Emulation test bench

The Institute for Energy and Building’s emulation test bench for technical building services components is located at Nuremberg Tech’s Technical Center in Rednitzhembach (Schwabach). 

The test bench is used to evaluate the system dynamics and system integration of various heat and cooling systems, such as heat pumps, combined heat and power plants, mini-CHP systems, and cooling units.

The aim is to test and evaluate innovative and complex systems, their components and modes of operation, and to determine corresponding requirements on that basis.

The key features of the emulation test bench are:

• The ability to specify load profiles through simulation
• Virtual integration in thermohydraulic networks (emulation)
• Integration within smart supply networks (smart grids)
• Integration within a building automation system
• User-friendly user interfaces
• Thermal outputs up to 50 KW are possible

On the emulation test bench, real components for the generation of heat or cold are combined with a virtual environment.

Various simulation models are available for the development of controllers and automation systems and are undergoing constant development. The tool that is generally used is the modular, dynamic building and system simulation program TRNSYS, which provides models for the following components, amongst others:

• Building types incorporating various features
• WW networks and consumers
• KW networks and consumers
• Heating and cooling units
• Buffer storage

The technical features of the emulation test bench are:

• Parallel operation of multiple components
• Power, temperature and mass flow controlled via LabVIEW
• Data collection, standard sensors, database, visualization, evaluation
• Adjustment of the conditions specified by the simulation environment (temperatures, mass flows, etc.)

Download flyer (in german)