Numerical simulation and thermal analysis of the heating and hot water supply systems for houses

Sponsored by Mitsubishi Electronic R&D Europe (MERCE)

There is urgent need to carry out comprehensive studies of airflow and thermal performance of domestic rooms, in order to provide useful information for the development of an efficient and effective design toolkit that allow design engineers to carry out massive parametric studies for optimisation, while considering various technological and non-technological elements as well.

The energy usage of a domestic building (house) has been increasingly drawn to the attention of various parties, notably the building regulator, the building developer, the heating unit/device designer and manufacturers, and the end-users (occupants).

At present, most domestic houses in the UK have equipped a central heating system (conventional or modern combinational types) to provide both the heating and hot water during the winter time and primarily hot water for the rest of the seasons.

With the increasing demands for cutting the ever raising energy bill by the occupants and also reducing the CO₂ emissions thus meeting the stringent environmental targets set by the government, it is becoming more important to improve the thermal performance of the heating and hot water supply systems for houses by better and optimised design, cost-effective installation, and sensible and careful operations of the system.

Duration: 2010-2014