INVESTIGATIONS ON DESIGN OF HEAT STORAGE PIPE CONNECTIONS FOR SOLAR COMBISYSTEMS

This paper describes how different designed pipe connections on a tank for solar combisystems were evaluated based on experimental tests and theoretical investigations with the simulation tool TRNSYS. Measurement results from laboratory measurements were used to calibrate a TRNSYS model for simulations with parameter analysis. The possibility to connect pipes at the bottom and use internal PEX pipes to reach the inlet/outlet level in the tank was compared with the possibility to connect the pipe at the side of the tank and pass to the bottom level of the tank inside the tank insulation. In general the results showed only very little differences between external connection and internal PEX pipes, if the internal PEX pipes have thick walls. Typically used PEX pipes with only 2 mm wall thickness lead to reduced system performance compared to PEX pipes with 6 mm wall thickness and external pipe connections respectively.