Application of thermohydraulic dispatcher for existing and new district heating systems

Abstract

Electricity consumption represents high share of operational costs in district heating (DH) systems. Recent attempts of decreasing these costs have led to appearing the idea of systems with distributed variable speed pumps (DVSP). One of the parts of such systems is thermohydraulic dispatcher (THD). This article is concerned with application of THD for DH systems. Existing DH systems with low available hydraulic head are suitable for installing THD instead of booster pumps. Electricity consumption and cost of equipment for several schemes of heat substation are estimated. Application for low temperature district heating (LTDH) systems is considered. Further ideas of development DVSP systems are proposed. Schemes of cascade systems based on THD and hydraulic profiles are presented. In result, cascade systems can reach highest possible electricity saving effect due to eliminating of throttle valves at heat source, heat substations and heat consumers.