Daikin tailors its Altherma system for apartments and community heating
A version of Daikin’s Altherma system for apartment buildings and community heating can deliver flow temperatures of 80°C for heating and achieve DHW temperatures of up to 70°C. COPs are up to 3.5. Cooling is also an option, with leaving water temperatures down to 5°C. Outdoor units use R410A and offer heating outputs from 23 to 45 kW; they can be grouped for higher outputs.
Compared with individual gas-fired boilers, a 27% reduction in primary energy use is claimed, along with 59% lower CO2 emissions and 33% lower operating costs.
A small indoor unit in each dwelling receives heat from the central outdoor unit and boosts its temperature further using a cascade heat pump on R134a to serve underfloor heating, radiators or heat-pump convectors as required. The indoor unit can include an optional 200 l DHW cylinder storing water at 70°C and thus able to deliver 400 l at 40°C. There are two sizes of indoor unit — 6 and 9 kW.
Connections between indoor and outdoor units are by small-diameter refrigerant piping. Buildings up to 50 m high can be served, assuming the outdoor units are on the roof.
Each apartment has an intelligent user interface with optional wired or wireless room thermostats. Features include weather-dependent setpoint and room-temperature compensation.
