Surface Heating and Cooling with the Help of Capillary Mats – Energy Saving and Higher Efficiency

The company GeoClimaDesign AG from the German town of Furstenwalde near Berlin has adapted its office building so that it is energy efficient. It wouldn’t be unusual if it was not a historical mill from 1899, a cultural good, which now contains the company’s central.

This facility is equipped with innovative surface heating and cooling, because GeoClimaDesign AG produces capillary heating and cooling pipes made of polypropylene. What’s interesting is that they have not installed any insulation and they’ve still managed to achieve a CO2-neutral energy balance. This is what makes them unique in western and northern Europe.

The area they heat and cool amounts to nearly 3,000 m2. In this, they are helped by two pumps – a geothermal pump and an air-water pump. They provide energy to the capillary mats which allow for surface heating.

As the company said during the virtual tour of the building as part of the virtual study tour “Energy Efficiency in Buildings in Serbia and Montenegro”, this consumes less energy than if radiators were to be mounted on an uninsulated wall.

The capillary pipes, through which water passes, have a diameter of 3.5 mm. They end at the main line with a diameter of 20 mm, which makes for a capillary register. The capillary pipes give a temperature of about 28 degrees, which is transferred to the lowered ceiling, making for a pleasant temperature in the room, which anyone can adjust to their needs.

This solution is cheap and can be installed quickly, and ceilings made of plaster cardboard are very attractive when it comes to the price. Everything can also be installed in mortar, plaster, cement, concrete, in the ceiling or the floor.

The advantages are that ceiling heating is indirect floor heating, which also heats the furniture and is also able to cool. Also, when doing repair work, it is complicated to install floor heating, whereas ceiling heating is much easier to install, because the loss of space amounts to no more than 10 cm if a double layer is installed.

Other advantages of this kind of heating is that it doesn’t dry the air, and when it comes to the cooling, there is no noise.

Rooms can be managed individually, because each one contains a regulator which controls the temperature and the humidity by adjusting the desired temperature. This is transferred to the central register, which calculates the dew point – the temperature must be above the dew point, so as to avoid the humidity and the consequent damage. The company therefore heats and cools its premises in relation to the external temperature and weather.

The virtual tour was organized by the German-Serbian Chamber of Commerce (AHK Serbia), supported by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy, in partnership with the German company energiewaechter GmbH.

Aleksandra Kekic

AHK Srbija

GeoClimaDesign AG

Geo Clima Design AG

German Serbian Chamber of Commerce

German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy of Germany

energiewaechter GmbH

energiewaechter

Furstenwalde

Berlin

energy efficient building

surface heating

surface cooling

capillary pipes

capillary pipes made of polypropylene

capillary pipes for cooling

capillary pipes for heating

capillary mats

CO2 neutral energy balance

geothermal pump

air water pump

Energy Efficiency in Buildings in Serbia and Montenegro