Table Of ContentNatural Gas Installations
and Networks in Buildings
Natural Gas Installations
and Networks in Buildings
Authored by
Alexander V. Dimitrov
First edition published 2021
by CRC Press
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ISBN: 9780367536725 (hbk)
ISBN: 9781003082835 (ebk)
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Contents
Foreword ...................................................................................................................ix
About the Author ......................................................................................................xi
Chapter 1 Introduction ..........................................................................................1
1.1 Gas Pipe Networks and Systems as Elements of the
Building Logistics .....................................................................1
1.2 Fuel Gas, Current State and Perspectives ..................................3
Chapter 2 Theoretical Foundations of Gas Pipe Networks and Installations .......9
2.1 Physiomechanical Properties of Fuel Gas as a Primary
Energy Source ...........................................................................9
2.2 Transmission Parameters of Fuel Gas .....................................14
2.2.1 Operational Pressure ..................................................15
2.2.2 Pressure Drop .............................................................15
2.3 Basic Terms and Laws .............................................................17
2.3.1 Gas Flow Rate and Thermal Power. The Link
between Gas Flow Rate and Decrease of Gas-
Dynamic Losses – Kirchhoff’s Law for Gas Pipe
Networks ....................................................................17
2.3.2 Law of Continuity ......................................................19
2.3.3 Law of Balance between Intake Flow Rate and
Exhaust Flow Rate at a Knot ......................................19
2.3.4 Bernoulli’s Principle (for Real Fluids) .......................21
2.3.5 Law the of Gas-Dynamic Head in a Closed Loop .....22
2.3.6 Darcy’s Law (Concerning Gas-Dynamic Losses
of Pressure in Linear Pipeline Sections) ....................24
2.3.7 Calculation of the Parameters of Natural Gas –
Examples ....................................................................26
2.4 Fuel Gas Thermodynamics .....................................................30
2.4.1 Law of Gas State ........................................................30
2.4.2 Charles’s Law .............................................................33
2.4.3 Boyle’s Law ................................................................34
2.4.4 Graham’s Law for Gas Diffusion ...............................35
2.5 Fuel Gas Combustion ..............................................................35
2.5.1 Complete Combustion of Methane .............................36
2.5.2 Incomplete Combustion of Methane ..........................37
2.5.3 Controlled Oxidation of Methane ..............................38
2.5.4 Fuel Cell Classification and Characteristics.
Advantages and Disadvantages ..................................40
v
vi Contents
2.5.5 Fuel Gas Cells in Household Micro-
Cogeneration Systems (mHPS) ..................................43
2.5.6 Technical Characteristics of mHPS ...........................47
2.6 Gas Flame and Combustion Devices .......................................49
2.7 A Flameless Combustion of Fuel Gas and Combustion
Devices ....................................................................................55
Chapter 3 Gas Supply of Urbanized Regions .....................................................57
3.1 Territorial (State) Pipe Network of Gas Transport ..................57
3.2 Urban and Regional Gas Networks. Classification.
Structure ..................................................................................60
3.2.1 Classification of Urban Gas-Distributing
Networks ....................................................................60
3.3 Decentralization of Building Power Supply. Energy
Centers .....................................................................................64
3.3.1 Gas Supply of Buildings. Types of Gas-Supplied
Energy Centers (GEC) of Buildings.
Classification ..............................................................64
3.3.2 Structure of the Gas Regulating Station in an EC .......69
3.3.3 Gas Boiler/mHPS Room ............................................72
3.3.3.1 Structure of EC with Gas Water
Heaters/mHPS Station (Boiler Room) ........72
3.3.3.2 General Requirements. Operative
and Indoor Environment of the Boiler
Rooms. Calculation of Warehouse Gas
Amount .......................................................74
3.4 Systems Exhausting Gas Waste ...............................................79
3.4.1 Open System Exhausting Gas Combustion
Products via Natural Convection ...............................84
3.4.2 Open Systems with Forced Convection .....................89
3.4.3 Centralized Systems Exhausting Gas
Combustion Products by Means of Forced
Convection ..................................................................90
3.4.3.1 Modular Systems ........................................91
3.4.3.2 Apartment Systems .....................................93
3.4.4 Releasing Devices (Terminals) Installed on the
Building Envelope ......................................................93
3.4.4.1 Terminals Installed on Roof Structures ......94
3.4.4.2 Terminals Installed on Facades ..................95
3.5 Design of a Pipe Network ......................................................101
3.5.1 Structure of Gas Pipe Networks in Residential
and Public Buildings ................................................101
3.5.2 Calculation of Pipe Networks...................................106
3.5.2.1 Pipe Network Preliminary Calculation.......108
Contents vii
3.5.2.2 Final Pipe Network Calculation by
the Estimation of the Gas-Dynamic
Pressure Losses in Pipes Supplying the
Remotest End Users and Knowing Pipe
Network Geometry and Topology ............122
Chapter 4 Main Building Systems Operating with Fuel Gas ...........................129
4.1 System For Thermal Comfort Control ..................................129
4.1.1 Need for Thermal Comfort and Accessible
Levels of Thermal Loads of Occupied Areas ..........130
4.1.2 Classification of Systems Providing Thermal
Comfort ....................................................................134
4.1.2.1 “Water-Air” Fuel Gas Systems .................136
4.1.2.2 Convective Systems “Gas-Air” .................139
4.1.2.3 Radiant Heating Systems “Gas-Air” ........150
