Viorel Badescu 4

Optimal control of solar
energy systems
Viorel Badescu
Candida Oancea Institute
Polytechnic University of Bucharest
Contents
1. Optimal operation - systems with water
storage tanks
2. Sizing solar collectors
3. Optimal operation - maximum exergy
extraction
4. Sizing solar collection area
5. Conclusions
0. Introduction
This talk shows how the classical
methods of optimal control can be used
by the solar energy engineer.
Four applications will give a broad idea
about the usefulness of these
optimization procedures.
The optimization depends on the way the investor
uses the thermal energy obtained from solar energy
conversion
Two objectives:
First, to develop a sizing procedure for collection
surface area, with input variables:
the working fluid mass flow rate and
the inlet and outlet fluid temperatures
Second, propose a procedure to find the best local
design solution;
It may be implemented by using various objective
functions
Some economical indices, including
net present value and
internal return rate,
are examples of objective functions.
V Badescu, Optimum size and structure for solar energy
collection systems, Energy 31 (2006) 1483-1499
Model
The user
may need
heat or
work fluxes
The
classical
system
may
provide
heat or
work fluxes
The optimization problem
A (primary) conventional energy transfer system
A (secondary) system based on solar energy
conversion.
cT - total energy transfer cost per unit time,
c1 - cost of one energy unit received/removed by using the
primary system
c2 - investment and operation costs of the secondary system
The optimization problem:
find the surface area A which minimizes the costs
and the optimal structure of the collection system.
( ) ( ) A c F F c A c
u nec T 2 1
+ =
Model
The mass flow rate is
fixed
The fluid exits the area
A at temperature T
Adding area dA
increases the
temperature by delta_T
Solar collector model
Absorbed heat flux
Lost heat flux
Useful heat flux = absorbed - lost
Model
Integration of Hottel-Whillier-Bliss eq. (in J):
The time averaged form is (in W):
The time-averaged efficiency
( ) ( ) | | { }dt dA T T F U F G dt dT c m
t
a fi R L R
t
p
}
=
}
A A
0
* * * * *
0
* *
0
*
q
( )dA T U G dT c
F
~
~
0
= q
( ) G T U GdA dT c
F
/
~
~
/
0
= q q
Applications
(a)
The energy transferred is a heat rate received by a body and
the primary energy transfer system is a conventional heater.
(b)
The energy transferred is a heat rate received by a body at
temperature Ta+T and
the primary energy transfer system is a vapor compression
heat pump.
(c)
The energy transferred is a heat rate extracted from a body
at temperature
and the primary energy transfer system is an absorption
refrigerator.
The difference consists in the factors Fnec and Fu
( ) 0 > A A T T T T
a vap
Case (a) as an example
All energy
fluxes
involved are
heat fluxes
Case (a)
Fnec and Fu are heat fluxes
The increase of the heat rate supplied by the
solar energy conversion system,
associated to the increase of collection area dA
is:
Then, the economical benefit is
dT c dF
F
a
u
=
a
u
dF
dA G c dT c c dF c d
a
F
a a
u
a a
q
1 1 1
$ = = =
Economical indicators
The so called revenue factor R
cost of saved primary energy over cost of
surface area
The cost C_A per unit time of the solar
energy collection surface area A:
2
1
c
G c
R
a
a
q
=
}
=
}
=
2
1
2
0
2
T
T
F
A
A
dT
G
c c
dA c C
q
the net present value (NPV)
the present value of cash inflows is
subtracted by the present value of cash
outflows.
( )
( )
}
|
|
.
|
\
|
A
A
=
A
2
1
2 2
1
2 1
2 1
,
,
T
T
tot
a
tot F
a
a
red
dT Y
G
c
Y
G
c
t
t
c
t c
T T NPV
T T NPV
q q
the internal rate of return (IRR) is the interest rate that makes
NPV equal zero.
It is the return that a company would earn if they expanded or
invested in themselves, rather than investing that money abroad
The
may be found by solving numerically the associated equation
( ) ( ) c b a i T T IRR
i
, , ,
2 1
=
( ) ( ) c b a i T T NPV
i
, , 0 ,
2 1
= =
Examples
Results
The revenue factor R exceeds unity in case
the inlet working fluid temperature
exceeds a certain threshold value,
depending on solar collector design (Fig.
c).
The four threshold temperatures are
lower than 50 degrees.
The temperature threshold values in
case of are around 60 degrees for
collectors I and II.
The other two collectors have poor
economical performance as the
associated NPV is negative for all
operation temperatures (Fig. a).
The IRR values of Fig. b show the
collector I may be used economically for
T between 55 and 70 degrees while
collector II is recommended for operation
at more than 60 degrees.
Collectors III and IV are not
recommended as the associated IRR
values do not exceed the interest rate for
all T values.
Results
Different economical
indicators induce
different hierarchies
over the set of solar
collectors.
Results
Let us consider a part of the
collection surface consisting
of a single type of collector.
Integration of the efficiency
definition yields the
necessary surface area
The necessary collection

area is slightly smaller for
collector I than for collector
II.
Therefore, if a single type of
collector must be used,
collector I should be
selected.
In case both types of
collectors are available, a
better solution exists.
( )
}
=
2
1
/ ,
2 1
T
T
F
G
dT
c T T A
q
Solar collectors with optimal non-
uniformly distributed parameters
It was proved that systems consisting in
combinations of different collector types may
be a better solution
than systems consisting of a single collector
type.
One could imagine the extreme case of a
collection system with continuously space
variable parameters.
Such a system may be optimized from the
point of view of a given economical indicator.
Optimisation
The cost
is optimised if:
One finds
( )
( )
( )
}
=
2
1
~
,
~
~
,
~
~
,
~
0
0 2
0
T
T
F
A
dT
G U
c U c
U C
q q
q
q
0
~
/
~
/
0
= c c = c c U C C
A A
q
0
2
2 0
~
1
~
~
~
1
q q
q
q c
c
=
c
c c
c
U
c
c
U
~
1
~
~
~
1
2
2
c
c
=
c
cq
q
Theorem
The following condition should be fulfilled by
the optimum parameters distribution:
Theorem. The modified optical efficiency
and the modified overall heat loss coefficient
in an optimal collection system are distributed
in such a way that the gradient of
in the bi-dimensional parametric space
vanishes
0
~
ln
2
~
,
~
0
=
(
|
|
.
|
\
|
V
c
U
q
q
( )
2
/
~
ln c q
( ) U
~
,
~
0
q
Results
For very small values of T
the unglazed solar
collector is the best
economical solution for
both applications (Fig a).
When increases T a
single transparent layer
collector should be used.
The threshold
temperature for which N
jumps from 0 to 1 is
smaller for the cold
season application.
A collector without bottom
thermal insulation is the
best solution at very small
temperatures (Fig. b).
Conclusions
The general theorem proposed here shows
how the modified optical efficiency and heat
loss coefficient should be distributed for cost
minimization.
One finds that unglazed, single-glazed and
double-glazed collectors should be used on
the same collection area in order to obtain the
best performance.
Also, the bottom insulation thickness should
be changed accordingly.
End of part 4/4
Thank you!

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Optimal control of solar

The necessary collection

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