below expected, mostly due to unstable operation and issues with VGE components. Two deliverables were elaborated.
