A unified model for the simulation of oil, gas and biomass space heating boilers for energy estimating purposes. Part I: Model development

Abstract

A unified model for the simulation of oil, gas, pellet and wood chip space heating boilers for energy estimating purposes has been developed based on a literature review and laboratory measurements on four different boilers. The model includes the influence of space heating return temperature, power modulation and condensation gains on the flue gas losses of the boiler, the simulation of a thermal boiler capacitance including its heat losses during standby and operation, and the ability to calculate carbon monoxide emissions and electricity use dependent on power modulation and number of burner starts. Some of the new features of the presented boiler model are the unification of models for oil, gas and biomass boilers into one model, and the combination of steady state calculation for the flue gas to water heat transfer with an explicit solution for the time dependent temperature change of the boiler's thermal capacitance.

Keywords:

• simulation and modelling
• boiler
• biomass
• oil
• gas

Acknowledgements

The work presented was financed by projects supported by the European Union 6th research framework programme, Marie-Curie early stage research training network, Advanced solar heating and cooling for buildings – SOLNET, as well as the Swiss Federal Office of Energy SFOE and the Austrian Climate and Energy Fund as part of the ‘Energy of Tomorrow’ programme in the project ‘PellSol Plus’.

Notes

1. The term ‘boiler’ in this article refers to the combination of a burner and a vessel or heat exchanger transferring the heat from the flue gas to the boiler water. It also includes the boiler water itself.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

M. Y. Haller†

†Present address: Institut für Solartechnik SPF.