HEAT LOSSES FROM STORAGE TANKS: UP TO 5 TIMES HIGHER THAN CALCULATED!

J.-M. Suter Suter Consulting, P.O. Box 130, CH-3000 Bern 16 (Switzerland)

ABSTRACT This is a summary of nearly 20-years-old research work at the former Swiss Federal Institute for Reactor Research, at Wrenlingen, now the Paul Scherrer Institute. At the beginning of the eighties, solar-energy researchers performed systematic measurements of the long-term heat balance of solar heating systems. They became shocked by the results: heat storage tanks lost up to five times more heat than calculated from the simple heat transfer coefficient and geometry of the storage tanks thermal insulating mantle. They tracked all possible heat sinks as well as hidden measurement errors. In the end, they discovered totally unexpected phenomena in these storage tanks. There are two main origins for the huge heat losses: (i) Air may circulate between the insulation layer and the metallic wall of the storage tank, dragged by buoyancy forces (chimney effect). Cold air enters the gap between insulation and wall through some slits located in the lower part of the tank; warm air leaves this gap through similar slits in the upper part; air velocities up to half-a-meter per second have been recorded. This effect makes up about one third of the high heat loss of the tank. (ii) The remaining part of the extra heat loss is due to a very efficient heat transport phenomenon along the pipework connected to the upper part of the tank. As long as the pipes considered are horizontal or directed upwards, the water they content flows back to the tank in the lower part of the pipes cross section. As this water is colder than the tank contents, it cools the tank continuously. To replace the cooled water leaving the pipes, warmer water is sucked from the tank into the upper cross section of the pipes, closing the flow circuit. This process has been filmed. It was found to happen in pipes with a length up to 20 m, but there is no reason for it to vanish in longer pipework. The only way to drastically reduce the overall heat loss is to create an air-tight insulation mantle around the side-walls and the top of the tank, and to install pipework provided with siphons, i.e. having some parts directed downwards, so that the cooled pipes contents no longer can flow to the storage. If, and only if, these rules are strictly observed, the heat loss only amounts to 100% to 200% of the value calculated from the insulation mantle properties. This is acceptable in solar heating systems with a heat storage time lasting up to a few days. 1. INTRODUCTION Thermally insulated water tanks have been used as heat storage appliances for more than a century, in industrial applications as well as for the domestic hot water supply. Usually, the calculation of their heat loss rate is based on the geometry of the insulation mantle and on the thermal conductivity of the insulating material. Some correction is applied in order to account for possible weak points in the insulation mantle in the practice. The present article shows that such a calculation leads to underestimated heat loss rates by a factor of 3 to 5! This is what a group of researchers of the former Swiss Federal Institute for Reactor Research (EIR), at Wrenlingen, now the Paul Scherrer Institute (www.psi.ch), discovered in the early eighties. The researchers were able to trace the huge heat losses back to their origin. (See also [1]).
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The framework of the surprising discovery was a solar-energy research programme. The energy balance of solar heating systems of the pioneer time has been systematically monitored. Very soon, it turned out that the storage heat losses were unexpectedly high. This, however, was not a measurement error. All monitored systems showed a similar behaviour: expected U-values were about 0.4 W/m2K, measured U-values about 1.5 to 2.5 W/m2K. A typical insulating material thickness was 10 cm. Typical insulating materials were mineral wool and fibreglass. The monitored storage tanks had a volume in the range of 0.2 5 m3. The effective U-value of a storage tank has been calculated from the measured time constant of the hydraulically isolated tank: the tank temperature is monitored while the tank is cooling down, with all valves in hydraulic loops tightly closed; the exponential curve yields the time constant by a well known, simple procedure. After having established the high heat loss rates in a number of systems built by third parties on the market, the researchers designed their own solar heating system according to their best knowledge. This was the hot water supply of the institutes restaurant, with 200 m2 solar collectors and three hot water tanks of 5 m3 each (total tank side wall, top and bottom area: 18.2 m2 for each tank). The hot water consumption amounted to 4.5 m3 per day. The water tanks have been insulated with great care: the insulation thickness was increased to 16 cm; an aluminium sheet was mounted around the insulation mantle; the work done by the installers was carefully supervised, in order to prevent possible weak points. However, the discrepancy between expected (4 W/K) and measured (17 W/K) heat loss rates was also larger than a factor 4! Quite disappointing indeed! It was decided to undertake systematic research on the own storage tanks in order to find out the origin(s) of the extraordinary heat losses. 2. A HUGE CHIMNEY EFFECT The first step was to look for every possible weak point in the insulation. On the side wall, nothing was found but a few places just being somewhat warmer than the storage room. Not enough to account for the large heat loss rate discrepancy. The first surprise happened when a staff member climbed on the top of the storage tank, also covered by 16 cm mineral wool and an aluminium sheet. In the case of a storage water temperature of 80 C and a storage room temperature of about 20 C, he discovered a strong hot air flow escaping from the circular slit between a vertical pipe and the surrounding insulation (Fig. 1a). An air velocity of 0.5 m/s was recorded! Clearly, this was significant. Of course, the escaping hot air (about 70 C) was replaced by colder air entering the gap between the insulation mantle and the storage tank walls after having crossed similar slits around the tank feet and the bottom pipework. Indeed, this was a very efficient cooling machine [2]. The company in charge of the insulation was instructed to fill the slits and any remaining gap around the storage tank, and to insulate also the top pipe (Fig. 1b) used as a periodical air vent. A renewed monitoring of the tanks exponential cooling-down after the insulation improvement gave an overall heat loss rate of 12 W/K instead of the previous 17 W/K, i.e. a reduction by one third (Fig. 2). A significant improvement had been achieved, but the result was still disappointing in comparison to the heat loss rate of 4 W/K expected for this particular tank.

