A research house for energy-efficient living has been built today at the University of
Stuttgart.
Together with the company SchwörerHaus the Research and Test Centre for Solar Systems (TZS)
of the Institute for Thermodynamics and Heat Technology (ITW) of the University of Stuttgart in the
framework of the project “Solspaces” are developing a new heating concept in the building,
combining the solar heating with the long-term heat storage. The central element is a highly
efficient thermochemical heat storage tank, enabling the solar heat from summer to be used to heat
the building in the winter. After many years of developing, this concept is to be tested for the
first time now in a residential house. For this purpose a new type of building of the type “Flying
Spaces” from SchwörerHaus was supplied to the University of Stuttgart in Stuttgart-Vaihingen today
in the early hours by means of a heavy transport.
“With the new research building at the University of Stuttgart we have the possibility of
realising a solar heating system with which the heat requirements of a building can be covered
throughout the entire year”, the Head of the Research and Test Centre for Solar Systems at ITM, Dr
Harald Drück and Project Leader Dr Henner Kerskes were pleased to say.
Whilst everybody is talking about solar energy in terms of electricity, the provision of heat
is doomed to a shadowy existence. One reason for this lies in the fact that the heat generated on
sunny days needs to be stored for cold periods. Up to now this has been done in water storage tanks
requiring a great deal of space. The heating concept pursued in the project “Solspaces“, in
contrast, is based on a thermal solar system in connection with a sorption heat storage tank. This
technology is characterised by energy density three to four times higher than water and enables a
compact and almost loss-free heat storage. Its centrepiece is a sorption storage tank made of
highly porous zeolithen which is perfused with room exhaust air during the heating period and
adsorped in the moisture contained in the air. This process releases heat that is used to heat the
building. In summer the principle reverses: now heat is fed into the storage tank loaded with
moisture in the form of hot air from solar collectors on the roof of the building. The hot air
desorbs the storage material. The moisture entered into the storage tank in winter is hereby driven
out and removed from the storage tank with the air flow. The storage material dried through this
process is thus available again to heat the building.
This technique will be implemented after the setting up work has finished in the research building on the site of ITW and will be experimentally tested. Initially there will be a detailed measurement based anaylsis of the building with the existing heating technolgy. Subsequently the newly developed solar heating system will be installed and likewise analysed based on measurements so that the advantages resulsting from this system are able to be directly quantified. The project SolSpaces is being funded by the Federal Ministry of the Environment (BMU) with 650,000 Euros for three years.
Flexible building concept
The “Flying Spaces“ of SchwörerHaus were selected for the tests since this type of building
makes the greatest demands on the compactness and integration of the heating system due to its
dimensions and on the other hand shows a specific heating requirement due to its ratio of volumes
to surface, which could possibly be transferrable to larger buildings with a worse heat insulation
standard. The flexible residential buildings, up to 48 square metres in size, which are completely
premanufactured, built and delivered by truck can already be purchased today with a conventional
heat supply. Based on the basic idea of a flexible and at the same time more or less
self-sufficient residential and building concept, a both innovative as well as future-oriented
heating concept is now to be developed enabling integrated and completely regenerative heating
requirements cover.
Further information:
Dr. Henner Kerskes, University of Stuttgart, Institute for Thermodynamics and Heat Technology
(ITW),
Tel. +49 (0)711 685-63534, Email kerskes (at) itw.uni-stuttgart.de
Andrea Mayer-Grenu, University of Stuttgart, Department University Communication, Tel.
0711/685-82176,
Email: andrea.mayer-grenu (at) hkom.uni-stuttgart.de
Technical details:
http://www.itw.uni-stuttgart.de/forschung/projekte/aktuell/solspaces.html