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Automating heating and ventilation

January 23, 2003

Homeowners looking to save heating costs can find themselves in a quandary. If they apply too much insulation to the outside walls and install airtight windows, the inflow of fresh air from outside is reduced. To prevent stale and humid air from causing mold to grow, approximately half of the air volume should be renewed every hour. But uncontrolled, prolonged airing can be excessive to the point where the heat loss due to air exchange can reach the same magnitude as conductive losses occurring through the walls and windows.

One way out of this dilemma is "demand-based heating and ventilation regulation". Experimental trials at a 64-unit housing complex in Eberswalde near Berlin showed that, together with other measures, energy savings of more than 50 percent could be achieved, 10 percent of which was attributed to the combined regulation system. As a result, three months ago the Brandenburg Technology Initiative awarded three participating partners with the "Innovation Prize for Energy": Projektgemeinschaft Wohnungsbau- und Verwaltungs-GmbH, a project group in Eberswalde, project consultants Dörner & Partner GmbH, also in Eberswalde and automation firm Dr. Riedel Automatisierungstechnik GmbH in Berlin.

The Fraunhofer Institute for Transportation and Infrastructure IVI in Dresden played a significant role in the enhancement of the RIEcon system developed by Riedel. "Demand-based also means that the heating and ventilation system reacts as soon as no-one is at home," emphasizes project manager Dr. Gunter Lauckner. A control unit with keyboard and display allows each room to be regulated by a time and temperature program. If no-one is at home - meaning that neither the heating is regulated nor any windows opened - the system automatically switches to economy mode. The program lowers the heating level and sets a basic ventilation configuration by regulating ventilators or air vents accordingly.

The owners now return home. If they cook or take a shower, there is a marked increase in humidity. Instead of opening a window, they can manually readjust the system for higher ventilation in the kitchen for instance. If this still does not suffice, the system automatically adjusts itself to compensate. In the trials in Eberswalde, the installed system had an unexpected, pleasant side-effect. Residents found the indoor environment more comfortable than before and became more disciplined in their use of the heating and ventilation systems.

Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft