A Novel Solar HP With PVT

Energy 95 (2016) 346e366
Contents lists available at ScienceDirect
Energy
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/energy
A novel solar-assisted heat pump driven by photovoltaic/thermal

collectors: Dynamic simulation and thermoeconomic optimization
Francesco Calise a, Massimo Dentice d'Accadia a, Rafal Damian Figaj b, *, Laura Vanoli b
a
Department of Industrial Engineering, University of Naples Federico II, P.le Tecchio 80, 80125, Naples, Italy
b
Department of Engineering, University of Naples Parthenope, Centro Direzionale. IS.C4, Naples, Italy
a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t
Article history: This paper presents a dynamic simulation model and a thermo-economic analysis of a novel poly-
Received 2 September 2015 generation system based on a solar-assisted heat pump and an adsorption chiller, both driven by PVT
Received in revised form (photovoltaic/thermal) collectors. The aim of this work is to design and dynamically simulate a novel
6 November 2015
ultra-high efficient solar heating and cooling system. The overall plant layout is designed to supply
Accepted 29 November 2015
Available online xxx
electricity, space heating and cooling and domestic hot water for a small residential building. The system
combines solar cooling, solar-assisted heat pump and photovoltaic/thermal collector technologies in a
novel solar polygeneration system. In fact, the polygeneration system is based on a PVT solar field,
Keywords:
Solar energy
coupled with a water-to-water electric heat pump or to an adsorption chiller. PVT collectors simulta-
Solar cooling neously produce electricity and thermal energy. During the winter, hot water produced by PVT collectors
Heat pump primarily supplies the evaporator of the heat pump, whereas in summer, solar energy supplies an
Adsorption chiller adsorption chiller providing the required space cooling. All year long, solar thermal energy in excess is
Heating and cooling system converted into DHW (domestic hot water). The system model was developed in TRNSYS environment. 1-
PVT (photovoltaic/thermal) year dynamic simulations are performed for different case studies in various weather conditions. The
results are analysed on different time bases presenting energetic, environmental and economic perfor-
mance data. Finally, a sensitivity analysis and a thermoeconomic optimization were performed, in order
to determine the set of system design/control parameters that minimize the simple pay-back period. The
results showed a total energy efficiency of the PVT of 49%, a heat pump yearly coefficient of performance
for heating mode above 4 and a coefficient of performance of the adsorption chiller of 0.55. Finally, it is
also concluded that system performance is highly sensitive to the PVT field area. The system is profitable
when a capital investment subsidy of 50% is considered.
© 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
1. Introduction polygeneration [10,11] system included in this paper. In the fol-

lowings, a brief description of such technologies is provided.
In the past decades, a number of Countries, especially in EU, PVT (photovoltaic/thermal) collectors are particularly prom-
massively supported conventional solar technologies (solar ther- ising, since they combine in a single component conventional
mal and solar photovoltaic) by public funding [1]. This resulted in a photovoltaic collectors, PV, and conventional thermal SC (solar
significant reduction of their capital cost, especially for PV collectors) [12,13]. PVT collectors simultaneously produce elec-
(photovoltaic) systems (from 7.0 kV/kWp to 1.3 kV/kWp). Simul- tricity and heat [14]. PVT collectors are typically manufactured by
taneously, more and more attention has been paid to some inno- covering the absorber of a conventional thermal collector with a
vative solar technologies other than PV and solar thermal, namely: suitable PV layer. Thermal energy is distributed to a fluid (typically
solar power [2,3], solar heating and cooling [4,5], hybrid PVT air [15] or water [16e18]), whereas the PV layer produces electricity
(photovoltaic/thermal) solar collectors [6e9]. The majority of these [12,13]. The overall result is the simultaneous production of elec-
novel solar technologies are implemented in the novel solar tricity and heat [19]. In addition, the electrical efficiency of a PVT
collector may be even higher than that of a conventional PV
module, at least in case of low PVT operating temperatures
[12,13,20]. The most common PVT configuration is the “sheet-and-
* Corresponding author. Tel.: þ39 0815476709; fax: þ39 0815476777.
E-mail address: rafal.figaj@uniparthenope.it (R.D. Figaj).
tube” [21], where a conventional SC thermal collector is equipped
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.energy.2015.11.071
0360-5442/© 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
F. Calise et al. / Energy 95 (2016) 346e366 347
with a PV layer encapsulated in the absorber, although several authors concluded that significant improvement of the thermal
alternative configurations are currently under investigation performance is achieved at high condensing temperatures when
[12,13,22,23]. PVT electrical efficiency decreases when the oper- using the double-stage SAHP system. However, a higher capital cost
ating temperature increases. Usually, the performance drop-off due (due to the larger solar field area) must be taken into account. A
to temperature increase is not too high: it is typically around 0.45%/ more comprehensive analysis of the papers available in literature
K for silicon cells [20], and even lower in case of novel PV materials, investigating direct SAHP system was presented by Kara et al. [39],
such as multi-junction solar cells which can approach a nominal also including energy and exergy models. From this study, it is clear
efficiency of 40% [24,25]. In any case, a lower operating temperature that only a couple of papers investigate PVT collectors, whereas the
of PVT collectors obviously leads to an improvement of both elec- remaining ones focus on conventional solar thermal collectors [39].
trical and thermal efficiencies [26]. For this reason, PVT systems are One of the few studies investigating SAHP including PVT collectors
typically used for low-temperature applications, such as domestic was presented by Chow et al. [40]. The authors modeled a PV-SAHP
hot water production, floor heating, desiccant cooling [27,28]. A (photovoltaic-integrated solar heat pump) system, using a dynamic
possible alternative for increasing the outlet temperature of the simulation model and the TMY weather data of Hong Kong. It was
working fluid without decreasing the PVT electrical efficiency may found that the proposed system with R-134a is able to achieve a
consist in the use of a heat pump (mainly driven by the PVT electric year average COP of 5.93 and a PV efficiency of 12.1%; the energy
output) [12,13,22]. output is therefore considerably higher than that of a conventional
The combination of PVT collectors and heat pumps is a special heat pump plus PV “side-by-side” system. The indirect SAHP
case of the category of the SAHP (solar-assisted heat pumps), in configuration was investigated by Sterling et al. [41]. The authors
which solar thermal energy is used to enhance the COP (coefficient designed and modeled an indirect SAHP for DHW (domestic hot
of performance) of a conventional HP (heat pump) providing space water) production, which was compared to a conventional SDHW
heating during the winter season [29,30]. SAHP typically include (solar domestic hot water) system and to an electric domestic hot
conventional flat-plate solar thermal collectors producing a hot water system. The simulations were performed by TRNSYS soft-
fluid supplying heat to the evaporator of an electric vapor- ware, using a simple scheme and basic control strategies. It was
compression heat pump. When SAHP system include PVT collec- found that the best performance, considering the electrical con-
tors, the compressor of the HP can be driven by the renewable sumption and the operating cost, was achieved by the SAHP system.
electrical energy produced by the collectors, further enhancing the In this study, a solar field equipped with conventional solar thermal
overall efficiency of the system [31]. SAHP systems are typically collectors was considered [41]. An indirect SAHP configuration also
classified into two groups: direct and indirect coupled. In the first including PVT collectors was recently presented by Hazi and Hazi
case, the refrigerant directly flows inside the PVT collectors. In the [33]. The authors presented a comparative study of indirect
second case, PVT and HP working fluids are decoupled by means of photovoltaic thermal solar-assisted heat pump systems for water
a heat exchanger. Higher conversion efficiencies and lower capital heating in industry is presented. Both steam ejector heat pumps
costs are achieved by the direct configuration. Conversely, the in- and mechanical compression heat pumps were evaluated, for an
direct one is much more simple and flexible, especially during the application in a paper mill. A numerical model was implemented
summer season [32,33]. The majority of the studies available in including energy, exergy and economic balances for a Romanian
literature only analyse the conventional direct SAHP arrangement climatic condition. The authors concluded that in winter the
based on an electric heat pump and flat-plate solar collectors. The operation time of the heat pump is shorter than the duration of the
combination with PVT systems is scarcely analyzed. In particular, solar radiation, while in summer, when the air temperature and the
Gorozable Chata et al. [32] investigated the thermal performance of solar radiation are higher, such operation time equals the duration
a direct expansion solar-assisted heat pump with several re- of the solar radiation. SAHP systems are also studied in a plurality of
frigerants, using two different configurations for the collector, bare applications, such as: swimming pools [42,43], solar heating and
and with cover. The results showed that R-12 produces the highest cooling [21], desalination [44], geothermal heat pumps [45], etc. A
value of COP, followed by R-22 and R-134A. A similar study was considerable number of studies are also available in literature
presented by Zhang et al. [34], who investigated the effects of the presenting different experimental analyses of different SAHP con-
refrigerant charge on the performance of the system. In the opti- figurations [46e54], including a number of different solar devices
mum configuration, good system performance and feasible costs (flat-plate collectors, PVT collectors, evacuate tube collectors, vari-
can be achieved [34]. Tagliafico et al. [35] proposed to use solar able speed compressors, etc). All the papers investigating the
thermal collectors as thermal exchange units (evaporators) in a experimental performance of SAHP systems are based on small
heat pump system, in order to improve the efficiency and the systems, and mainly focus on the direct configuration arrangement.
economic profitability of the system. The authors used a simplified As mentioned before, SAHP systems are specialized in the con-
approach and they found results consistent with those available in version of solar heat space heating energy during the winter sea-
literature, with a mean primary energy saving of about 50% with son. Conversely, in summer, solar energy can be converted in space
respect to a standard gas burner. A similar approach was also used cooling energy by solar cooling systems [55,56]. In particular, this
by Scarpa et al. [36], using a model developed around the fluid- technology is particularly promising since the availability of solar
independent Carnot cycle. The system produces hot sanitary wa- radiation is simultaneous with building space cooling demand.
ter and it is equipped with an auxiliary gas burner. The authors Conversely, in winter time, the maximum heating demand often
found results in accordance with those available in the literature occurs in case of extremely scarce solar radiation [57]. The basic
[36]. The direct expansion SAHP, including solar thermal collectors, principle is simple since solar heat is delivered to a heat-driven
was also investigated by Chow et al. [37]. The authors presented a chiller (absorption [5], adsorption [58], desiccant [59], etc.) con-
numerical model of the system. Then, a simulation was performed verting such heat into cooling energy [5,56]. The majority of the
using the TMY (typical meteorological year) weather data of Hong literature studies and commercial systems are based on evacuated
Kong: a year average COP (coefficient of performance) of 6.46 was tubes solar thermal collectors and a single-effect absorption chiller
found. A more complex direct SAHP was presented by Chaturvedi [1,60]. In climates where the availability of solar beam radiation is
et al. [38], including a double-stage compression for high temper- extremely high, the combination of concentrating solar collectors
ature applications. Results are presented and compared with those and a double-effect absorption chiller may be profitable [57]. In this
of a single-stage direct expansion solar-assisted heat pump. The case, a higher solar collector outlet temperature is required to drive
348 F. Calise et al. / Energy 95 (2016) 346e366
the chiller. Conversely, for colder climates solar collector temper- authors aim at improving the knowledge on this topic presenting a
ature is lower and an adsorption chiller is usually employed [61] dynamic model of this indirect SAHP system based on PVT and
since such chillers can be activated for lower hot fluid tempera- adsorption chiller technologies. With respect to the papers
tures. Literature review regarding solar cooling systems equipped mentioned above [33,41], a much more complex system layout,
with adsorption chiller is very rich [56,58,61,62]. A number of pa- developed with TRNSYS software, is proposed, including all the
pers are available in literature presenting both numerical [63,64] components required for operating the system (mixers, valves,
and experimental analyses [65,66] of solar cooling systems equip- controllers, heat exchangers, tanks, collectors, etc.). In addition,
ped with adsorption chillers. For example, Gonzales et al. devel- some innovative control strategies are here presented, aiming at
oped a solar adsorption cooling system based on CPC (compound maximizing the utilization of solar energy in all the operating
parabolic collectors) where the tube includes the sorption bed. The conditions. Finally, differently from the majority of the studies
system was designed and experimented, showing that the available in literature, this work presents a much more detailed
measured solar COP ranged from 0.078 to 0.096 [67]. The same methodology for the assessments of building loads. In fact, system
collector technology (CPC) was investigated by Lu et al. [68]. They space heating and cooling and domestic hot water demands are
coupled the CPC collectors to an adsorption chiller and found that calculated on the basis of detailed simulation models of a specific
the average solar COP was 0.16. Such figure may increase up to 0.19, building, developed in TRNBUILD, included in TRNSYS package. The
when the hot water temperature is 125 C [68]. Similarly a number model is also completed by a detailed thermo-economic optimi-
of novel solar adsorption prototypes are diffusely discussed in zation aiming at calculating the capital and operating costs in all
literature [69e71]. the configurations investigated, in order to determine the cost-
In the recent few years, a new layout of solar cooling system has optimal system configuration.
been also designed. This novel layout replaces the conventional
solar thermal collectors by PVT collectors. Such arrangement allows 2. System layout
one to enhance the overall system energetic efficiency since a
certain amount of electricity is also produced in addition to the A simplified layout of the system under investigation in the
conventional space heating and cooling energy [21,24,44,72e74]. In paper is shown in Fig. 1, where only the main components are
particular, Calise et al. designed and simulated a hybrid solar tri- displayed. The proposed system is used to provide space heating
generation system including flat-plate PVT collectors and an ab- during the winter (from 16th November to 31st March) and space
sorption chiller [21]. They found that the outlet temperature of the cooling during the summer (from 1st June to 31st October).
PVT collectors were adequate to drive the absorption chiller, Furthermore, the system produces DHW (domestic hot water) and
whereas a significant decrease of the electrical efficiency was electric energy (all year long). The proposed plant is a small size
achieved as a consequence of the increase of the operating tem- PVT system installed on a residential use building. Here, the overall
perature. System performance significantly improved when highly amount of electric energy provided by a small or medium size PV
efficient CPVT (concentrating PVT) collectors, using III-V PV cells, system in a year is much lower than the corresponding demand of
are employed [72,74]. In case of a dish CPVT collector a double-stage the building, even in the absence of electric powered heating and
absorption chiller can be driven [72], whereas using linear para- cooling equipment (heat pumps or chillers). Thus, it is assumed that
bolic CPVT collectors a single-stage absorption chiller must be the electric energy provided by the PVT system is completely
considered [74]. All these studies regarding solar trigeneration consumed by building electric equipment.
systems are based on absorption chiller. The possibility to combine The system layout includes several operating fluids and main
CPVT and adsorption chiller was investigated only by Garcia-Heller components, reported in Tables 1 and 2, respectively.
et al. [75]. The authors performed an exergoeconomic analysis of a Additional BOP (balance of the plant) components (not dis-
10 MW 2000 suns CPVT solar field. Authors investigated the pos- played in Fig. 1, for brevity) have been also implemented in the
sibilities to use CPVT heat to drive an adsorption chiller, pointing simulation model, such as: pipes, sensors, controllers (proportional
out that a possible increase of the COP of this device is crucial for and on/off with hysteresis), schedulers (daily, weekly and seasonal).
achieving good energetic, exergetic and economic performance In particular, the pipes were used in order to simulate the duct-
[75]. work. Other mandatory components are: weather database, plot-
As a summary, a large number of papers is available in literature ters, printers, integrators, etc.
presenting both numerical and experimental analyses of SAHP, PVT The design parameters for all the main components of the sys-
and adsorption solar cooling systems. As expected, the papers tem were accurately selected in order to allow the system to
investigating the system from the experimental point of view only operate properly, meeting the energy demands of the building.
focus on simple system layouts, often simulating user load de- Such values are summarized in Table 3.
mands. As for numerical studies, the majority of the papers found in In particular, set-point temperatures and temperature dead-
literature only focus on the direct SAHP configuration, whereas bands for the components were selected in order to minimize the
only few studies are available in which the indirect configuration is number of on-off events.
investigated. Such studies are often based on simple models and/or The presented ST (solar trigeneration) system was dynamically
they just consider solar thermal collectors, rather than PVT collec- simulated in TRNSYS environment [48]. The basic operating prin-
tors. Therefore, the indirect configuration is scarcely studied, ciple of the system can be here summarized as follows.
especially when coupled with PVT collectors. In this case, no study Solar irradiation is converted into electrical energy and thermal
was found in literature presenting a 1-year simulation model of an energy through the PVT field. The produced electrical energy is
indirect SAHP system including PVT collectors, based on realistic completely consumed by the user, due to the operation of the
load demands. Moreover, no paper was found in literature inves- reversible heat pump and the remaining electric equipment of the
tigating the possible integration of SAHP systems with an adsorp- building. The solar thermal energy produced is used to heat up the
tion chiller in order to supply also space cooling energy in addition SCF (solar collector fluid) circulating through the PVT field.
to the space heating one. In particular, no study was found in The water flow rate of the variable speed pump P1 is regulated
literature investigating the novel layout presented in this paper, by a proportional controller activated when the radiation is higher
where PVT collectors drive a SAHP and an adsorption chiller, than 10 W/m2 [76] (see Fig. 2). This controller varies continuously
respectively for the winter and summer operation. In this paper, P1 flow rate, in order to achieve the desired PVT outlet temperature.
Fig. 1. Simplified layout of the proposed system including the main components and loops.
Table 1 The set point temperature at the outlet of the PVT depends on the
Description of the system operating fluids. tank to be charged (TK1 and TK2) and on the season (winter and
Operating fluid Description summer). In fact, TK1 has to provide heat to the evaporator of the
SCF e solar collector Water flowing from the solar
water-to-water heat pump and to the hot side of the adsorption
fluid field to the source sides of the tanks chiller in winter and in summer respectively, whereas TK2 is used
HF e hot fluid Water flowing from the load side of for DHW production all year long.
tank to the evaporator of the heat pump In particular, in winter PVT set point temperature is 30 C when
(winter) and to the hot side of the
TK1 is supplied by the collectors. Conversely, in summer when the
adsorption chiller (summer)
CW e cooling water Water flowing from the surface aquifer to same TK1 has to be charged, the set point temperature is set at
the condenser of the heat pump or to the 70 C. Moreover, when TK2 has to be supplied by solar thermal
cooling side of the adsorption chiller (summer) energy, the set point temperature is set at 55 C, independently
DHW e domestic hot Water used for domestic devices from the season. This strategy is performed in order to maximize
water
PVT electric efficiency, increasing in case of low operating tem-
CHW e chilled water Circulating chilled water in the building
hydronic system peratures, operating at the lowest temperature compatible with
HEW e heated water Circulating heated water in the building user demands (HP in winter and ADS in summer).
hydronic system
Table 2
Description of the system main components.
System main component Description
PVT Photovoltaic/thermal collector field with water-cooled sheet-and-tube planar solar collectors with a cover glass and a
photovoltaic panel placed above the absorber, whose inclination is 30 and with south orientation
TK1 Thermal storage system that supplies thermal energy to the evaporator of the heat pump (winter) and to the hot side of
the adsorption chiller (summer), and consists of a vertical stratified hot storage tank equipped with inlet stratification
devices
TK2 Thermal storage system that stores the eventual solar heat in excess (when TK1 is thermally loaded) for producing DHW,
and consists of a vertical stratified hot storage tank with an internal heat exchanger
HE Plate-fin heat exchanger in the solar loop used to dissipate the solar thermal energy when the solar irradiation is higher
than the HP (winter) or the adsorption chiller, ADS, (summer) thermal demand and when both tanks are thermally
loaded
GB Gas-fired burner used to produce the building DHW when TK2 top temperature is below the required set-point
HP Reversible heat pump with a reversing valve used to reverse the refrigerant flow from the compressor through the
condenser and evaporation coils; HP supplies space heating energy in winter and auxiliary space cooling energy in
summer when ADS capacity is lower than building demand
ADS Adsorption chiller with zeolite adsorption material, powered thermally by the HF (summer)
WE Cold water surface aquifer well that provides cooling water CW to the condenser of the HP or to the cooling side of the
ADS in the summer operation mode
TK3 Inertial hot/chilled water storage tank used in order to reduce the number of on/off events of the reversible heat pump
HP and the adsorption chiller ADS
FC Fan coil system that supplies thermal energy for space heating and cooling, as needed
P1 Variable-speed pump a variable-speed pump, P1, for the SCF loop
P2/3/4/5 Fixed-volume pumps for the HF, CHW/HEW and CW loops
D, M Flow diverters and mixers used in order to properly manage the fluid circulating within the loops
Table 3 operation is done when the TK1 top temperature is not within the
System design parameters. fixed deadband (60e65 C) [77] in order to achieve a proper ADS
Parameter Value [unit] operation.
PVT field area 20 [m2]
The control system manages the solar thermal energy in order
Reference temperature for PV efficiency 25 [ C] to supply primarily TK1, only when this tank is thermally loaded,
PVT slope 30 [ ] SCF is moved to the TK2 internal heat exchanger, in order to pro-
PVT azimuth 0 [ ] duce DHW. If the DHW energy demand is not satisfied by solar
PVT set point temperature (when TK1 is supplied) 30/70 [ C]
energy, and therefore TK2 top temperature is below 45 C, the
PVT set point temperature (when TK2 is supplied) 55 [ C]
Nominal P1 flow rate per PVT area 50 [kg/(h m2)] control system turns GB (gas burner) on. In this way, even in case of
TK1 volume/PVT area 100 [l/m2] scarce solar irradiation, the system provides the heat required for
TK1 height 2 [m] matching DHW demand.
TK1 set point temperature 25/65 [ C]
In winter and summer, when both tanks are thermally loaded,
TK1 activation deadband 5 [ C]
TK2 volume/PVT area 50 [l/m2]
SCF is bypassed, in order to avoid TK2 overheating of. In this
TK2 height 1.6 [m] operation, the SCF flow entering D1 is supplied straight to M1 (see
TK2 set point temperature 50 [ C] Fig. 2), therefore the SCF is re-circulated through the closed loop
TK2 activation deadband 3 [ C] constituted by PVT collectors, HE and P1. The by-pass operation is
TK3 volume 1 [m3]
also performed in order to avoid TK2 cooling down when SCF
TK3 height 1 [m]
TK3 set point temperature winter 47 [ C] temperature is lower than TK2 top temperature. In fact, SCF is
TK3 activation deadband winter 2 [ C] bypassed as long as its temperature is not 2 C higher than TK2 top
TK3 set point temperature summer 6 [ C] temperature. Then, SCF is supplied to the TK2 internal heat
TK3 activation deadband summer 2 [ C] exchanger in order to produce DHW (see Fig. 2).
HE activation temperature 70 [ C]
TK1, TK2, TK3 loss coefficient 0.278 [W/(m2 C)]
Note that PVT outlet temperature may overcome the set point
P3 flow 2400 [kg/h] when the user thermal energy demand is low and/or solar radiation
P4 flow 1500 [kg/h] is high. In such case, in order to avoid SCF overheating and a
P5 flow 3600 [kg/h] consequent decrease of PVT electric efficiency, PVT fluid is cooled
HP rated heating capacity 8 [kW]
down by the heat exchanger HE, dissipating the solar thermal en-
HP rated cooling capacity 7 [kW]
Space heating set point temperature 20 [ C] ergy in excess. Conversely, when the user thermal energy demand
Space cooling set point temperature 26 [ C] is high and the solar irradiation is low, PVT outlet temperature may
be lower than the fixed set point.
The running logic of the ADS and HP circuits is show in Fig. 3. In
The running logic of the solar loop operation is shown in Fig. 2. the winter period, HF (hot fluid) is supplied by the load side of tank
PVT outlet fluid (SCF) is managed through two diverters and two TK1 to P2, that pumps the flow across D3 and M5 towards the
mixers, D1, D2 and M1, M2 respectively. In this way, PVT field can evaporator side of the reversible HP. HF temperature is lowered by
supply alternatively TK1 and TK2. A sensor measures the tem- the heat exchange within HP evaporator. Then, HF returns to the
perature at the top of tank TK1; in winter, when such temperature TK1 tank across D5 and M3. In order to meet the building space
falls outside the fixed range (25e20 C), the control system heating demand, HP is activated in order to maintain the top
switches the flow of D2 to TK1 (see Fig. 2). In summer, this same temperature of the inertial tank TK3 within the fixed deadband
Fig. 2. Control strategy: management of solar thermal energy, and tanks operation represented by a flowchart diagram.
Fig. 3. Control strategy: management of heat pump (HP) and adsorption chiller (ADS) operation represented by a flowchart diagram.
(48-45 C) (see Fig. 3). When TK3 top temperature drops to 45 C, Summarizing the system operation (Table 4).
HP is turned on and HEW (heated water) is pumped by P3 to the
condenser of the reversible HP. HEW passed through the HP - in winter, the heat produced by the PVT field is supplied pri-
condenser is supplied to the TK3 source side across M6. In this way, marily to the reversible heat pump for space heating, while the
when the room temperature falls below 19 C, the hot fluid stored remaining part is used for DHW production;
in TK3 is supplied by P4 to the fan-coils. In this case, the room - in summer, the heat produced by the PVT field is supplied pri-
temperature rises up to 21 C. marily to the hot side of the adsorption chiller for space cooling
In the summer period, HF is supplied by the load side of tank (with a surface aquifer for heat rejection to the ambient and the
TK1 to P2, that pumps the flow across D3 towards the hot side of reversible heat pump in cooling mode as backup equipment),
the adsorption chiller ADS (see Fig. 3). In order to dissipate the heat while the remaining part is used for DHW production.
rejected by ADS, CW is pumped from WE by P5 towards the cooling
side of ADS across D4. CW exiting ADS passes through M4 and is
rejected to the sewer. The space cooling is provided by activating 3. Simulation model
ADS in order to control the top temperature of the inertial tank TK3
within a fixed deadband (12e14 C). When the TK3 top tempera- The system described in the previous section was dynamically
ture rises to 14 C ADS is turned on and CHW is pumped by P3 to the simulated in TRNSYS. The simulation tool allows one to calculate
chiller side of ADS. CHW passed through the ADS is supplied to the energy and mass flows and temperature profiles for the compo-
TK3 source side across M6. In this way, when the room temperature nents of the system for whatever period of the year. Both energetic
exceeds 27 C, the chilled water stored in TK3 supplies the fan-coils and economic performance of the system under investigation can
inside the building. In this case, the room temperature decreases to be analyzed by means of integrated data on whatever time period
25 C. If TK1 top temperature is not high enough (below 55 C), no (hours, days, weeks, months or years). Moreover, the software in-
solar thermal energy is supplied to ADS. In this case, in order to cludes a library of built-in components often based on experi-
maintain the TK3 top temperature within the fixed deadband mentally validated data [78].
(12e14 C), the reversible HP is turned on (see Fig. 3). Therefore, the The entire simulation model of the proposed system includes
condenser of the reversible heat pump HP is connected to the CW several submodels, simulating all the components included in the
cooling circuit through D4, M5 and D5, M4, in order to dissipate the system and listed in the previous section. It is worth noting, that all
heat rejected by the condenser. Thus, the space cooling is provided the submodels are linked to each other in order to perform the
by activating the HP, as a chiller, in order to control the top tem- overall system simulation. In particular, the majority of the models
perature of the inertial tank TK3. Moreover, when the space cooling (e.g. pumps, mixers, diverters, valves, controllers, gas burner,
demand is high and the TK1 top temperature is low (60 C) the TK3 reversible water to water heat pump, adsorption chiller, building,
top temperature may rise above 14 C even if the ADS is activated. If etc.) were taken from the software library. On the contrary, specific
the inertial tank top temperature rises over 16 C ADS is deactivated models have been also developed for the management of the sys-
and the reversible heat HP is turned on in order to cool down the tem (Control System) and for the calculations of primary energy
tank to the lower deadband value (12 C). In this way, even in case savings and for the evaluation of the economic profitability of the
of scarce solar irradiation and high space cooling demand the system (Primary Energy Calculator and Economic Costs Calculator).
system provides required cooling power. The models of the components taken from TRNSYS library were
It is worth noting that the set points temperatures of the
components are related to the optimum operating range of the
equipment, e.g. heat pump or adsorption chiller. In particular, the
Table 4
set point temperatures were selected in order to achieve the Working modes of the system for different seasons.
nominal capacities/performance of these components. Moreover,
Season
PVT set point temperature is maintained as low as possible in
order to enhance collectors efficiency and to provide a proper Winter Summer
equipment operation. However, in Section 5 a sensitivity analysis Working mode Space heating PVT þ HP e
is also presented in order to investigate the effect of the variation Space cooling e PVT þ ADS
of such set-point temperatures on the overall system energetic HP þ WE (as auxiliary device)
DHW PVT þ GB PVT þ GB
and economic results.
previously validated vs experimental data, as shown in TRNSYS Table 5

