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Bottlenecks in district heating systems and how to address them

Brange, Lisa LU ; Englund, Jessica ; Sernhed, Kerstin LU ; Thern, Marcus LU and Lauenburg, Patrick LU (2017) In Energy Procedia 116. p.249-259
Abstract

Problems with bottlenecks in district heating networks occur when the pipes have too small dimensions to sufficiently meet customer needs. This may result in insufficient differential pressure in DH areas attached to these pipes. Bottlenecks are especially common in expanding DH networks, as previously sufficient pipe diameters may become too small when more DH consumers are connected to the DH network. Historically, bottlenecks have often been addressed by increasing the supply temperature or by exchanging the pipe to a larger dimension. Other techniques are however available to solve bottleneck problems. Such techniques are for example installation of local heat supply on the other side of the bottleneck (LHS), demand side management... (More)

Problems with bottlenecks in district heating networks occur when the pipes have too small dimensions to sufficiently meet customer needs. This may result in insufficient differential pressure in DH areas attached to these pipes. Bottlenecks are especially common in expanding DH networks, as previously sufficient pipe diameters may become too small when more DH consumers are connected to the DH network. Historically, bottlenecks have often been addressed by increasing the supply temperature or by exchanging the pipe to a larger dimension. Other techniques are however available to solve bottleneck problems. Such techniques are for example installation of local heat supply on the other side of the bottleneck (LHS), demand side management (DSM), or installation of thermal energy storage (TES). The aim of this study was to identify different techniques for addressing bottlenecks and to see what solutions were used by the DH companies in Sweden. A literature study of the different techniques available was performed and a survey study with the DH distribution companies in Sweden that are members of the Swedish DH association was carried out. The survey was sent out to in total 131 companies, of which 89 answered. The results showed that the most used techniques in Sweden are a higher supply temperature and installation of a new pipe to increase the pipe area, whereas for example DSM and TES were more rarely used techniques. This work is an introduction to the different techniques used to address bottleneck problems and shows the bottleneck situation in Swedish DH networks. More research and tests are however necessary in order to more thoroughly evaluate which techniques that should be used in different situations.

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author
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organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Bottlenecks, District heating development, Optimization
in
Energy Procedia
volume
116
pages
11 pages
publisher
Elsevier
external identifiers
  • scopus:85028600690
  • wos:000406743000023
ISSN
1876-6102
DOI
10.1016/j.egypro.2017.05.072
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
ec85d931-713d-484a-a322-a795dfde73e1
date added to LUP
2017-09-27 13:44:36
date last changed
2024-06-25 04:48:08
@article{ec85d931-713d-484a-a322-a795dfde73e1,
  abstract     = {{<p>Problems with bottlenecks in district heating networks occur when the pipes have too small dimensions to sufficiently meet customer needs. This may result in insufficient differential pressure in DH areas attached to these pipes. Bottlenecks are especially common in expanding DH networks, as previously sufficient pipe diameters may become too small when more DH consumers are connected to the DH network. Historically, bottlenecks have often been addressed by increasing the supply temperature or by exchanging the pipe to a larger dimension. Other techniques are however available to solve bottleneck problems. Such techniques are for example installation of local heat supply on the other side of the bottleneck (LHS), demand side management (DSM), or installation of thermal energy storage (TES). The aim of this study was to identify different techniques for addressing bottlenecks and to see what solutions were used by the DH companies in Sweden. A literature study of the different techniques available was performed and a survey study with the DH distribution companies in Sweden that are members of the Swedish DH association was carried out. The survey was sent out to in total 131 companies, of which 89 answered. The results showed that the most used techniques in Sweden are a higher supply temperature and installation of a new pipe to increase the pipe area, whereas for example DSM and TES were more rarely used techniques. This work is an introduction to the different techniques used to address bottleneck problems and shows the bottleneck situation in Swedish DH networks. More research and tests are however necessary in order to more thoroughly evaluate which techniques that should be used in different situations.</p>}},
  author       = {{Brange, Lisa and Englund, Jessica and Sernhed, Kerstin and Thern, Marcus and Lauenburg, Patrick}},
  issn         = {{1876-6102}},
  keywords     = {{Bottlenecks; District heating development; Optimization}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  pages        = {{249--259}},
  publisher    = {{Elsevier}},
  series       = {{Energy Procedia}},
  title        = {{Bottlenecks in district heating systems and how to address them}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.egypro.2017.05.072}},
  doi          = {{10.1016/j.egypro.2017.05.072}},
  volume       = {{116}},
  year         = {{2017}},
}