Project: Research and development of a new generation of heat storage wood burning appliances.

Wood-burning stoves have long been one of the simplest ways of utilizing biomass as a renewable energy. Firstly used as an exclusive source of heating in our homes and then COly as an attractive feature during a period of an abundance of energy, the wood-burning stove is today repositioning itself as one of the most relevant elements in the make-up of home heating systems. It offers numerous benefits economically and environmentally without forgetting the charm it brings to a room. _x000D__x000D_The fact that it operates without electricity supply is also a key energy security factor in cold periods and in the event of supply failure. However, due to their manual and batchwise operation it is quite difficult to precisely control the heat generation of those kind of systems. This can induce disconfort and energy losses. _x000D__x000D_The goal of this project is to develop a completely new product concept having a heat storage capacity which can be dynamically modulated from almost pure direct restitution to almost pure accumulation. Crossing this technological threshold could highly contribute to position the local space wood logs heating appliances among the most interesting heating technologies in terms of environmental impact and cost. _x000D__x000D_The continuous reduction of the thermal energy needs of the dwellings induced by the present and future European legislations on the energy performance of the building make it difficult to justify high investments induced by the traditional heat production and distribution systems. As a consequence, in addition to complete de product range of stove traditionally used as complementary heating source in traditional houses (annual sales of local space heaters fired with wood logs in EU-27 are estimated around 2.5 million units/year), the new product could also be used as only space heating system for low energy and passive houses which should become a standard in the future (annual sales of new houses in EU-27 are estimated around 0.5 million units/year)_x000D__x000D_Some conditions have to be satisfied to really achieve the above objective :_x000D_• The product has to be easy and pleasant to use and the restitution and accumulation modes have to be as much as possible intuitively “readable” by the user. _x000D_• The appliance should be able to create a thermal comfort comparable to a continuous heating system in a house with low inertia having a power need of 3kw or less (typically low energy and passive houses)._x000D_• The choice of the raw material used for the components should be optimized by taking the global carbon footprint of the product into account. Therefore the whole supply chain of the key components and their production process will be optimized to reduce the carbon footprint and the cost of the final product._x000D_• The system should comply with the technical requirement of low energy and passive houses (air tightness, air connection …)._x000D_• The system should comply with the most severe norms on the European market up to 2020._x000D_• The final price of the product should be such that the total heating cost of a low energy dwelling using this system is competitive with other renewable heating solutions offered by the European market._x000D_• The product has to be compatible with the know-how limits of the CO P’s traditional dealer network._x000D__x000D_The consortium gathers complementary skills and experiences that should allow materializing the project specifications in a really innovative and successful product for a very large market. _x000D__x000D_The Ps‘ major expertise are shortly listed below. More detailed informations for each companies are given at points 3.5.1._x000D__x000D_Stûv (www.stuv.com): Leading stove manufacturer in Europe sepcialized in high quality and design products._x000D__x000D_Salerno Engeler GmbH (www.sesolar.ch): SME specilized in the development of new heating solutions based on renewable energies and the installation of wood heating and solar systems._x000D__x000D_Gaan GmbH (www.gaan.ch): SME specialized in ecological technology, design and product integration in various architectual structure. It is also specialized in production processes of material used in wood storage stove_x000D__x000D_Climact (www.climact.com): Belgian consultancy office having as mission to help organizations to reduce their greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions and energy consumption_x000D__x000D_Cenaero (www.cenaero.be) : Research center specialized in high-fidelity simulation methodologies and tools related to turbomachinery design, optimization, composite and metallic structures and processes, biomedical applications, energy and buildings.

Acronym	SmartHeat (Reference Number: 8482)
Duration	01/10/2013 - 30/08/2016
Project Topic	The aim of the project is to develop a new generation of wood burning appliances independent of any water based heat distribution system and having a heat storage capacity which can be dynamically regulated.
Network	Eurostars
Call	Eurostars Cut-Off 10

Project partner

Number	Name	Role	Country
5	Centre de recherche en aéronautique asbl	Partner	Belgium
5	CLIMACT SA	Partner	Belgium
5	GAAN GmbH	Partner	Switzerland
5	Salerno Engeler GmbH	Partner	Switzerland
5	Stûv SA	Coordinator	Belgium