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Daikin enters the heating market with Altherma |
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Tuesday, 16 January 2007 |
Lauched in the summer of 2006, Altherma system is the first Daikin's equipment dedicated to the heating market. According to the company's website, the Altherma total heating and cooling system is based on heat pump technology and represents a flexible and cost effective alternative to a fossil fuel boiler, with a cooling and sanitary warm water option. The inherent energy efficiency characteristics of Altherma makes it an ideal solution to reduce energy consumption and CO2 emissions.
 Altherma’s energy efficiency stems from its unique combination of the highly efficient Daikin inverter driven compressor and variable set point temperature capability, which enables the system to match its output precisely to the actual heating demand of the building. Furthermore, comfort is maximized and energy consumption minimized by its ability to regulate heat emitter temperature to the optimum level.
Altherma can be configured in three ways - Monoenergetic, Monovalent and Bivalent - to optimise the balance between investment and running costs, and to extend the types of projects for which the system can be used.
The Monoenergetic Altherma system
The heat pump is sized to provide 90-95% of the annual heating requirement, with the remaining 5-10% supplied by a small electric back up heater.
A good practice is to select the heat pump to cover 60% of the heating demand on the coldest day. Using Altherma in the monoenergetic configuration is recommended for the majority of applications because it offers the optimum balance between investment costs and running cost.
The Monovalent Altherma system
The heat pump is sized to provide 100% of the heating requirement on the coldest day of the year.
This solution is recommended for ultra-low energy houses and for moderate climates without severe winters. The initial investment costs may be higher but energy consumption is the lowest of all systems.
The Bivalent Altherma system
Bivalent systems combine two separate heat sources, the heat pump and a fossil fuel boiler. There are two types of bivalent system: series connected (where the configuration is the same as a monoenergetic system but with the back up heater replaced by the boiler) and parallel connected. When series connected the boiler is sized to cover capacity peaks only, in parallel configuration the boiler is sized to cover the full capacity on the coldest day of the year. The parallel bivalent configuration is recommended where a heating system exists. Adding Altherma optimises the energy consumption of the system. |
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