Practical support for evaluating efficiency factors of a space heating system in cold climates

Plenty of technical norms, included in the EPBD umbrella, assess the performance of buildings or its sub-systems in terms of efficiency. In particular, EN 15316 and its sub-sections, determine the system energy requirements and the system efficiencies of space heating system. This paper focuses on the estimation of efficiencies for emission of hydronic radiators. The assessment of efficiencies for emission occurs by evaluating the amount of heat emitted  from the heat emitter and the extra thermal losses towards building envelope. The heat emitted from radiators varies during the heating up/cooling down phases. A factor that influences the heat emitted during these phases is the location of connection pipes of the radiator. Connection pipes can be located on opposite side or at the same side of the radiator. To better estimate the heat emitted from radiators a transient model with multiple storage elements is used in a building simulation model. Sensitivity analysis encompasses all  the possible variations on extra thermal losses due to the building location in different climates, the heaviness of active thermal mass and the type of radiator local control. The final outcome of this paper is a practical support where the designer can easily assess the efficiencies for emission of hydronic radiators  for Swedish buildings. As main result, (i) the efficiency for control of space heating system is higher in Northern climates than in Southern climates, (ii) heavy active thermal masses allow higher efficiencies for emission than light active thermal masses, (iii) connection pipes located on the same side of the radiator enable higher efficiencies for emission than pipes located on opposite side