reference [78]. Other components are based on a data lookup PVT design parameters.
approach where the performance is obtained by manufacturer data. Parameter Symbol Value Unit
Therefore such components are intrinsically validated. Neverthe- PVT gross area APVT 20 m2
less, the validation of the overall performance of the system as a PVT fin efficiency factor fp 0.96 kJ/kg K
whole is not possible since, in authors' knowledge, a similar solar Fluid specific heat cf 4.1877 e
system has never been experimented. However, considering that all Collector plate absorptance aPVT 0.92 kJ/h m2 K
Collector loss coefficient Ul 16 e
the sub-models of the components were previously validated vs
Cover glass transmittance tg 0.89 e
experimental data and/or based on manufacturer's data, it may be Temperature coefficient of PV efficiency bPV 0.0032 e
concluded that the overall results are highly reliable due to Reference temperature for PV efficiency Tref 25
C
robustness and consolidated use of the models of all the compo- PVT packing factor: absorber area/PV area pf 0.8 e
nents of the system. PV electrical efficiency at Tref hPVT,ref 0.16 e
In the followings, for sake of brevity, only a brief description is

provided only for the PVT solar collector, the reversible heat pump the component included in the type 669 of the TRNSYS library. This
and the adsorption chiller; a detailed description of the models component is based on user-supplied data files, which consists of
used for the remaining components is available in the TRNSYS manufacturer catalog data, including heating/chilling capacity and
reference [78]: type 3b for the singe velocity pumps, type 110 for power consumption for the different operating conditions. The data
the variable speed pump P1, type 751 for GB, type 31 for the pipes, files were generated on the basis of the load value, the source
type 4d for TK1, type 340 for TK2, type 60f for TK3. temperatures and liquid mass flow rates. Thus, the model adopted
by the authors for the component is validated using manufacturer
3.1. PVT collector data. In particular, an AERMEC® WRL 41 reversible heat pump was
selected, with heating and cooling capacities equal to 8 and 7 kW,
The solar collector field consists of flat-plate photovoltaic ther- respectively.
mal solar collectors, PVT. Sheet-and-tube collectors [12,13,51] are The model is based on well-known thermodynamic equations.
considered: they consist of a conventional solar thermal device The heat pump COP in heating mode is given by:
including a PV film covering the absorber. PVT consists of a set of
components: a glass cover, an absorber encapsulating the PV film, NCheat
COPHP;heat ¼ (5)
flow channels for the cooling fluid and thermal insulation. The PVT P_ heat
collector was simulated by adopting the component Type 50
The thermal energy absorbed from the source liquid stream in
included in the TRNSYS library. Here, PVT collectors are simulated
heating mode is:
by using a modified version of flat-plate thermal collectors in which
a PV module has been added [78]. Moreover, constant values for the Q_ absor ¼ NCheat P_ heat (6)
overall energy loss coefficient, the glass transmittance and the
absorbance of the absorber [79] were assumed in the model. The The source and load outlet temperatures of the two liquid
model calculates PVT electrical efficiency as a function of the streams are calculated as follows:
temperature of the PV cell average temperature, Tcell:
h i Q_ absor
Tsource;out ¼ Tsource;in (7)
hPVT ¼ hPVT;ref pf 1 bPV Tcell Tref (1) m_ source cP source
The temperature of the cell is calculated through an energy NCheating

balance, accordingly to the modified Hottel eWillier e Bliss Tload;out ¼ Tload;in (8)
_
mload cP load
approach [78]. Thermal energy per unit area produced by the PVT is
calculated as follows: The governing equations in the chilling mode are similar to
those used for the heating mode, namely:
Ul* ¼ Ul tg Itot hPVT ðTcell Tamb Þ (2)
NCchill
COPHP;chill ¼ (9)
fp U * APVT
l
P_ chill
m_ f cf
1e
FR ¼ m_ f cf (3)
Ul* APVT Q_ rejec ¼ NCchill þ P_ chill (10)

