Issue 5/2014

Ihe paper deals with measurement of high surface temperatures by thermography method. The author verified by several experiments the theoretical assumptions of usability of contactless measurement of high temperatures. The experimental verification is focused on spectral sensitivity range of contactless devices and on application of special coating on measured surface. The ending of the paper is devoted to the influence of boundary conditions on the accuracy of the measurement.

The paper deals with practical consequences and issues challenged when designing thermal insulation thickness according to our directives. The author of the contribution managed to compare in well-arranged way the requirements of our directives and consequences which they bring with the legislative of the other European states.

The paper summarizes the crucial information about the actual topic – garage ventilation in the Czech Republic. The contribution was divided into three parts, due to the broad scope of the matters. The third part deals with fire ventilation and also with control, operating regimes, detection and monitoring of pollutants. All the three papers are based on the legal and normative enactments related to the issue. They deal among the others with the new situation of parking possibilities of natural gas powered vehicles. The design principles of every ventilation system to be found in garage are discussed, including their operation. In the second part was also mentioned explosive atmosphere risk assessment in the case of parking of natural gas powered vehicles and protocol determining external influences. The contribution is aimed not only to HVAC designers, but also to architects and designers of all related construction fields. Valuable information can be found also by the other interested groups such as investors, developers, suppliers, operators, building authorities, involved state administration bodies, etc.

People spend the majority of their life indoors – in houses and flats. While outdoors the pollutants are diluted by mass of the air, indoors after installation of new tight windows and thermal insulation of facade this danger increases. Very important pollutant – dangerous to life – is radon in the air. This gas, penetrating into houses mainly from the subsoil, is one important cause of lung cancer. The Czech Republic is the country with the highest average concentration of radon in flats in Europe. The average level in our country is 120 Bq/m3, while in 30 % of population were found higher levels, sometimes even several thousands of Bq/m3. Every year 5600 persons is dying with diagnosis lung cancer, 16 % of them (about 900) is caused by radon and its daughter products and ionizing radiation. At present, after the Resolution of the Czech Government the third period of the Radon program is in progress. In this program I am the deputy of the Czech Ministry of Health. In my information I would like to point your attention to this important risk and to the health protection necessity. Sufficient ventilation of buildings is the essential.

Basic principles of designing and realization of radon remedial measures in existing buildings are presented. Typical effectiveness of particular measures is summarized and schematic drawings of measures used most frequently are provided.

The flat-plate solar collector with vacuum glazing is analyzed in the paper, using theoretical calculation. This type of glazing is in recent years appearing in the field of building windows. Aside of the determination of the efficiency curves for different variants of vacuum-glazed collector, the possible production of heat during the year is compared for different operation temperature.

Solar Decathlon is an international student competition in building ecological solar-powered houses, organized by U.S. Department of Energy (DOE ) and National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL ). The competition has been held in the USA since the year 2002, in the year 2013 already for the 6th time. The CTU student team joined the competition with the energy self-sufficient “AIR House“. The buildings are evaluated in 10 disciplines and the Czech team received 1st place in Architecture and Energy Balance, 2nd place in Engineering, and 3rd place in Market Appeal, Comfort Zone and Hot Water. The overall 3rd place confirmed, that an integral design is the path to take. The author took place in the competition as a consulting specialist and as a student at the same time.

The contribution describes basic capabilities and equipment of the measuring device ClimaCheck, which was used to optimize the amount of refrigerant in an old ground-water heat pump. In the introduction part is described the measuring method and its principle for measurement of heat pumps and refrigerant systems. The following part deals with the measurement of the heat pump which uses R407C refrigerant. The optimization of the operating amount of refrigerant was based on the measurement of temperature after compression, liquid refrigerant sub-cooling after condenser and coefficient of performance. The last section indicates some other possibilities how to evaluate operation of refrigerant systems and heat pumps.