Experimental Data on Hot Water Storage Tank
Description
This dataset pertains to a series of laboratory experiments conducted using a commercially available hot water storage tank, simulating various operational scenarios typical of heat pump-driven heating systems. The objective of these experiments was to assess the model's performance across a spectrum of inlet temperatures and mass flow rates, ensuring its effectiveness under diverse operating conditions. The experimental setup was based at the Energy Exchange Lab of Eurac Research and featured a KOOLTANK 2000 TES tank. A total of eleven charging and eleven discharging experiments were carried out on the water storage tank. In the charging tests, the gas boiler was initially activated to heat the water within the tank, ensuring uniformity with a target temperature of 30°C along the vertical axis. Subsequently, depending on the specific charging scenario, hot water at temperatures of 40°C, 55°C, 70°C, and 83°C was introduced into the tank through the upper port. Simultaneously, water was discharged from the lower port, with the outflow temperature matching the charging temperature as the criteria for completion. Different inlet mass flow rates of 0.14 kg/s, 0.28 kg/s, and 0.42 kg/s were explored for each inlet temperature. However, it's important to note that the charging experiment involving an inlet temperature and mass flow rate of 83°C and 0.42 kg/s was deemed unfeasible due to limitations in the gas boiler's power capacity. For the discharging tests, the gas boiler's setpoint temperatures were set at 40°C, 55°C, 70°C, and 83°C, depending on the specific case number. The tests commenced when three thermometers confirmed the setpoint temperature with some margin. In these tests, water at an inlet temperature and mass flow rate of 30°C and 0.14 kg/s was injected into the lower terminal, while hot water was discharged from the upper terminal. The experiments continued until the outflow water reached 30°C. These discharging tests were also conducted for inlet mass flow rates of 0.28 kg/s and 0.42 kg/s. The following table provide further details of each charging and discharging experiment. The attached figure (scheme) illustrates a simplified configuration of the storage tank, emphasizing the bidirectional flow during the charging and discharging phases without auxiliary components. The tank features lower and upper ports, located at 0.23 m and 1.56 m from the bottom, respectively. Water temperatures inside the tank were accurately monitored using three platinum Resistance Temperature Detector (RTD) sensors, strategically immersed at heights of 0.41 m (T_bot), 0.88 m (T_mid), and 1.35 m (T_top) from the bottom. The platinum RTD temperature sensors used in the experiments have a maximum error of ±0.28 °C, providing reliable temperature measurements. Moreover, flow rates were measured using a magnetic flow meter with an error margin of ±0.008 m3/h. The description of data included in each experiment is added to the attached Metadata.