Fig. 1: a) Hot air escapes at a high velocity from the circular slit between a vertical pipe and the surrounding insulation, on the tanks top cover. b) Arrows point to the places where insulating material (= the black fields) had to be added in a second round by the company responsible for the insulation.

Fig. 2: The mean storage tank temperature monitored for a 7 days period, before and after the insulation improvement. 2. A WATER-FALL IN THE STORAGE TANK The origin of the remaining extra heat loss rate was less straightforward to identify. The researchers monitored the temperature in the storage tank at seven levels from the top to the bottom (Fig. 3) while the tank was cooling down. They developed a simple numerical simulation model and applied it to the prediction of the water temperature at different heights in the tank during the cooling-down process. Calculated and experimental results
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systematically disagreed until an extra heat loss rate had been introduced individually for each pipe connected to the tank [3]. The heat loss rates giving the best agreement between the simulated and measured cooling-down curves were about (i) 0.5 W/K for the three insulated top flanges altogether; (ii) 1.5 W/K for each of the three upper 2 pipes (V, LE, Z); and (iii) 1 W/K for the two lower 2 pipes (N, LA) and the three tank feet altogether (Fig. 3). Clearly, there was some effect related to the connected pipes although no hydraulic flow could take place in the loops since all valves around the tank had been tightly closed for the whole experiments duration.

Fig. 3: The test storage tank at the former EIR at Wrenlingen (today the Paul Scherrer Institute). N, cold water line; V, hot water line; Z, circulation loop return line; LA, LE, connections of the charging loop; P, circular plate to get a laminar flow of incoming cold water; E, R, rings with a number of side holes to get a laminar flow while charging the storage tank by means of the external loop; K, additional plastic tube to bring incoming circulation water (Z pipe) down to the tank bottom, according to optimised operation of the circulation pump (i.e., only in the early morning hours); 1, 2, ... 12, temperature sensors; BM, optical module for the observation of the convection flows inside the tank; S, solid angle in which the optical axis of the optical module may be positioned for the observations.
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It was decided to investigate the convection flows in the tank itself by means of an optical module mounted on the side wall of the tank at mid height [4]. The optical axis of the module could be positioned in a wide range; a zoom facility was provided. A light source had been installed, and a device to inject food colour as well. The colour was aimed at marking the water flows to make them easily visible. To magnify the expected water flows, an additional heat exchanger was mounted just at the opposite of the optical module, at the same height. This heat exchanger was made up of a closed pipe with a second pipe around it and two connections for the cooling water. The closed pipe could be mounted in three possible positions (upwards tilted, horizontal, downwards tilted) according to the relative position of the six holes for the fixing bolts in pipe and flange (Fig. 4).

Fig. 4: The closed pipe used as a heat exchanger for the study of the convection flows induced by the pipes connected to the storage tank. It could be mounted on the tank side wall in three different positions according to the relative position of the six holes for the fixing bolts in pipe and flange. The heat exchanger insulation is not shown. T6, T12, T13, T14, temperature sensors; Inlet, Outlet, connections to the external heating/cooling loop. Quite impressive observations came out of this experiments series with the tank water at about 80 C and a heat exchanger cooling power of about 2 kW. A water-fall takes place: cooled water turbulently flows out of the heat exchanger down to a height where it finds water of equal temperature (Fig. 5); the velocity at the heat exchanger outlet is about 0.1 m/s. To close the water circulation, storage tank water is sucked into the upper cross section of the heat exchanger pipe. This flow is laminar. Evidently, such natural convection flows in the storage tank and in the side wall pipes are efficient cooling processes which, in addition, considerably disturb the vertical temperature profile in the tank. If the temperature conditions are reversed, i.e. if the storage tank contents cold water and the heat exchanger is used as a heating device, the water-fall is directed upwards (symmetrical picture). The whole process has been filmed [5].

Fig. 5: The water fall in the hot water storage tank (schematic representation). Turbulent flowing water falls into the storage tank from a heat exchanger pipe connected to the side wall, if the pipe is horizontal or upwards tilted. All external loops are closed by tight valves. The incoming water falls down to a height where it has the same temperature as its surrounding. To close the circulation, (warmer) water from the storage tank enters slowly the connecting pipe; this flow is laminar; this water cools down in the pipe and flows back to the tank, turbulently, through the lower part (1/30th) of the cross section of the pipe. If the temperature conditions are reversed (heated pipe and cold storage tank) the water-fall is directed upwards (symmetrical picture). There exists a simple method to suppress the natural convection flows and the water-fall just described. If the heat exchanger pipe is mounted in the downwards position, the cooled water in the pipe does not fall into the storage tank as its density is higher than the one of the water located just above in the pipe. A simple experiment with flexible connecting pipes confirmed this feature (Fig. 6).

