Mathematical modelling and simulation of the thermal performance of a solar heated indoor swimming pool

Abstract

Buildings with indoor swimming pools have a large energy footprint. The source of major energy loss is the swimming pool hall where air humidity is increased by evaporation from the pool water surface. This increases energy consumption for heating and ventilation of the pool hall, fresh water supply loss and heat demand for pool water heating. In this paper, a mathematical model of the swimming pool was made to assess energy demands of an indoor swimming pool building. The mathematical model of the swimming pool is used with the created multi-zone building model in TRNSYS software to determine pool hall energy demand and pool losses. Energy loss for pool water and pool hall heating and ventilation are analyzed for different target pool water and air temperatures. The simulation showed that pool water heating accounts for around 22%, whereas heating and ventilation of the pool hall for around 60% of the total pool hall heat demand. With a change of preset controller air and water temperatures in simulations, evaporation loss was in the range 46-54% of the total pool losses. A solar thermal sanitary hot water system was modelled and simulated to analyze it's potential for energy savings of the presented demand side model. The simulation showed that up to 87% of water heating demands could be met by the solar thermal system, while avoiding stagnation.