Q_ u ¼ Itot FRtg aPVT Ul* Tf ;in Tamb (4) Q_ rejec
Tsource;out ¼ Tsource;in þ (11)
m_ source cP source
Finally, energy balances are used to calculate the outlet tem-
perature of the fluid (Tf,out), the PV average temperature (Tcell) and NCchill
the electric energy production. The PVT design parameters for the Tload;out ¼ Tload;in þ (12)
m_ load cP load
case study analyzed in the paper, taken from Ref. [21], are listed in
Table 5.
3.2. Reversible heat pump 3.3. Adsorption chiller
A reversible heat pump, HP, was used for space heating purposes An adsorption chiller, ADS, was used for space cooling purposes
and as space cooling auxiliary equipment. In particular, a single- in the summer season. In particular, a hot water powered adsorp-
stage water-to-water heat pump was considered [80]. In the tion chiller with solid desiccant zeolite matrix was used [80]. In the
model, the reversible heat pump was simulated by implementing model, this component was simulated by the component
represented by type 909. As for the heat pump, the component is

based on user-supplied data files, which consists of manufacturer Q_ chw
COPADS ¼ (19)
catalog data, including cooling capacity and the coefficient of per- Q_ aux þ Q_ hw
formance for the different operating conditions. The data files were
generated on the basis of the hot, chilled and cooling side inlet
temperatures and liquid mass flow rates. In particular, an InvenSor® 3.4. Energy savings and economic analysis
LTC 10 vario adsorption chiller was selected, with a cooling nominal
capacity equal to 10 kW. The energy analysis was performed evaluating the eventual
The thermodynamic model of the adsorption chiller is based on savings in terms of primary energy achieved by the PS (proposed
well-known equations. The thermal energy removed from the system), compared to a conventional system assumed as a refer-
chilled water is computed as: ence (RS). In order to compare the systems on the same base of final
primary energy demand, it was assumed that both PS and RS pro-
Q_ chw ¼ MIN Q_ capacity ; m_ chw cP;chw Tchw;in Tchw;set (13) duce the same amount of space heating, cooling and domestic hot
water. Moreover, according to the assumption that all the produced
where Tchw,set is the set point temperature for the outlet chilled electric energy by the collectors is totally consumed by the user, RS
water stream and is an input to the model. The adsorption chiller electric energy produced by the PVT field must be entirely provided
operates with the regeneration of a desiccant matrix, the energy by the public grid.
required for this process is: The reference system was assumed to include a natural gas
boiler for DHW production (boiler system efficiency,
Q_ chw
hRS,DHW ¼ 0.85), a reversible air-to-air heat pump for space heating
Q_ hw ¼ (14) and cooling (coefficient of performance in heating and cooling
COPADS
mode COPRS,heat ¼ 3.0 and COPRS,chill ¼ 2.5, respectively). Moreover,
In addition, adsorption chiller operation requires that thermal in such reference system, the public grid is used for matching the
energy must be rejected by the cooling water stream. This energy electric demand of the building (average national electrical effi-
flow is calculated as follows: ciency is hRS,el ¼ 0.46) [81]. Thus, the primary energy saving ach-
ieved by the PS is calculated as:
Q_ cw ¼ Q_ chw þ Q_ hw þ Q_ aux (15)
DPE ¼ PERS PEPS

QDHW Qheat Qchill
PERS ¼ þ þ
hRS;DHW COPRS;heat hRS;el COPRS;chill hRS;el (20)
EPVT;el þ EP5;el QDHW;GB Qheat Qchill;HP Qchill;ADS
PEPS ¼ þ þ þ þ
hRS;el hRS;DHW COPPS;HP;heat hRS;el COPPS;HP;chill hRS;el COPRS;chill hRS;el
where Q_ aux is the auxiliary energy required to run the pumps and Note that, the electric energy consumption of P1 and P2 was
controllers of the chiller. Once all the energy flow terms are defined neglected because these values are two orders of magnitude
(hot, chilled and cooling sides of the adsorption chiller), the outlet lower than the electric energy produced by the PVT. Conversely,
water streams temperatures can be calculated as: the P5 electric energy consumption must be considered because
8
>
> T if Q_ capacity m_ chw cP;chw Tchw;in Tchw;set
< chw;set
Tchw;out ¼ Q_ capacity (16)
>
> if Q_ capacity < m_ chw cP;chw Tchw;in Tchw;set
: Tchw;in _
mchw cP;chw
it is not negligible with respect to the PVT electric energy

Q_ cw production.
Tcw;out ¼ Tcw;in þ (17) An economic analysis was also implemented in the simula-
m_ cw cP;cw
tion tool, calculating investment costs and economic savings.
Cost functions for all the components of the system were
Q_ hw introduced in order to calculate their capital costs. In order to
Thw;out ¼ Thw;in (18) estimate the components costs, the cost functions were derived
_
mhw cP;hw
from manufacturers’ data, on the basis of the selected capacities
Finally, the coefficient of performance is calculated as follows: (Table 3).
Note that in the previous equation, COP of HP is accurately

calculated on the basis of the dynamic simulations as the ratio
between the annual cooling/heating energy and the electrical one.
Conversely, for the Reference System, RS, average yearly COP are
considered.
The economic performance of the proposed system is evaluated
using the SPB (Simple Pay-Back period) index, defined as follows
CPS;tot CRS;tot
SPB ¼ (27)
Jtot
Fig. 4. 3D model of the one-floor building considered in the simulations. where CRS,tot is the total cost of the reference system, assumed equal
to the cost of the reversible heat pump incremented by 20%. This
cost estimation was achieved analyzing manufacturers cost data for
PVT collectors and tank costs are evaluated as follows [44]: an HVAC (heating, ventilating and air conditioning) system based
on reversible heat pumps of cooling and heating capacity similar to
CPVT ¼ 600APVT (21) those involved in the proposed system.
In order to consider a possible public funding strategy for the
installation of a new HVAC system in a residential building a capital
Ctank ¼ 494:9 þ 808:0Vtank (22)
investment subsidy equal to the 50% of the total capital cost for
The reversible heat pump cost was obtained by manufacturers' both RS and PS was considered. This kind of subsidy is common in
data, in the range of 5e35 kW; thus, it is evaluated as follows: Italy for new HVAC systems. Under these conditions, the Simple Pay
Back index is calculated as follows:
2
CHP ¼ 4:7108PHP þ 139:69PHP þ 3845:7 (23)
0:5 CPS;tot CRS;tot
SPBcis ¼ (28)
The specific cost per kW of cooling power of the adsorption Jtot
chiller was estimated in 500 V/kWcool [82], thus the cost of the
thermally driven chiller is:
4. Case study
CADS ¼ 500Qchill;ADS (24)

A base case study was developed for the system, using Meteo-
For the cost of Balance of Plant components required in the norm weather data of Naples, South of Italy. The building coupled
system (pipes, pumps, valves, controllers, etc.), a 20% of the overall with the SAHP system is a one-floor apartment located at the top
cost estimated for PVT, tanks, HP and ADS was assumed. Thus, the floor of residential building. The building includes a flat roof and 4
total capital cost of the proposed system was estimated as: zones (Fig. 4). The house floor and roof have an area of 100 m2 and
the height is 2.70 m; the glazed area per each facade is 3.60 m2.
CPS;tot ¼ 1:2ðCPVT þ Ctank þ CHP þ CADS Þ (25) Moreover, the house is divided into four rooms with independent
fan coils that provide the required space heating or cooling energy.
For the RS, the following operating costs were assumed: a cost of It was assumed that during the heating season space heating
0.20 V/kWhel for the electric energy; a unit cost of 0.80 V/Sm3 operates from 7 to 11 am and from 2 pm to 8 pm, while space
(referred to a lower heating value of 9.59 kWh/Sm3) for the natural cooling is activated from 8 am to 6 pm in the cooling season. In this
gas; differences in maintenance costs between PS and RS were paper, the Google SketchUP tool for designing 3D buildings was
neglected. Moreover, as mentioned before, it was assumed that the used in order to implement the case study building model. Thus,
building consumes all the electric energy produced by the PVTsystem, the first step of the work focused on the implementation of building
also due to a net-metering contract with the public grid manager. model in the TRNSYS software. In particular, the model was im-
The operating costs for the PS are not negligible and they are only ported in TRNSYS by using the TRNSYS3d plug-in Ref. [83]. Fig. 4
due to the operation of the electrical devices, whereas the savings shows the building 3D model, whereas Table 6 presents trans-
due to the following energy flows were considered in the economic mittances of building envelope components. In particular, each
analysis: i) electric energy produced by the PVT and self-consumed component (wall, roof and floor) was modeled with a set of layers,
by the building; ii) electric energy savings due to a higher COP of not reported here for sake of brevity.
the water-to-water heat pump with respect to the air-to-air one, for Furthermore, the assumed building user DHW demand is re-
both heating and cooling modes; iii) thermal energy produced by ported in Fig. 5.
the PVT and used for the DHW production. So, the annual savings of The main design and operating parameters of the proposed
the PS with respect to the RS were calculated as: system are reported in Table 3. In particular, for the PVT a tilt of
Jtot ¼ Cop;RS Cop;PS