4.1.3 Advantages and Disadvantages of Gas Radiant
Heating Installations ................................................162
4.2 Gas Equipment and Control of Indoor Air Quality...............163
4.2.1 Indoor Air Quality and Methods of Its
Attainment ................................................................163
4.2.2 Building Ventilation and IAQ ..................................170
4.2.3 Gas Equipment and Building Ventilation ................174
4.3 System For Visual Comfort and Gas Appliances
(Gas Lamps) ...........................................................................181
4.3.1 Visual Comfort in Buildings ....................................181
4.3.2 Visual Comfort-Gas Lighting Fixtures ....................184
4.3.3 Design Steps in the Calculation of a Visual
Control System .........................................................188
4.4 Gas Equipment in a System for Food Preparation
and Conservation ...................................................................193
4.4.1 A System for Food Preparation and
Conservation .............................................................193
4.4.2 Household Kitchens and Gas Appliances ................200
4.4.3 Commercial Kitchen Arrangement ..........................200
4.4.3.1 Ventilation of Commercial Kitchens ........203
4.4.3.2 Design of Local Canopy Ventilation ........204
4.5 Hygiene Maintenance Systems(Domestic Hot Water
System.) .................................................................................206
4.5.1 Structure of a Hygiene Maintenance System. ..........206
4.5.2 Gas Water Heaters of a Hygiene Maintenance
System ......................................................................209
4.5.2.1 Rating of Heat Generators in a
Hygiene Maintaining System ...................212
4.5.3 Combined Schemes of Water Heating in Systems
for Hygiene Maintenance .........................................213
4.5.4 Gas Dryers in Systems for Hygiene Maintenance .....215
4.5.5 Calculation of Hygiene Maintenance Systems .........216
4.5.5.1 Water Heater .............................................221
4.5.5.2 Recirculation Pump ..................................221
4.6 Gas Heat Pumps In Engineering Installations of
Buildings ................................................................................221
4.6.1 Heat Pumps Principle of Action ...............................221
4.6.2 Gas Vapor-Compression Heat Pumps ......................225
4.6.3 Operation of a Gas Heat Pump ................................228
4.6.4 Heat Pumps Driven by Natural Gas and
Available on the Market – an Investment
Point of View ............................................................230
4.7 Necessity of Increasing the Share of Gas Devices in a
Building .................................................................................232
4.7.1 Gas Micro-Cogenerating Systems in Domestic
Autonomous Energy Centers ....................................233
4.7.2 Importance of Gas Micro-Cogenerating Systems
for the National Energy Strategy ..............................240
Chapter 5 Conclusions and Acknowledgment ..................................................243
Appendix ...............................................................................................................245
References .............................................................................................................261
Foreword
The book “Natural Gas Installations and Networks in Buildings” by D.Sc., Ph.D.,
Eng. Alexander V. Dimitrov, Professor at the European Polytechnical University,
is a current study on modern power systems in Bulgaria. It outlines the means and
measures of providing buildings and interior space with living comfort, addressing
specialists in research, development, design and applications in the field. Moreover,
it can be a reference book to a vast majority of graduate and postgraduate students,
architects and structural designers.
Prior to the present study, Prof. Dimitrov authored 12 books on heating and power
technology, 5 of them were translated into English and published in the USA and
Great Britain. He tackles basic laws of nature involving fluids, energy, thermo- and
illumination technologies and aerodynamics.
Prof. Dimitrov started teaching at the High Military Civil Engineering School
(HMCES), Sofia, Bulgaria, in 1981, having defended a Ph.D. thesis on aerodynam-
ics before a jury on power engineering and technologies and enrolled at HMCES as
an assistant professor. He joined the High Technical School “T. Kableshkov”, Sofia,
Bulgaria, in 1989 as an associate professor on building engineering installations.
Dr. Dimitrov defended a D.Sc. thesis in 2012 in professional trend 5.7 “Architecture,
Civil Engineering and Geodesy”, specialization “Heating Technology”. He later
enrolled at the European Polytechnic University, Department of Civil Engineering
and Architecture, Pernik, Bulgaria, as a professor on building engineering
installations.
Prof. Dimitrov delivered lectures on: Building engineering installations, Ecology
of buildings, Energy efficient architecture, Mechanical components of HVAC sys-
tems, Theoretical, Applied and Fluid mechanics. He started his research in 1980
as a graduate student at “Lykov” Institute of Heat and Mass Transfer, Acad. Sci.
of Belarus, Minsk. He was a scientific consultant for the Energy Research Center,
Mechanical Department at College of Engineering, UNLV. He was later a visit-
ing researcher at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Environmental Energy
Technology Division, Indoor Environment Department. Prof. Dimitrov is an author
of more than 100 research papers. He participated in 45 research projects and has 15
years of experience in the design of building engineering systems, which make him
one of the prominent specialists in the field.
With its simple but technically precise style, the book puts forward the use of
so-called “blue fuel” in buildings. It presents in a concise form the theoretical foun-
dations of systems – principles of operation, general structure, scheme types, basic
components and solutions. It also outlines the main principles of system design, giv-
ing various practical calculation examples. The book conforms to Bulgarian norma-
tive documents and standards.
An in-building fuel gas pipework is a component of the logistic structure of a
building energy system. It is designed and assembled to convey and distribute fuel
gas between end users, which build the basic or subsidiary energy subsystems. Fuel
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