TEMPERATURE DISTRIBUTION MONITORING AND ANALYSES AT DIFFERENT HEATING CONTROL PRINCIPLES

In the last decades significant efforts have been made to reduce energy use in buildings. Heating, cooling and ventilation systems are responsible for 30-40% of the energy consumption in buildings. Although they are evaluated based on the energy performance they should guarantee the desired thermal comfort conditions for the building occupants. During the winter and spring of 2009 a study based on analyses of the local temperatures distribution in a room was performed. The purpose was to compare the temperature distribution in the room with the temperature measured and logged by the heating system control sensor which was already installed. The room was heated by means of electrical radiators, which should be able to control the indoor environment to guarantee the desired thermal conditions for the occupants and to supply heat according to desired load patterns. Five series of experiments were done under different control strategies of the heating system (Pseudo Random Binary Sequence signal controlling all the heaters (PRBS) or thermostatic control of the heaters (THERM)). A comparison of the measured temperatures within the room, for the five series of experiments, shows a better correlation when temperature control strategy THERM was used. Notable vertical temperature gradients were monitored in the occupied zone (especially for the PRBS control strategy) when there were high solar gains.