Examples on finished research projects:
- Competitive solar heating systems for residential buildings. Leading universities and manufacturers in Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Latvia collaborate on the development of solar combi systems and on Ph.D. education on solar heating. Department of Civil Engineering is the project leader of the project, which is funded by Nordic Energy Research and the participants themselves.
- NEGST (New Generation of Solar Thermal Systems). 18 leading European universities and research institutions collaborate on development of future solar heating systems. Information on the project, which is funded by the EU, can be found on the home page: http://www.swt-technologie.de/html/negst.html.
- Evacuated tubular solar collectors for the Arctic. In this project, funded by VILLUM KANN RASMUSSEN FOUNDATION, it is investigated both theoretically and experimentally how evacuated tubular collectors, utilizing solar radiation from all directions, are best designed for solar heating systems in the Arctic. Both heat pipe evacuated tubular solar collectors and all glass solar collectors are included in the investigations.
- Development, production and demonstration of improved ARCON HT-SA solar collector. In this project, funded by The Danish Energy Authority, an improved solar collector element for large solar heating plants is developed in collaboration with Arcon Solvarme A/S.
- Quality assurance of solar heating systems. In this project, funded by The Danish Energy Authority, Department of Civil Engineering collaborates with Nilan A/S and Metro Therm A/S on development of optimally designed mantle tanks for small solar heating systems, and with Aidt Miljø A/S on development of combined air/fluid solar collectors.
- Advanced storage concepts for solar and low energy buildings, IEA-SHC Task 32. In this project, funded by The Danish Authority, investigations are carried out on seasonal heat storage based on a heat of fusion storage material supercooling in a stable way in order to obtain heat storage without heat loss. Further, the durability of a new developed fabric inlet stratifier suitable for advanced water heat storages will be investigated.
- Energy savings for solar heating systems.In this project, funded by The Danish Energy Authority, investigations will focus on energy savings for solar heating systems in practice. The project is carried out in a cooperation with Batec Solvarme A/S, Velux A/S and SONNENKRAFT Scandinavia A/S.
- Solar/electric heating systems in the future energy system. It is expected that an increasing part of our electricity consumption in the future will be covered by wind farms. This will result in an increased number of windy periods with a surplus of electricity and thereby a low electricity price. A concept where individual solar heating systems optimised for making use of electricity produced by wind turbines in these periods can facilitate the introduction of wind energy in large scale into the energy system and thereby contribute to increasing the part of our energy consumption covered by renewable energy sources. The heat is produced by the solar heating system and by the electric heating element(s)/heat pump, which, if possible, only should be in operation in periods where the solar heating system cannot fully cover the heat demand and where the electricity price is low, e.g. in windy periods with a high electricity production from wind turbines. The unit is equipped with a smart heat storage (variable auxiliary volume) and a smart control system based on prognosis for the electricity price, the heat demand of the house, the solar heat production of the solar heating system and weather forecasts. The project will elucidate how best to design an individual heating unit for one family houses based on the above principles. It is also elucidated how suitable the heating unit is for the home owner and for our future energy system. Different designs of the heating unit and the control system will be investigated and the most promising solutions tested experimentally. It is expected that the heating unit is more cost efficient than traditional solar heating systems and that it can be an attractive alternative to oil- and natural gas boilers, both from an economy and environmental point of view.
- SOLNET. Europæisk samarbejde om Ph.D. uddannelse indenfor solvarme.
- Research cooperation with small companies on development of a smart solar heat storage based on fabric inlet stratifiers
The aim of the project is to develop a heat storage with a variable auxiliary volume and a smart control system based on prognosis for the electricity price, the heat demand of the house, the solar heat production of the solar heating system and weather forecasts. Further, the tank is equipped with durable reliable fabric inlet stratifiers to establish a good thermal stratification during operation. The project is carried out in cooperation with Ohmatex ApS and Ajva ApS.
- IEA Task 42 - Compact thermal energy storage: Material development and system integration.The aim of the project is to develop and demonstrate a compact seasonal heat storage based on a salt hydrate, sodium acetate trihydrate, with a stable supercooling. The heat storage can be used as a part of a solar heating system which can fully cover the yearly heat demand of new buildings in Denmark. The development will be divided in a number of separate experimental and theoretical investigations which will elucidate how best to design the heat storage.
- Tracking solar collectors
- IEA Task 44 Solar heating/heat pump systems. The project is carried out in a cooperation between Technological Institute, Ellehauge & Kildemoes, Nilan A/S, Cenergia, Varmt vand fra solen and Department of Civil Engineering. At Department of Civil Engineering the focus will be on laboratory test of a combined solar heating/ heat pump system and on development of a simulation model for the system.
- Air solar collectors. The aim of the project is to increase the knowledge of the heat and mass transfer in air solar collectors. This project will establish the first part of the basis for development of air solar collector systems for dehumidification of buildings and heating of ventilation air for buildings. The first part contains the following activities: Establishing of a test facility for side-by-side tests of air solar collectors. Testing the efficiency of a marketed air solar collector. Contribute to development of test methods for air solar collectors within the international energy agency framework program, Task 43
- Roof integrated solar collectors. In this project, funded by The Danish Energy Authority, a new roof integrated solar collector will be developed by Nordic Energy Group and tested in a laboratory test facility by Department of Civil Engineering.
- Assistance for Danish solar heating manufactures. Solar collector loops with evaporation in solar collector.
- IEA Task 46 Solar Ressource Assessment. The aim of the project is to prepare an improved solar radiation model. Special focus is on diffuse radiation from different parts of the sky and on solar radiation in solar collector fields. The project is carried out in cooperation with DMI.
- Aluminium solar collectors for district heating. Recommendations for monitoring systems for large solar heating plants with several different solar collector fields will be given. Cooperation with SavoSolar and PlanEnergi.
- Development of air collector for dehumidification. An air collector with a layer of silica gel will be developed and tested in the laboratory with regard to efficiency and ability to dehumidify the air pumped through the collector. Different operation strategies for the collector will be investigated in order to elucidate how the air passing through the collector best will dry out the silica gel in sunny periods and how the air best is dried out by the silica gel in periods with ventilation of buildings. Cooperation with SolarVenti A/S.