Laboratory Test Procedures For Solar And Heat Pump Systems

Apart from the characterization of single components, laboratory tests on systems aim at obtaining the system performance figures "SHP" and "SHP+" that were introduced in Chapter 4. Several research institutes within T44A38 have been working on further development of test methods for their application on SHP systems. This work is summarized in this chapter.The test procedures have been developed based on test procedures to a large extent originating from the field of solar thermal applications. They can be assigned to two main approaches (Section 5.2) that are named after the " test boundary" (Section 5.2.1): either the main performance-relevant components are installed in separate test rigs and measured individually (component testing and system simulation - CTSS) or all parts required for normal system operation are tested together (whole system testing - WST). Each approach has its own advantages and disadvantages, which are compared in Section 5.2.2. Section 5.2.3 summarizes the findings of an investigation about the scope of these newly developed test procedures. Although there are limitations, already more than 70% of the market-available solar and heat pump (SHP) system configurations can be characterized with these methods today. Measuring components or systems for a certain period at a test rig is one thing, but obtaining the annual performance figures is another important task. Most test procedures rely on modeling and simulation, which is bound to certain drawbacks if appropriate models are not available. However, for whole system test methods also a direct extrapolation method is available (Section 5.2.4). Apart from performance figures, further possible outputs of testing (Section 5.2.5) are quality and performance labels. For product developers, testing may also return valuable information on malfunctions, design faults, or weaknesses, and lead to subsequently improved products. In Section 5.3, experiences from testing of SHP systems with the new or further developed test methods are reported. Section 5.4 contains a summary and conclusions.