QDHW Qheat Qchill
Cop;RS ¼ j þ j þ j
LHVNG hRS;DHW NG COPRS;heat el COPRS;chill el (26)
QDHW;GB Qheat Qchill;HP Qchill;ADS
Cop;PS ¼ EPVT;el þ EP5;el jel þ j þ j þ j þ j
LHVNG hRS;DHW NG COPPS;HP;heat el COPPS;HP;chill el COPRS;chill el
Table 6 appropriately simulate controllers operation, since the time step is

Transmittances of building envelope components. representative of controllers sampling time. In addition, small time
Element Value [W/(m2 K)] steps are recommended in order to promote convergence in
External wall 0.830
capacitive components (e.g. tanks) and to improve results accuracy.
External roof 0.816 The dynamic behavior of the system is presented in terms of
Floor 1.048 temperature and energy profiles for two days, representative of
Internal wall 2.856 winter and summer system operation. The variation of the most
Window 2.830
important energy parameters during the year is presented on a
weekly base. The yearly results are presented with an annual
30 and a field area of 20 m2 area were assumed. The selection of integration for the base case. The yearly results are also presented
collector slope is consistent with the data reported in works for additional two locations, in particular the system simulation
[73,74,84]. In fact, using Meteonorm data for Naples [78], the was performed for the weather data of Palermo and Milan in order
optimal slope for an annual operation (without tracking system) is to investigate the system performance in different climatic
found at about 30 . For sake of brevity, only the main parameters conditions.
used in the simulations are reported in Tables 3 and 5 due to the Finally, a parametric sensitivity analysis and a thermo-economic
high number of components required to run the simulation. optimization were performed. In particular, the first analysis was
Moreover, a parametric design of the system components was performed in order to study the dependence of the performance
performed, as a consequence some of the design parameters and economical profitability of the PVT system as a function of main
shown in the previous table are related to each other. In particular, system parameters.
the implemented algorithm selects automatically the capacities of
the components on the basis of some main system parameters. For 5. Results
example, the PVT field area determines the P1 capacity, TK1 and
TK2 volumes because the parameters determining the size of 5.1. Winter day
these components are referred to the unit of PVT field area
(Table 3). It is worth noting that the capacities of the system The selected representative winter day of the daily results
components were selected in order to cover all the heating and provided by the simulation in the heating season is January 27th
cooling demand of the building and a part of the DHW demand all (from 600 h to 624 h). Fig. 6 shows the main temperatures in the
year long. system for the selected day, where the operation of the system is
For each simulation, the TRNSYS model provides several data, outlined. In particular, it is clearly shown the operation of the
such as temperature, load profiles, and integrated values of the controllers managing the pump P1, mixers (M1 and M2) and
same variables of a fixed time basis (for example, the weekly, diverters (D1 and D2) installed in order to manage the SCF flow to
monthly or yearly energy demand). As mentioned above, the dy- TK1 and to TK2 internal heat exchanger. It is worth noting that none
namic simulation tool developed in this work allows the use of operation occurs in the system until 7 am, because there is no
whatever time basis (seconds, days, weeks, months or one year) to demand for space heating or DHW.
integrate the results. In particular, this feature is used for a better During the night hours (from 0.00 am to 7.00 am) there is no
interpretation of the results because oscillations achieved during solar thermal energy produced by the PVT collectors (QPVT) and
the dynamic operation are mitigated with the integration process. both tanks (TK1 and TK2) are not heated. Therefore, a decrease of
The system simulation was performed for one year (from 0 h to the temperature inside such tanks (TTK1,top and TTK2,top) is reported,
8760 h) and the time step was 0.05 h. The relative tolerance due to their thermal losses. At 7 am, the sensor of the radiation
convergence and integration values of 0.001 were adopted. In detects irradiance higher than 10 W/m2; as a consequence, P1 is
particular, specifying a relative convergence tolerance indicates activated and the SCF starts to circulate within the solar loop. Thus,
that TRNSYS should not move on to the next time step until all PVT outlet flow temperature (TPVT,out) rises due to the solar thermal
connected outputs are changing by less than one-tenth of one gain.
percent of their absolute value and all integrated outputs are At the same time, TK1 top temperature decreases below 20 C.
changing by one-tenth of one percent of their absolute value. In Thus, according to the system control strategy, during the first
addition, a small time step (0.05 h) is required in order to hours of the morning SCF is pumped from the bottom of TK1 to the
Fig. 5. Daily DHW demand for the simulated building.

