Ambergy Industrial: A heating control system to save energy

Industrial buildings, used as warehouses or distribution centres, are characterized by large doors which are opened temporarily or for longer periods. A new technique - called Ambergy - is investigated which prevents unnecessary energy loss through open overhead doors in heated industrial halls. This technique consists of a smart coupling between the heating system and the overhead doors. By temporarily switching off gas-fired heaters near open doors, the heat loss through the door should be minimized. It is expected that the Ambergy system can contribute to energy savings, also when the indoor thermal comfort is taken into account. However, at the start of the research, the amount of energy which can be saved and the effect of the Ambergy system on the thermal comfort, was not known yet. If energy can be saved by using the Ambergy system, and the current thermal comfort level can be retained, many industrial buildings can benefit from this. This thesis aimed to get an insight in the energy saving effects of the Ambergy system and to determine its potential - technical - feasibility. To fulfil this aim, a literature study is performed to predict important physical aspects affecting the heat balance, to gain insight in air transport phenomena and to derive criteria to compare thermal comfort levels. By using the software packages Matlab and Simulink, these physical aspects and air flow phenomena are implemented in a thermal building-dynamics simulation. This simulation predicts effect of the Ambergy system on the air temperature across the hall and the fuel savings for different circumstances during a whole winter season. Assumptions made in the thermal building-dynamics simulation - regarding the air flow direction - are verified with a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model. Furthermore, measurements are performed in one representative industrial hall (Alphatron, Rotterdam), to gain input data for both models and to validate the outcome. To make the system as optimal as possible and accepted by the employees, also the effect on the indoor thermal comfort is taken into account. A comparison between the current thermal comfort level and the expected thermal comfort level, when applying Ambergy, is performed by calculating the required insulation value of the clothing of the employees (IREQ-value). As part of this thesis, also requirements for pilot projects at business facilities of DHL and Alphatron - in ’s Hertogenbosch and Rotterdam respectively - are defined and these pilot projects were carried out during this thesis. Due to the confidential nature of this research and the embargo set by the TU Delft and BreedofBuilds B.V., no information can publicly be given regarding the results, conclusions and recommendations done in this research until August 2017.

Subject

ambergy
heating system
energy
industrial
hall
control
heat loss
building physics
sustainable
sustainability
finite element modeling
heat
CFD
civil engineering
building engineering
gas-fired-heaters
thermal comfort

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http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:2d40af8c-fcdf-41a9-8aad-05b16ad4f9ba

Embargo date

2017-08-01

Part of collection

Student theses

Document type

master thesis

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