Development and analysis of hourly DHW heat use profiles in nursing homes in Norway

Abstract

Representative profiles for domestic hot water (DHW) heat use are the main instruments for improvement in operation and design of DHW systems in buildings. To improve the existing method for DHW heat use profiles development and analysis, investigations in the three nursing homes in Norway were conducted. Statistical methods to assess the similarities of the profiles by days of the week and seasons were proposed. The analysis allowed us to identify two seasons of DHW heat use: the warm season from June to October, and the cold season including the rest of the year. In addition, it was investigated that the DHW heat use in the working days was significantly different from the weekends. According to these results, unified profiles for the months and days of the week with similar characteristics of the DHW heat use were developed. After, the method for statistical grouping of the DHW hourly heat use was applied to recognize the timing of the peak, average, and low heat use. Finally, the profiles for the DHW heat use obtained for the nursing homes were compared with profiles in the national and international standards. The drawbacks of the standards were identified.