BOILERS
B y W ill Wilson Will Wilson manages the sustainability division of Pace Solutions in Delta, BC. His focus is on educating the market on innovative solutions to achieve building energy efficiency and emissions reductions.
TREATING WATER TO REDUCE MECHANICAL LOAD AND ENERGY USE H ydronic systems are the most common commercial space heating system used in the northern hemisphere. Space heating represents the largest energy use in buildings, consuming more than seven trillion Joules of energy in the U.S. alone. Along with high utility bills, energy use is often fficiency of directly linked to the efficiency the mechanical systems cycling the water. However, replacing ing existing h more mechanical systems with ment can be efficient modern equipment cost prohibitive, leadingg some to mproved the wonder, “What if we improved efficiency of the water instead?”
Over the past 30 years, a significant focus has been on the use of Replacing aging equipment with more energy-efficient mechanics is a costly surfactant additives to reduce surface tension with the goal oal of improving endeavour, especially for older systems running on tight operational budgets. heat transfer between the he system water and the heating unit. Typical ypical heating units include radiators, radiators HOW NON-IONIC SURFACTANTS WORK HO fan coils or heat exchangers. Studies have shown that surfacHydronic systems transport water or a water/glycol tants improve heat transfer, but long-term temperature stability mixture through pipes to provide heating and cooling remained the barrier in their efficacy in commercial systems. in a building. Water’s naturally high surface tension Recent advancements in non-ionic surfactant technology have creates laminar flow along the boundary layer, trapping produced a stable additive that is not susceptible to breaking an insulating layer of water in micro-imperfections on down in commercial HVAC systems. Solving the stability issues the surface. The insulating effect sequesters the heat to has allowed for broad scale testing and case studies. The results the centre of the stream, hampering proper heat transfer show an increase in heat delivery, a decrease in system cycling, as shown in Figure 1. The system consumes excess and greater energy efficiency with reductions in energy conenergy and generates more emissions as the demand sumption of up to 15 per cent. Figure 1 - Improvement to heat exchange
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