Fig. 6: A simple siphon is able to suppress the natural convection flows described in Fig. 5 and the related large heat losses. The lower line remains cold: there is no internal circulation in it, because of the siphon. On the contrary, the upper line has no siphon and internal circulation takes place; the horizontal extension of the internal circulation is only limited by any descending pipe section; warm pipes have been found up to 20 m away from storage tanks in the absence of any external hydraulic flow (closed valves on all lines). 3. ADDITIONAL INFORMATION Due to a lack of funding, the research activities in this field had to be prematurely stopped at EIR. In particular, siphons could not be modelled and their design remained, so far, empirical. The way how they have to be constructed, depending on the pipe diameter, thickness and material, as well as on the temperature conditions, is still unclear. No detailed recommendations could be made for practical applications. Meanwhile, the following additional information is available: The EIR researchers confirmed that a storage tank with pipes connected to the top or the side walls has the calculated U-value expected from the insulation mantle properties if, and only if, all these pipes are led downwards in the interior of the insulation mantle and the insulation is such that no air flow can take place around the tank and through the insulation itself. However, the bottom of the tank may remain without insulating material if the insulation mantles inferior part is lower than the tank bottom. If any air flow around the warm storage tank is suppressed and all of the connected pipes are completely insulated, without any gap but not necessarily with siphons, about twice the calculated U-value, expected from the insulation mantle properties, is observed [6]. This is acceptable in solar heating systems with a heat storage time lasting up to a few days. A discrepancy of a factor of 6 between measured and calculated U-values has been similarly found in an industrial storage tank used for the central supply of process heat and space heating on an industrial site. The tank volume was 100 m3, with a height of 23 m and a diameter of 2.6 m. The insulating mantle thickness was 0.18 m. The operating temperature was about 175 C [7].

4. CONCLUSION The consequences of the phenomena described in the present paper are quite important. Heat losses from storage tanks may be enhanced by a factor of 5. However, simple methods have been found to suppress the mechanisms causing the extra heat losses, or at least to bring them down to an acceptable level. No new insulation technology is needed here. However, no systematic study could be made of these simple suppression methods which remain, so far, empirical. The author is prepared to co-operate with third parties to clarify the remaining open questions and work out the corresponding guidelines for design and installation of low-heatloss hot-water storage tanks and their connecting pipework. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Support by the Swiss Federal Office of Energy (www.admin.ch/bfe) within the framework of the renewable energy programme is greatly acknowledged. The author is thankful to the company Spectratec Ltd., CH-6342 Baar (Switzerland) for its help in the preparation of the diagrams (www.spectratec.ch). REFERENCES 1. J.-M. Suter, Ursachen fr die Wrmeverluste an Warmwasser-Anlagen, sowie Optimierungsmglichkeiten, in the proceedings of the conference Fachseminar Sanitr, Lucerne (Switzerland), January 23, 1997; edited by Spectratec Ltd., CH-6342 Baar (Switzerland) 2. J. Kernen, M. Brack, J.-M. Suter, Exprience pratique et gestion du stock: Cas de la cantine de lEIR, in the proceedings of the symposium solaire et son stockage, Lausanne (Switzerland), Socit vaudoise pour lnergie solaire (SVES), September 23, 1981 (www.energieforschung.ch). 3. H. Weber, M. Brack, J.-M. Suter, Energetische Optimierung eines Warmwasserspeichers in Theorie und Praxis: Wrmeverluste, Schichtung und Auswirkungen der Zirkulation, in the proceedings of the 2. Statusseminar Wrmeschutzforschung im Hochbau, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETHZ), Zrich (Switzerland), October 19-20, 1982 (www.energieforschung.ch). 4. H. Weber, M. Brack, J.-M. Suter, Ein Wildbach unter Wasser / Zur freien Konvektion in Warmwassertanks, in the proceedings of the 4e Symposium sur la recherche et le dveloppement en nergie solaire en Suisse, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL), Lausanne (Switzerland), October 17-18, 1983 (www.energieforschung.ch). 5. The video movie prepared for the presentation referred to as [4] is a non public research object. 6. B. Schlpfer, K. Wellinger, Wrmeverluste von sechs Wassererwrmern unterschiedlicher Form und Grsse, report of the research project Praxisgerechte Regeln zur optimalen Planung und Ausfhrung von Sonnenenergieanlagen, Swiss Federal Office of Energy and Sonnenenergie-Fachverband Schweiz (SOFAS), September 1984. Available from www.energieforschung.ch 7. Diploma work, Basel School of Engineering, Muttenz (Switzerland), 1986 (private communication)