Day Five of the Germany Learning Exchange, or May 7, 2019,
was a busy but interesting day for our group of 16 educators. The morning
started with a trip to the University of Stuttgart Institute for Thermodynamics
and Thermal Engineering. Hosted by Professor Henner Kerskes, the faculty
learned more about solar thermal storage through lecture, demonstration and
site inspections. We were able to gain a good understanding of several types of
solar thermal storage including borehole fields in preparation for our
afternoon visit to Crailsheim. The Stadtwerke Crailsheim site visit in the
afternoon was hosted by Dr. Dirk Mangold of the Steinbeis Research Institute
for Solar and Sustainable Thermal Energy Systems. The large scale solar thermal
project was impressive as it was cited in a residential area that had used both
innovative architectural adaptations of the solar thermal collectors into both
multi-unit and single family homes and incorporated the storage tank into the
landscape of green space under a hill near a childrens’ play area. It was also
indicative of previous U.S.-Germany cooperation in that the TRNSYS (Transient
System Simulation Program: www.trnsys.com) had been developed by a
German-Wisconsin team. More information on this project can be found at
www.solar-district-heating.eu