Method and system for balancing a heating system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11365891-B2
Application number	US-201515532278-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 10, 2015
Priority date	Dec 3, 2014
Publication date	Jun 21, 2022
Grant date	Jun 21, 2022

Abstract

A method of balancing a heating system with a flow system, including a supply flow line (60) and a return flow line (70), a heat source (55) and a pump (10) hydraulic lines (L1-Ln), some having a heating element (H1-Hn) with a balancing valve (V1-Vn). The method includes: carrying out one or more measurements by opening one hydraulic line only and determining a flow rate through the pump and a pressure difference across the pump, establishing a hydraulic model based on the determined flow rate and pressure difference from at least two measurements from step, and at least one additional measurement for at least two hydraulic lines, specifying a desired flow rate for each of the hydraulic lines, and adjusting one or more of the dedicated balancing valves in order to meet the desired flow rate for each of the hydraulic lines by using the hydraulic model.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method of balancing a heating system, wherein the heating system comprises:
a flow system comprising a supply flow line and a return flow line,
a heat source and at least a first pump coupled to the flow system and pumping fluid through the heat source to the flow system, and
a plurality of hydraulic lines between the supply flow line and the return flow line, at least two of which have a heating element with a dedicated balancing valve, wherein the method comprises the steps of:
A) carrying out one or more measurements for each of the hydraulic lines by opening one hydraulic line only and determining a flow rate through the pump and a pressure difference across the pump,

wherein said one more measurements is carried out by the following steps:
opening a first dedicated balancing valve and closing the remainder of the plurality of dedicated balancing valves in order to set a first flow setting for the flow system,
measuring a pressure difference and flow rate for the first flow setting;
opening a second dedicated balancing valve and closing the remainder of the plurality of balancing valves in order to set a second flow setting for the flow system;
measuring a pressure difference and a flow rate for the second flow setting; and further carrying out at least one additional measurement for at least two hydraulic lines by opening the first and the second dedicated balancing valve in order to set a third flow setting for the flow system;
B) establishing a hydraulic model for the heating system based on the determined flow rate and pressure difference from measurements of at least two of the hydraulic lines in the first and the second flow setting from step A), and said at least one additional measurement for at least two hydraulic lines in the third flow setting, from step A), that are open at the same time, wherein the measurement of steps A) are utilized to determine the hydraulic resistances of the heat source and the hydraulic resistance of the hydraulic lines;
C) specifying a desired flow rate for each of the hydraulic lines, which is needed in order to achieve a required emission of heat from the heating elements as a heating fluid passes through the heating element; and
D) adjusting one or more of the dedicated balancing valves in order to meet the desired flow rate for each of the hydraulic lines by using the hydraulic model.

2. A method according to claim 1 , wherein the hydraulic model is utilized to calculate a flow rate through the heating system, and wherein said flow rate through the heating system is compared to the desired flow rate for each of the hydraulic lines in order to adjust the one or more of the dedicated balancing valves in step D).

3. A method according to claim 1 , wherein step B) further comprises the additional step of closing all the balancing valves in order to set a bypass flow setting and carrying out a measurement in order to determine a pressure difference and a flow rate for the bypass flow setting, and wherein step B) is also determined based on the measurement from said additional step.

4. A method according to claim 3 , wherein the hydraulic model at least comprises a calculation of a hydraulic resistance of a bypass line of the heating system.

5. A method according to claim 2 , wherein the step for establishing a hydraulic model of the heating system is carried out for different sets of two heating elements and dedicated balancing valves.

6. A method according to claim 1 , wherein the step for calculating the desired flow rate for the individual heating elements is based on a size of a space of which the individual heating element is to heat.

7. A method according to claim 1 , wherein the step for calculating the desired flow rate for the individual heating elements is based on a size of said heating element.

8. A method according to claim 1 , wherein a warning is generated, if the desired flow rate of one of the individual heating elements is higher than a maximum flow rate of the system.

9. A method according to claim 1 , wherein a warning is generated, if a difference between a supply temperature and a return temperature of an individual heating element is lower than a predefined threshold, alternatively that the return temperature is higher than a predefined threshold.

10. A method according to claim 1 , wherein a warning is generated, if a calculated return temperature is lower than a predefined threshold.

11. A method according to claim 1 , wherein the method further comprises the step of determining which dedicated balancing valve requires a highest pressure, and wherein a required system pressure provided by the pump is subsequently calculated based on said dedicated balancing valve.

12. A method according to claim 1 , wherein the method further comprises the additional step of calculating required pump settings and adjusting the pump speed to meet the required pump settings plus a given robustness factor.

13. A method according to claim 12 , wherein the method of calculating the required pump settings comprises the step of calculating a required pump flow at a design point of the system.

14. A method according to claim 13 , wherein the required pump flow is calculated as a sum of the desired flow rates of the individual hydraulic lines.

15. A method according to claim 11 , further comprises the additional step of calculating required pump settings and adjusting the pump speed to meet the required pump settings plus a given robustness factor wherein a required pump pressure of the pump is calculated as a sum of a required system pressure, a calculated pressure loss of the heat source, and the robustness factor, wherein said calculated pressure loss is calculated based on the hydraulic model.

16. A method according to claim 15 , wherein a pump curve of the pump is set based on the required pump pressure of the pump.

17. A method according to claim 1 , wherein the pressure and the flow rating are determined from measurements by one or more sensors.

18. A method according to claim 1 , wherein at least one of the steps is carried out by use of a handheld communication device running an app or via an app implemented in the pump.

19. A device for a pump, the device comprising:
means for communicating with a handheld communication device, where the pump is further adapted to:
calculate a hydraulic model for use in balancing heating elements of a heating system comprising a flow system comprising a supply flow line and a return flow line, a heat source, wherein the pump is coupled to the flow system for pumping fluid through the heat source to the flow system, and a plurality of hydraulic lines between the supply flow line and the return flow line, at least two of which have a heating element with a dedicated balancing valve, wherein one or more measurements are carried out for each of the hydraulic lines by opening one hydraulic line only and determining a flow rate through the pump and a pressure difference across the pump and a hydraulic model is established for the heating system based on the determined flow rate and pressure difference from at least two measurements of at least two of the hydraulic lines and at least one additional measurement for at least two hydraulic lines that are open at the same time, wherein the one or more measurements are utilized to determine hydraulic resistances of the heat source and a hydraulic resistance of the hydraulic lines, wherein the one more measurements is carried out by the following steps:
opening a first dedicated

Assignees

• Grundfos Holding As

Inventors

• Kallesøe Carsten Skovmose
• Bergqvist René Stig
• Mortensen Lars Sund

Classifications

• Y02B30/70

  Efficient control or regulation technologies, e.g. for control of refrigerant flow, motor or heating · CPC title

• F24D3/10

  Feed-line arrangements, e.g. providing for heat-accumulator tanks, expansion tanks {; Hydraulic components of a central heating system} · CPC title

• H04Q2209/00

  Arrangements in telecontrol or telemetry systems · CPC title

• H04W84/18

  Self-organising networks, e.g. ad-hoc networks or sensor networks · CPC title

• F04D13/0686 Primary

  Mechanical details of the pump control unit (pump control F04D15/00) · CPC title