The Energy and Climate Change and the Sustainable Energy Research Group at the University of Southampton are directly involved in research and development of THERMOSS in the UK. This includes the deployment of heating technology packages in the residential demonstration sites (1) and (2) located in the cities of Southampton and Portsmouth. Both sites will have their heating systems upgraded by incorporating smart heating technologies from THERMOSS packages.
International Way (Southampton)
International Way is located in the city of Southampton, under an oceanic climate. It consists of a group of five tower blocks (100 flats each) recently retrofitted to BREEAM Excellent standards. Heat for space heating and hot water is delivered through a high temperature wet network from gas boilers to substations in each flat (Danfoss VX-Solo Heat Interface Unit). In one of the towers, one entire floor of these substations will be replaced in by a Worcester Greenstar wall mounted Heat Interface Unit (HIU). These maximise the efficiency of the primary heat sources due to their low return temperature (22◦C).
Monitoring equipment is currently installed in one of the towers and transmitting live data from: (a) the plant room, (b) the heat distribution network and (c) residents’ flats. With a combination of non-intrusive sensors and communication system, the following parameters are measured:Delivered Heat at building level and boiler operation cycle, Flow temperatures and rates across the distribution network, Indoor conditions and thermal comfort.
Additionally, a weather station has been installed on site and is transmitting live data to the Weather Observation Website from the UK Government Meteorological Office ( https://wow.metoffice.gov.uk/ , ID: International Way)
Hale Court (Portsmouth)
Hale Court is located in the city of Portsmouth, under an oceanic climate and houses elderly residents. It comprises 80 flats divided in two blocks, each with independent heat network. Both consist of high temperature wet central heating systems served by gas boilers. In one of the blocks, the system will be upgraded to incorporate Gas Absorption Heat Pumps. The other block will used as a monitored control, that is, it will have no changes to its heating system.
Monitoring equipment has been installed in plant rooms and residents’ flats and is successfully collecting and transmitting data to the project cloud. In the plant rooms, flow temperatures and rates are recorded through ultrasonic flow meters whereas boiler run-time is monitored through temperature probes. In the flats, indoor ambient conditions and thermal comfort is monitored. Additionally, a Weather station has been installed on site to collect external weather data.