Anti Hamburg, Martin Thalfeldt, Teet-Andrus Kõiv, Alo Mikola

Investigation of heat transfer between neighbouring apartments

View full text in PDF format

Abstract

Little attention has been paid to the heat conductivity of internal walls and floors as it does not significantly affect heat losses of a building. However, it is important to study heat transfer between apartments. In the framework of the current study, on site heat conductivity measurements were transmitted to support the results received by energy simulations. Increasing energy efficiency of buildings has become one of the severe problems that has to be solved in the near future. The goal of reducing carbon dioxide (CO2) emission by 20% by the year 2020 has been set to all EU members states. As residential sector is responsible for a large part of energy consumption, it is clear that refurbishing dwellings is an effective means of reducing CO2 emissions. In case of old apartment buildings, space heating is the single most common contributor to greenhouse gas emissions [1]. Space heating consumption of apartment buildings can mainly be reduced by insulating the envelope and installing windows with low heat conductivity. As heat losses of buildings are reduced, thermostatic radiator valves (TRVs) must be installed. Studies show that TRVs can contribute greatly to reducing heating consumption, however it is also noted that they must be used correctly [2, 3]. The use of thermostats has been studied by Karjalainen and it was concluded that due to different reasons, large part of people do not know how to use TRVs [4, 5]. One means of drawing more dwelling residents’ attention to TRVs is implementing energy allocation systems that record the energy consumption and divide it between flats [6]. The system motivates inhabitants to learn how to use TRVs, as the residents have some control over their energy bills. However, besides benefits, the system can cause problems as well. In our case study we look what is going to happen when we change one room set point temperature and how much heatflow coming or going through wall between neighbouring apartment. There we can see that when unheated room have set point temperature 16 °C and don´t have any internal heat gains then it doesn´t need any heating energy because heatflow from neighboring apartments covers it.

Keywords: heatflow between apartments; allocation system; energy simulation.