Thermal Stratification and Temperature Variation in Horizontal Electric Water Heaters: A Characterisation Platform

Pieter D. van Schalkwyk, Jacobus A. A. Engelbrecht and Marthinus J. Booysen
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Pieter D. van Schalkwyk: Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Stellenbosch University, Stellenbosch 7600, South Africa
Jacobus A. A. Engelbrecht: Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Stellenbosch University, Stellenbosch 7600, South Africa
Marthinus J. Booysen: Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Stellenbosch University, Stellenbosch 7600, South Africa

Energies, 2022, vol. 15, issue 8, 1-20

Abstract: Electric water heaters, which have the capacity to act as thermal energy storage, are well suited to demand management strategies in smart grid applications. However, finding the balance between managing power load, reducing thermal energy losses, user’s convenience, and bacterial growth control, requires accurate modelling of the internal thermal dynamics of the tank, including stratification. As a black box, this unknown is dependent on a multitude of environmental factors (e.g., ambient temperature and inlet temperature), water draw patterns, scheduling, set temperatures and orientation of the vessel. The latter affects the stratification and temperature variation inside the tank, and therefore has a direct bearing on the balancing act of demand management. Although this has been assessed inside vertically oriented tanks, what happens inside the horizontal variety—ubiquitous in developing countries—is currently left to the guesswork. In this paper, we present the development of an embedded hardware and software platform with which the temperature variations inside a horizontal water heater can be characterised under numerous environmental and usage conditions. The importance of doing so is highlighted by the preliminary results, which clearly show the expected substantial temperature variation along the vertical axis, but also show interesting phenomena along the longitudinal and transverse axes, for both static (no water draw) and dynamic (with water draw) conditions. We conclude by highlighting potential for further research.

Keywords: thermal stratification; electric water heaters; thermostat control; energy characterisation; energy usage (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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