At the Fraunhofer IBP Lab, researchers are working with installation contractors to analyze individual work steps, components and installation procedures for heat pump installation.

At the Fraunhofer IBP twin houses, researchers are collaborating with installation contractors to test new solutions for heat pump installation under realistic conditions.

Making work easier in the boiler room with augmented reality: the “Heat Pump PlanAR” app

Heat pump technology is a central component of the energy transition. However, what can be done to make heat pump installation more efficient, faster and more productive? How do we address the challenges arising from the shortage of skilled workers as well as the fact that installation in single-family and two-unit homes currently heated with fossil fuels is still a lengthy process? Researchers from the Fraunhofer Institute for Building Physics IBP and the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE have addressed this in close collaboration with partners from industry, specialty wholesalers and the skilled trades sector as part of the WESPE project (see below). This project is coordinated by the German Sanitation, Heating and Air Conditioning Association (Zentralverband Sanitär Heizung Klima, ZVSHK). It focuses on on-site and digital processes throughout the entire value chain and aims to significantly reduce installation times by up to 40 percent. This endeavor is a major challenge for the heating sector, especially in view of the fact that skilled workers are already scarce.

To achieve this goal, the project partners identified areas for optimization as well as time-consuming steps along the retrofitting process, both in the office and on construction sites. They also set up a web-based digital platform to streamline installation and order-processing procedures for installers when they replace oil and gas heating systems with heat pump-based systems in the future. The first step was to analyze workflows for improvement and digitization, such as condition assessment, communication with customers, site coordination, logistics, material procurement and installation. All results and necessary information on respective phases were provided on the platform. “The goal is to highlight practical options, tools and approaches that installation businesses can use to further develop their internal processes, especially since the increasingly complex technical requirements of heating systems increase the planning effort as well as the risk of errors during implementation. On the platform, they can access all the necessary tools and instructions and use these to simplify and accelerate the respective work steps,” explains Susanne Schwab, a researcher at Fraunhofer IBP. “Users can access sections on customer consultation, planning and quotation preparation, site preparation, installation, commissioning and invoicing with the corresponding guidance and resources.” A preliminary questionnaire, the WESPE Check, helps installation businesses assess their current status in each area and provides them customized tips, such as recommendations for digital and physical resources, suitable tools, organizational measures or external services.

“The learning platform provides practical advice for people at all levels, from support staff to master tradespeople and planners,” says Annette Uhl, a researcher at Fraunhofer ISE. The institute conducts research on digital workflows and software tools designed to better integrate multiple work steps in the office and on site. The prototype Heat Pump PlanAR app was also developed as part of the project. In the future, this app could help heating installation technicians by providing preliminary planning and quote generation in a matter of seconds, using augmented reality and automatic, cost-optimized piping of digitally represented heating components. Instead of using multiple software tools and manually transferring data between them, as has been standard practice to date, the Heat Pump PlanAR app is designed to incorporate as many work steps as possible into a single tool.

Fifteen specialist installation businesses are involved in the project, documenting processes in their offices as well as at thirty installation sites and helping to identify real-world use cases. A time-tracking app determines the amount of time required for individual on-site tasks.

At the same time, researchers at Fraunhofer IBP set up a physical innovation lab on the institute’s campus in Holzkirchen, which served as a realistic environment for the development and testing of heat pump installation. Typical installation scenarios were replicated in the basement of one of the two twin buildings, identical single-family homes built on the premises of Fraunhofer IBP to serve as a research and demonstration platform for studies under real-world conditions. These test facilities were supplemented by additional test environments in the IBP LAB and a utility container that enables targeted commissioning of heat pump systems under defined conditions.