Fig. 6. Temperatures, winter day 27th January (600e624 h).
PVT field by means of P1. In this phase, inlet PVT temperature is temperature is not reached due to the low PVT outlet temperature
equal to the bottom TK1 temperature (TTK1,bottom), thus the solar and to the DHW demand. Therefore, the solar thermal energy
thermal energy produced by the PVT field is supplied to TK1. This supplied to TK2 is not enough to produce DHW exclusively by solar
operation occurs until its top temperature reaches the fixed set- energy, thus the auxiliary heater is activated again in order to
point temperature (25 C). Moreover, during this operation, PVT provide DHW at 45 C.
set point temperature is set to 30 C by the control system. During the morning, TK3 top temperature decreases due to tank
At the same time, TK2 top temperature continues to decrease, thermal losses and FC (fan coil) system heat demand. Therefore,
due to DHW demand and thermal losses. As a consequence, TK2 just after 10:00 am, the temperature at the top of TK3 drops below
temperature is not high enough to produce DHW using only solar the lower deadband (45 C); so, HP is again activated in order to rise
energy, thus the auxiliary heater is activated in order to provide the temperature to the set point temperature (47 C). Such decrease
DHW at 45 C. of TK3 temperature is due to the high space heating demand of the
As previously mentioned, the building space heating system is building in the morning hours. In the same period, TK1 is still
activated at 7:00 am. At the same time, TK3 temperature (TTK3,top) supplied by solar energy, however, its top temperature drops to
is about 45 C, due to the thermal losses occurred in the night. approximatively 19.5 C due to the thermal energy supply to the HP
Thus, at 7:00 am the reversible heat pump is turned on and heats source side. Furthermore, just before 7:00 p.m. the HP is again
the TK3 up to the set point temperature (47 C). Therefore, TK1 top activated in order to rise the TK3 top temperature to the 47 C set
temperature decreases due to the HF supply to the source side of point. Moreover, from 4:00 pm to 9.00 pm the TK2 top temperature
HP. decreases mainly due to the DHW demand of building users. It is
TK1 reaches the set point temperature approximatively just worth noting that, the PVT outlet temperature do not exceeds 70 C,
before 12:00 am and during the previous part of day TK1 top thus the operation of HE is not required.
temperature remains below 25 C and no solar thermal energy is The system energy flows can be also used to explain the dy-
supplied to TK2. Therefore, the heat produced by the PVT field is namic behavior of the proposed system. In particular, energy flow
entirely delivered to TK1, until its top temperature reaches the fixed rate trends are shown in Fig. 7. The trend of the solar radiation
set-point temperature (25 C). When TK1 is thermally loaded, D2 (IPVT) significantly affects the profiles of the heat and power (QPVT
deviates the SCF to the TK2 internal heat exchanger, for DHW and PPVT) produced by the PVT field, obviously the power pro-
production. At the same time, the control system sets the PVT set duced by the system is directly connected to the solar radiation.
point temperature to 55 C. Moreover, the thermal powers supplied to TK1 and TK2 (QTK1 and
The DHW tank is supplied with SCF approximately until just QTK2) are also shown. Note that, during the first part of the day,
after 4.00 pm; during this operation the TK3 tank set point thermal energy produced by the PVT collectors is completely
Fig. 7. Thermal and electric flow rates, winter day 27th January (600e624 h).
supplied to TK1. Then, during the remaining hours of the day, solar 11:15 am the temperature at the top of TK1 increases to the set-
energy supplies TK2. In the same figure, the activation of HP is also point value, 65 C. Then, TK1 is thermally loaded and the control
clearly represented, showing that, for the selected day, space system switches D1 and D2 flow to the TK2 internal heat exchanger
heating demand occurs in the morning and late evening hours. It in order to produce DHW. In the same period, the inertial tank
is also worth noting that the thermal power supplied by HP temperature increases due to the building cooling demand. Thus,
(QHP,heat) during the TK3 heating decreases due to the TK1 top just before 12:00 am the activation of ADS is performed and the TK3
temperature decrease. temperature is lowered from 14 C to 12 C. This implies a decrease
of TK1 temperature to 60 C approximatively at 12:20 am. As a
consequence, the control system switches SCF flow to the source
5.2. Summer day side of TK1 in order to heat it again to 65 C. Therefore, from
12:20 am to about 1:10 pm the solar thermal energy is supplied to
As an example of the daily results provided by the simulation in TK1 instead of TK2. Only when TK1 temperature reaches again
the cooling season, the representative summer day of June 19th 65 C, SCF can be supplied to TK2. Note that, the described opera-
(from 4032 h to 4056 h) was selected. Fig. 8 shows the main tem- tion of TK1 and TK2 heating is repeated again during the day, in
perature profiles for the selected day. Here, it is clearly shown that particular in the early evening hours. It is worth noting that, during
the solar loop is activated at 5:00 am. Obviously, the solar loop in the considered day, TK2 top temperature does not reach the set
summer is activated earlier with respect to winter case due to the point value of 50 C, thus GB activation is activated in order to
higher sunlight hours. match DHW demand.
In the early morning hours, TK1 top temperature is lower than In Fig. 8 it is clearly shown as the temperature at the top of TK3
60 C. Thus, SCF is pumped from P1 to TK1 (across D1, D2, M1 and slightly increases after ADS or HP deactivation due to the FC system
M2). In the same period, solar radiation is not high enough to rise operation. Moreover, during the space cooling period (8 ame6 pm),
TK1 top temperature to the desired set point (65 C). Moreover, TK1 TK3 top temperature oscillates mainly between 12 and 14 C, in
top temperature decreases due to thermal losses. order to properly provide the required inlet temperature to the FC
The space cooling system is activated at 8:00 am, as a conse- system. Only when ADS cannot be supplied by solar thermal energy
quence the inertial tank temperature (TTK3,top) increases until it (TK1 temperature <60 C), TK3 temperature rises to 16 C. In this
reaches the value of 14 C, approximately at 8:15 am. Then, the case, to prevent a further temperature increase the reversible heat
adsorption chiller turns on and supplies chilled water CHW (chilled pump is activated in cooling mode.
water) to cool down the TK3 to the desired temperature (12 C). In As for the winter day, the dynamic behavior of the system can be
this operation, CW is supplied the cooling side of ADS by means of also and better interpreted observing the heat flows shown in
P5 and the cooling circuit mixers and diverters. At the same time, Fig. 9. Here, the system operation discussed above is clearly
TK1 top temperature decreases to 55 C, minimum allowable represented.
temperature for ADS operation. Thus, the control system turns ADS Note that, that the thermal power produced by the PVT collec-
off and as a consequence there is no thermal power supply from tors increases when the TK2 internal heat exchanger is supplied.
TK1. After the ADS deactivation, TK3 top temperature increases due This occurs because the outlet TK2 internal heat exchanger is lower
to the FC system cooling demand. When this temperature reaches with respect to the TK1 bottom one, as a consequence the PVT heat
16 C, HP is activated in order to match the cooling demand. In this exchange is higher. Furthermore, the chilling power supplied by
operation, D4 and M5 split CW to the condenser side of HP in order ADS (QADS,chill) is more sensitive to the temperature variation of the
to reject the produced heat. Therefore, the inertial tank tempera- thermal source with respect to the HP one (QHP,chill). Moreover,
ture is lowered to the set point value of 12 C. This takes about during the system operation no heat is dissipated by HE because
45 min. the storage capacity of the proposed system is not fulfilled, thus the
During the morning hours, TK2 top temperature is lower than outlet PVT temperature is always lower than 70 C (Fig. 8).
45 C due to DHW demand of the previous day, and decreases due
to thermal losses. Thus, GB activation is mandatory required in
order to match the DHW demand. 5.3. Weekly analysis
After the ADS deactivation, approximatively at 8:40 am, TK1 top
temperature starts to increase due to the solar thermal energy The proposed system was also analyzed with the integration of
supplied by the PVT collectors. Therefore, approximately at the results on a weekly basis in order to show the variation of
Fig. 8. Temperatures, summer day 19th June (4032e4056 h).

Fig. 9. Thermal and electric flow rates, summer day 19th June (4032e4056 h).
energy flows and the system performance during all year. In respectively) and the total solar thermal energy provided by the
particular, this analysis was performed for a better understanding PVT. In winter and summer, solar thermal energy produced by the
of the results due to the mitigation of the fluctuations of the energy PVT collectors is mainly supplied to the solar tank TK1, in order to
flow trends shown in the previous subsection of the paper. satisfy the thermal energy demand of the reversible heat pump and
In Fig. 10 thermal and electrical energy flows (QPVT and PPVT) the adsorption chiller, in winter and summer respectively. Note that
related to the PVT field for each week are reported. Here it is clearly in week 2 the thermal energy produced by the solar field is
shown that system performance is significantly affected by the completely supplied to TK1, because the solar radiation is low and
different availability of solar radiation in summer and winter. the heat demand is high. Moreover, during the summer period the
Solar thermal energy supplied by both tanks (QTK1 and QTK2) and heat dissipated by HE is null, due to the high demand of thermal
the thermal energy dissipated (QHE) are also plotted in Fig. 10. It is energy of the adsorption chiller and DHW tank. In particular, the
clearly shown that the last one is negligible in the winter period maximum DHW production is achieved during the intermediate
with respect to the solar energy supplied by both tanks, because seasons due to high thermal energy produced by the PVT field and
PVT outlet temperature is often below 70 C and the solar energy is to low system cooling and heating demands.
completely supplied to TK1 and TK2. Only in intermediate seasons The operation of the chilling equipment is reported in Fig. 12 as
(when space heating/cooling demand is very scarce or null), HE utilization factors. It is defined as the ratio between thermal energy
dissipates the solar thermal energy. Chilled energy supplied in supplied to the user in terms of chilling water by each component
summer by the adsorption chiller (QADS,chill) is higher than the heat (HP and ADS) and the total one. In the first week of cooling season
pump one (QHP,chill), this is due to the strategy adopted for HP operation the thermal energy demand of the fan coil system is
activation as backup system in order to satisfy the cooling demand. almost totally supplied by the reversible heat pump. In fact, a small
Space cooling energy is demanded from mid-June to mid- amount of solar thermal heat is provided to TK1 in this week, thus a
September and it is higher than the heating one. negligible thermal energy is supplied to ADS. In all the remaining
The utilization of the solar thermal energy among the thermal weeks of cooling season the utilization factor of the ADS is higher
devices, TK1, TK2 and HE, is better shown in Fig. 11. Here, the solar than the HP one. Note that the utilization of ADS is higher in the
utilization factor (f) for the three thermal devices is reported. The firsts and lasts weeks of cooling season, instead of the central ones.
solar utilization factors is defined as the ratio between solar ther- In the central weeks, solar energy availability is high (Fig. 10),
mal energy supplied to each component (TK1, TK2 and HE, however the adsorption chiller contribution decreases due to high
Fig. 10. Thermal and electrical energies, weekly analysis between 1st and 52 nd week of the year.
Fig. 11. Solar energy utilization factor between 1st and 52 nd week of the year.
Fig. 12. Utilization factor of ADS and HP between 22nd and 44th week of the year (cooling season).
space cooling demand. As a consequence, the reversible heat pump Table 7

