Making solar thermal systems less expensive, often results in a lower system efficiency. However, the cost-benefit ratio is relevant from the perspective of the consumer. The complex impact of component-related and system-related design parameters on the economics of a complete system makes the evaluation and economical optimization difficult. Therefore, a complete simulation environment has been developed, which can automatically optimize solar-thermal systems, including collector and system parameters. The main collector module consists of a one-dimensional thermal model that was validated with a commercial solar collector. The efficiency curve and the production cost were calculated as a function of several design and construction parameters. The collector module was linked to the commercial software Polysun®, so that parametric studies can be performed with minimal effort. Optimization problems can be solved by using the Matlab® optimization toolbox. The simulation environment was used for sensitivity studies and optimization problems in order to analyze the impact of collector design-parameters with respect to system cost, system yield and economic values. We will demonstrate how a collector can be optimized and how the ideal system parameters like collector number and storage volume can be easily calculated. Finally, we will show how the optimizer is used for a given system in order to find ideal values for the absorber-sheet thickness and the number of pipes. Due to the holistic approach, the application of this tool set can be used for collector development as well as for system planning.
| Published in | American Journal of Energy Engineering (Volume 5, Issue 6) |
| DOI | 10.11648/j.ajee.20170506.11 |
| Page(s) | 50-56 |
| Creative Commons |
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited. |
| Copyright |
Copyright © The Author(s), 2018. Published by Science Publishing Group |
Solar-Thermal, Collector, Modelling, Optimization
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| [5] | J. Koke, M. Kuhr, M. Althoff; U. Clement, M. Köhler, H. Boedeker; „Ganzheitliche Kostenoptimierung solarthermischer Systeme für Hersteller und Entwickler mittels Simulation“; Proceedings 26. Symposium Thermische Solarenergie, Bad Staffelstein, Germany, 2016. |
| [6] | J. Koke, M. Kuhr, U. Clement; Software in a loop - Polysun und Matlab zur Optimierung solarthermischer Systeme; Proceedings SIGES 2016, Winterthur, Switzerland, 2016. |
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APA Style
Johannes Koke, Matthias Kuhr, Uwe Clement. (2018). Automated Optimization of Solar-Thermal Systems Using Software in a Loop. American Journal of Energy Engineering, 5(6), 50-56. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajee.20170506.11
ACS Style
Johannes Koke; Matthias Kuhr; Uwe Clement. Automated Optimization of Solar-Thermal Systems Using Software in a Loop. Am. J. Energy Eng. 2018, 5(6), 50-56. doi: 10.11648/j.ajee.20170506.11
AMA Style
Johannes Koke, Matthias Kuhr, Uwe Clement. Automated Optimization of Solar-Thermal Systems Using Software in a Loop. Am J Energy Eng. 2018;5(6):50-56. doi: 10.11648/j.ajee.20170506.11
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Download@article{10.11648/j.ajee.20170506.11,
author = {Johannes Koke and Matthias Kuhr and Uwe Clement},
title = {Automated Optimization of Solar-Thermal Systems Using Software in a Loop},
journal = {American Journal of Energy Engineering},
volume = {5},
number = {6},
pages = {50-56},
doi = {10.11648/j.ajee.20170506.11},
url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajee.20170506.11},
eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ajee.20170506.11},
abstract = {Making solar thermal systems less expensive, often results in a lower system efficiency. However, the cost-benefit ratio is relevant from the perspective of the consumer. The complex impact of component-related and system-related design parameters on the economics of a complete system makes the evaluation and economical optimization difficult. Therefore, a complete simulation environment has been developed, which can automatically optimize solar-thermal systems, including collector and system parameters. The main collector module consists of a one-dimensional thermal model that was validated with a commercial solar collector. The efficiency curve and the production cost were calculated as a function of several design and construction parameters. The collector module was linked to the commercial software Polysun®, so that parametric studies can be performed with minimal effort. Optimization problems can be solved by using the Matlab® optimization toolbox. The simulation environment was used for sensitivity studies and optimization problems in order to analyze the impact of collector design-parameters with respect to system cost, system yield and economic values. We will demonstrate how a collector can be optimized and how the ideal system parameters like collector number and storage volume can be easily calculated. Finally, we will show how the optimizer is used for a given system in order to find ideal values for the absorber-sheet thickness and the number of pipes. Due to the holistic approach, the application of this tool set can be used for collector development as well as for system planning.},
year = {2018}
}
TY - JOUR T1 - Automated Optimization of Solar-Thermal Systems Using Software in a Loop AU - Johannes Koke AU - Matthias Kuhr AU - Uwe Clement Y1 - 2018/01/17 PY - 2018 N1 - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajee.20170506.11 DO - 10.11648/j.ajee.20170506.11 T2 - American Journal of Energy Engineering JF - American Journal of Energy Engineering JO - American Journal of Energy Engineering SP - 50 EP - 56 PB - Science Publishing Group SN - 2329-163X UR - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajee.20170506.11 AB - Making solar thermal systems less expensive, often results in a lower system efficiency. However, the cost-benefit ratio is relevant from the perspective of the consumer. The complex impact of component-related and system-related design parameters on the economics of a complete system makes the evaluation and economical optimization difficult. Therefore, a complete simulation environment has been developed, which can automatically optimize solar-thermal systems, including collector and system parameters. The main collector module consists of a one-dimensional thermal model that was validated with a commercial solar collector. The efficiency curve and the production cost were calculated as a function of several design and construction parameters. The collector module was linked to the commercial software Polysun®, so that parametric studies can be performed with minimal effort. Optimization problems can be solved by using the Matlab® optimization toolbox. The simulation environment was used for sensitivity studies and optimization problems in order to analyze the impact of collector design-parameters with respect to system cost, system yield and economic values. We will demonstrate how a collector can be optimized and how the ideal system parameters like collector number and storage volume can be easily calculated. Finally, we will show how the optimizer is used for a given system in order to find ideal values for the absorber-sheet thickness and the number of pipes. Due to the holistic approach, the application of this tool set can be used for collector development as well as for system planning. VL - 5 IS - 6 ER -
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