The project Dijlemolens is a project within the story blue heat where the goal is to extract heat from the Dijle and heat the building the Dijlemolens. More information about the Dijlemolens project can be found here.
Visiting the Dijlemolens
To get a better idea of the current technical installation, we visited the "Dijlemolens" residential building, less than 100m from our office. We took a look in the boiler room and analyzed the gas boiler, the heat pump that is currently not in use, and the supply/discharge circuit of the heating. Thanks to this site visit, and looking at the branches of the large gas pipeline in the complex, the overall picture of the different customers became clear. Currently - we are working on reporting the research we have already done. This includes, among other things, the heat demand of the complex, the selection of a heat exchanger and heat pump, and a profitability study.
Output temperature testing
Numerous challenges are addressed when dimensioning the project. Heat capture from surface water using a heat exchanger and heat pump is a relatively new technique. One of the challenges is to design the system as efficiently as possible. However, the efficiency of the heat pump depends on the output temperature of the heating circuit. The lower the delivery temperature, the more efficient the heat pump can operate. In order to find out what the minimum output temperature is in order to still be able to heat the "Dijlemolens" building sufficiently, we carried out a test. The test went as follows:
- An active cooling, air conditioning, was installed in a random apartment in the complex. This air conditioning was provided by our loyal A-nut IBA Technics. This air conditioner was set at 21°C.
- The thermostat in the random apartment we set to maximum setting.
- The output temperature, which the gas boiler currently delivers, we gradually lowered.
By means of the on/off control of the air conditioning, we determined the heating capacity of the test apartment at each output temperature.
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