EXPERIMENTAL STUDY OF A MULTIPURPOSE COMMERCIAL BUILDING WITH THREE DIFFERENT HEATING SYSTEMS.

A commercial building with three distinct zones, each having different heating equipment, was monitored for two heating seasons using a computerized data acquisition system. An analysis of the thermal performance of both the building envelope and the heating equipment was performed. The office area was heated by a heat pump with an auxiliary backup furnace; the warehouse area used off-peak thermal-electric storage units; the garage area heating load was met by a gas-fired radiant system. The microcomputer-based data acquisition system obtained and stored hourly temperatures, humidities, and energy flows. The zone loads and equipment energy consumption and performance were calculated. Variable-base degree-days were computed for each zone, and it was observed that standard-based (65 F) degree-days could be in error by a factor of two. It is shown that the use of an incorrect base temperature for the degree-day calculations could result in overestimation of degree-days by a factor of two.

EXPERIMENTAL STUDY OF A MULTIPURPOSE COMMERCIAL BUILDING WITH THREE DIFFERENT HEATING SYSTEMS. Conference Paper