scottishjohn Posted January 31, 2019 Share Posted January 31, 2019 anybody know a of controller that can work with lots of inputs to control multiple heat sources .so you can decide at what temp a particular device kicks in and then at what temp t changes over to another source . I tried to find one years ago when I had solar and thermal store which was also connected to gas boiler -problem was to let solar have priority when it could make heat,even small amounts to get most hours of usage in a day and not just have boiler take over as soon as temp got too low would need to be able to work on clock settings as well . example early morning --you have showers and ufh is on --tank gets partially depleted ,but you know by 8 or 9 am there will be enough solar to fill it up again and gas won,t need to come on at all ,so you only need gas to come on if temp drops below min ufh temp and once solar is above min that kicks in and turns gas off. I made a simple analog system with min and max thermostats but not as good as it could have been with "what if program "for want of a better word It relied basically on the thermal separation in my very tall thermal store which had 3 coils,solar in and ufh out and dhw out at top and also a heat input to parent volume if needed for gas intervention If such a controller is made then maybe i would have 4th for ASHP or gas coil instead of stirring up parent volume . only thing i could find at the time was very expensive h/vac process controller for a large building ,which ran off a computer . or maybe i just have to build and even taller tank to get better separtion still Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Temp Posted January 31, 2019 Share Posted January 31, 2019 If it needs to be programmable/customisable/bespoke then perhaps a PLC? Google says there are cheap ones available... https://www.allaboutcircuits.com/news/low-cost-programmable-logic-controllers-for-the-frugal-engineer/ https://www.t-uk.co.uk/products/plcs-with-integrated-hmis/micro-plcs/ Never used one but thing they use Ladder Logic.. https://www.plcacademy.com/ladder-logic-tutorial/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scottishjohn Posted January 31, 2019 Author Share Posted January 31, 2019 (edited) 3 hours ago, Temp said: If it needs to be programmable/customisable/bespoke then perhaps a PLC? Google says there are cheap ones available... https://www.allaboutcircuits.com/news/low-cost-programmable-logic-controllers-for-the-frugal-engineer/ https://www.t-uk.co.uk/products/plcs-with-integrated-hmis/micro-plcs/ Never used one but thing they use Ladder Logic.. https://www.plcacademy.com/ladder-logic-tutorial/ PLC, yes that rings a bell now was hoping for something a bit less pc based --will have a look on the net anyway I am a ludite and by look of them I would need a load of relays to actually work things . I was hoping someone had made a different unit 20 years on from last time i looked at this I,ll give it some more thought didn,t really want to have a take programming course to do this. my hard drive is already pretty full and running out of RAM at my age . LOL maybe cascaded thermal stores and back to analog thermostats +relays would be simpler for me thanks for reply Edited January 31, 2019 by scottishjohn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ed Davies Posted January 31, 2019 Share Posted January 31, 2019 How about a Raspberry Pi running Node-RED? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dpmiller Posted February 1, 2019 Share Posted February 1, 2019 I must admit I'm of a similar mind to @scottishjohn and am focussing on a low-tech solution. The TS I'll be using (Harlequin Heatstream) has a C/O stat on each input coil and the coils are zoned within the tank. Between these, the microswitches in the motor valves, a couple of roomstats and (possibly) a cheap PID controller, I reckon there's plenty of options for marshalling energy in and out of the system... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scottishjohn Posted February 1, 2019 Author Share Posted February 1, 2019 (edited) If you have not got thermal store yet ,then from my experience runningmultiple input +output coils ,there is no ready made thermal store that is ideal . reason is simple a tall tank is not easily fitted in most houses as a retro fit and stratification of heat in tank and keeping the internal flow of the tank very low ,just vertical if possible is the key to getting best solution the best ready made solution i have seen is the SOLVIS MAX --german -no uk agent old video of how it works you could change oil or gas input for anything if you wanted . my thoughts are to get similar made but taller ,as this unit is only 500litres Edited February 1, 2019 by scottishjohn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ProDave Posted February 1, 2019 Share Posted February 1, 2019 The usual way to combiner multiple heat sources is with a neutraliser, a friend has 3 heat sources into one tank with such a device and it seems to work okay. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scottishjohn Posted February 1, 2019 Author Share Posted February 1, 2019 (edited) 3 minutes ago, ProDave said: The usual way to combiner multiple heat sources is with a neutraliser, a friend has 3 heat sources into one tank with such a device and it seems to work okay. yes but really is an afterthought way of doing it -If you have nothing to start with then this must be a better way ,and the neutraliser would not address the solar problem . where the oil burner goes could be solar pv element,if you are that way inclined Edited February 1, 2019 by scottishjohn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now