Hot water distribution improvement for multi-resident buildings

在多居民公寓中，能源消耗以及居民的舒适性和安全性可能具有挑战性。在大多数国家，住宅建筑部门消耗了全国总能源的11-35%。在美国，多居民建筑的生活热水（DHW）使用是住宅能源消耗的第二大部分（仅次于空间供暖）。影响能源消耗、居民舒适和安全的因素（如烫伤、军团菌）包括：(1)热水器的效率；(2)流量循环的控制；(3)管道布置和结构；(4)退化和失效的部件；(5)包括再循环回路在内的配电系统的绝缘。因此，显然需要一个全面和有效的DHW模型来支持现有配电系统和新公寓建筑的改造。这样的模型将允许设计一个可靠的DHW分配系统，从而消除居民的不适（通过在高峰时段及时提供热水），并通过调节热水流量提高热水采暖。这些模型还将提供DHW分配系统各组成部分（即热水储罐）温度的空间分布情况，以确定军团菌易感区域。基于方程（面向对象）的建模和仿真工具，如OpenModelica（基于modelica的建模和仿真环境）和Simulink®可以支持改进对DHW分配系统的理解。本研究将通过实际现场测试验证OpenModelica。这些模型可以通过更好的技术帮助改造和新公寓的建设。

Energy consumption together with resident comfort and safety in multi-resident condominiums can be challenging. The residential building sector consumes 11-35% of total energy at the national levels in most countries. In the United States, the domestic hot water (DHW) use in multi-resident buildings is the second largest (next to space heating) portion of residential energy consumption. Some factors that can affect energy consumption, resident comfort and safety (e.g., scalding, legionella) include: (1) efficiency of the water heater, (2) control of flow circulation, (3) piping layout and architecture, (4) degraded and failed components and, (5) insulation of the distribution system including the recirculation loop. Hence, there is a clear need for comprehensive and validated DHW models to support retrofitting of existing distribution systems and new condominium construction builds. Such models would allow for the design of a reliable DHW distribution system, leading to elimination of resident discomfort (via timely delivery of hot water during peak hours) and higher hot water heating via regulated flow of hot water. These models would also provide insight on spatial distribution of temperature across the components of the DHW distribution system (i.e. hot water storage tank) to identify regions susceptible to Legionella bacteria. Equation-based (object-oriented) modeling and simulation tools such as OpenModelica (a Modelica-based modeling and simulation environment) and Simulink® can support improvement to understanding of DHW distribution systems. The present study will validate OpenModelica against real-world field tests. Such models can aid in retrofits and new condominium construction via better technology.