Abstract
This work looks at the design of flat-plate solar collector utility systems for the supply of low-temperature process heat, subject to restrictions such as the availability of land area for installation. The design approach is based on the formulation of a multi-objective optimisation strategy. The main stages in the methodology are (a) the use of a parametric model that predicts the thermohydraulic performance of a network of solar collectors and (b) a two-level multi-objective optimisation approach where the collector geometry is first optimised followed by the optimisation of the design of the network structure. The application of the proposed methodology to a case study reveals that the approach produces designs that are capable of efficiently operating throughout the year delivering the required process thermal needs. The results show that optimised designs exhibit a payback time reduction of 55.5% with respect to a design using standard commercial collectors.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 285-301 |
Number of pages | 17 |
Journal | Process Integration and Optimization for Sustainability |
Volume | 5 |
Issue number | 2 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Jun 2021 |
Externally published | Yes |
Keywords
- Design
- Deterministic optimization
- Low-temperature solar thermal networks
- MPSO
- Multi-objective optimization
- Parametric analysis
- Stochastic optimization