is often activated as a chiller in order to satisfy the user demand. In Annual results: thermal and electrical energies.
the last weeks of the cooling season, the cooling demand is entirely Parameter Value (kWh/year)
supplied by ADS because of the middle season climatic conditions Naples Palermo Milan
that produce a low space cooling demand.
IPVT 3.46Eþ04 3.75Eþ04 2.71Eþ04
QPVT 1.34Eþ04 1.44Eþ04 9.87Eþ03
5.4. Yearly results PPVT 3.65Eþ03 3.90Eþ03 2.92Eþ03
QHE 1.18Eþ03 1.74Eþ03 4.89Eþ02
The results of the annual simulations (from 0 h to 8760 h) for the QTK1 6.24Eþ03 6.45Eþ03 5.68Eþ03
QDHW,sol 4.89Eþ03 5.15Eþ03 2.96Eþ03
base case are summarized in Table 7, where both thermal and
QDHW 8.92Eþ03 8.92Eþ03 8.92Eþ03
electrical energies are shown. Moreover, in such table annual re- QHP,heat 1.94Eþ03 5.60Eþ02 4.84Eþ03
sults for the weather conditions of Palermo and Milan are also PHP,heat 4.61Eþ02 1.24Eþ02 1.70Eþ03
presented. According to the system behavior discussed in previous QHP,chill 8.03Eþ02 1.12Eþ03 3.51Eþ02
PHP,chill 1.37Eþ02 1.92Eþ02 6.01Eþ01
sections, the energy supplied to the building for space cooling
PHP 5.99Eþ02 3.16Eþ02 1.76Eþ03
(Qchill,req) is higher than that needed for space heating (Qheat,req). QADS,hot 3.85Eþ03 5.14Eþ03 2.00Eþ03
This occurs for Naples and Palermo because the weather conditions QADS,chill 2.10Eþ03 2.81Eþ03 1.09Eþ03
for these two locations are similar. Conversely, for Milan the QTK3,heat 1.68Eþ03 2.88Eþ02 4.57Eþ03
heating demand is higher than the space cooling one due to colder QTK3,chill 2.78Eþ03 3.81Eþ03 1.32Eþ03
Qheat,req 1.38Eþ03 1.85Eþ02 4.12Eþ03
climatic conditions compared to Naples and Palermo. Moreover,
Qchill,req 2.71Eþ03 3.72Eþ03 1.28Eþ03
Table 7 shows that solar thermal energy utilized by the system is PE 1.45Eþ04 1.52Eþ04 9.84Eþ03
lower than the one demanded by the user in term of space heating/
cooling and DHW demands. In fact, only a part of the cooling ad
DHW demand (QDHW) is supplied by solar thermal energy availability of the solar total radiation. Solar thermal energy sup-
(QDHW,sol). This condition enhances the full utilization of the solar plied by TK1 (QTK1) do not show significant variations among the
energy. three locations, ranging around 5e6 MWh. Moreover, HP electric
As expected, PVT thermal energy (QPVT) produced is higher in consumption (PHP) is mainly due to space heating operation
Palermo and Naples with respect to Milan due to the different because in summer the heat pump is only activated as backup
Table 8 In Table 8, an investment cost of the proposed system of 27.1 kV

Comparative analysis of efficiency, economic parameters and annual energy results is reported. The economic analysis returns a SPB period of about 16
for the cities of Naples, Palermo and Milan.
years, for the system localization in Naples. This value was obtained
Parameter Naples Palermo Milan Unit with a saving of about 1.41 kV/year, an initial cost for the reference
hth,PVT 0.387 0.383 0.364 e system of 4.15 kV and without any public funding. In order to
hel,PVT 0.105 0.104 0.107 e consider a capital investment subsidy (similar to that currently
fsol,TK1 0.466 0.449 0.576 e adopted in Italy for renewable energy and energy efficiency sys-
fsol,TK2 0.365 0.359 0.300 e
tems, also including solar energy and heat pumps) a 50% discount
fsol,HE 0.088 0.121 0.050 e
COPHP,heat 4.214 4.502 2.838 e value was considered for both PS and RS. In this case, the SPB de-
COPHP,chill 5.841 5.841 5.841 e creases and it halves to about 8 years. Obviously, SPB period is
COPADS 0.546 0.547 0.544 e lower in Palermo due to the higher savings achievable with a higher
fchill,ADS 0.724 0.715 0.756 e
radiation with respect to Naples. However, SPB without incentives
fchill,HP 0.276 0.285 0.244 e
Jtot 1.41Eþ03 1.52Eþ03 9.39Eþ02 V/year
remains high (more than 15 years). Finally, the low savings ach-
CPS,tot 2.71Eþ04 2.71Eþ04 2.71Eþ04 V ieved by the system in Milan implies a very high SPB period, even
SPB 16.26 15.06 24.43 years when a capital investment subsidy of 50% is considered. Thus, this
SPBca 8.13 7.53 12.22 years kind of system is not economically feasible in climatic conditions
similar to those of the city of Milan, where the heat demand is high
device. Furthermore, yearly demand of DHW in the building is and the solar irradiation is low. In fact, for such city the simple
covered by more than 50% by the solar collectors in Naples and geothermal heat pump, coupled with the aquifer, represents the
Palermo, conversely in Milan the solar contribution to the DHW most favorable option.
demand is only about 30%. The high utilization factor of the avail-
able solar energy all over the year leads to a significant primary 5.5. Parametric analysis
energy saving (PE), equal to 14.3 MWh/year in the base case study.
The main performance and economic parameters of the pro- A parametric analysis was also developed, in order to complete
posed system are summarized in Table 8. the study of the proposed system. In particular, the sensitivity of the
PVT thermal efficiency (hth,PVT), calculated with respect to the performance on the most significant design variables and/or
total solar radiation, is between 37 and 39% for the three localities. boundary conditions was analyzed, when all the remaining pa-
The efficiency is higher in Naples and Palermo because the average rameters remain fixed. The following parameters were chosen on
ambient temperature is higher compared to Milan, thus the ther- order to perform the parametric analysis: PVT field area (APVT), TK1
mal losses of the PVT collectors are lower. The low set point tem- tank specific volume per unit of PVT area (Vtank,PVT), flow rate of P1
peratures of the PVT collectors (30 C, 55 C and 70 C, depending pump per unit of PVT, area (qP1), set point temperature of PVT in
on the operating conditions) leads to an electrical efficiency more winter (Tset,PVT,wint), set point temperature of PVT in summer
than 10%. The electric efficiency is higher in Milan with respect to (Tset,PVT,summ), TK1 set point temperature in winter (Tset,TK1,wint),
Naples and Palermo due to a lower average PVT collector temper- TK1 set point temperature in summer (Tset,TK1,summ), TK3 set point
ature related to colder climatic conditions. This trend is opposite temperature in winter (Tset,TK3,wint), TK3 set point temperature in
with respect to the one shown for the thermal efficiency. Further- summer (Tset,TK3,summ). The most important design parameter of a
more, the total energy efficiency of the PVT system oscillates from solar system is the field area, such parameter is related to the en-
47 to 49% for the three cities used in the simulation. ergy production. This is outlined in Fig. 13. Here, the thermal and
Moreover, Table 8 also reports TK1, TK2 and HE solar utilization electric energy flows produced by the solar field and the primary
factors (fTK1, fTK2 and fHE). Solar energy produced in the year is energy savings are directly proportional to the solar collector area.
mainly supplied to TK1, in order to supply HP and ADS in winter and The graph also shows the solar thermal energy supplied by TK1,
summer, respectively. For the base case, the energy dissipated by TK2 and dissipated by HE. The amount of solar heat delivered to the
HE is lower than 9%. This percentage is higher in Palermo due to tank TK1 and TK2 is almost constant for PVT area higher than
higher irradiation in summer period and lower in Milan due to the 40 m2. Only a slight increase is detected. Thus, for PVT area higher
lower availability of solar energy source. Considering the thermal than 40 m2 a maximum utilization of solar thermal heat is achieved
losses and the heat dissipated by HE, more than 80% of the solar by the system. Furthermore, only a slight increase of the thermal
thermal energy produced by PVT collectors is supplied by TK1 and energy supplied by TK1 to HP is reported for PVT area from 10 to
TK2, for all the localities. Furthermore, the space cooling demand is 30 m2, over this last value the energy supplied is almost constant.
mainly supplied by the adsorption chiller. In fact, the utilization This occurs because the energy required on the source side of HP in
factor of ADS is higher than 70% in all the locations considered. winter is already satisfied even in case of low PVT area. Moreover,
The yearly mean COP of the water-to-water heat pump for space the thermal energy supplied to the hot side of ADS (QADS,hot) in-
heating (COPHP,heat) is above 4, for Naples and Palermo. This is due creases significantly only from 10 to 40 m2, for higher values of PVT
to the TK1 top temperature, that is relatively high (20e25 C) when area the energy supplied is almost constant. It is worth noting that
the HP source side is supplied in the heating season. It is worth the energy dissipated by HE increases proportionally for PVT area
noting that the COP of the reversible heat pump is relatively low higher than 40 m2, assuming the same trend of the thermal energy
(2.835) in the operational conditions of Milan, because in winter produced by PVT collectors. Therefore, over this threshold, solar
solar irradiation is scarce in order to maintain TK1 top temperature energy supplied by TK1 and TK2 is constant and the thermal energy
within the fixed optimal deadbands. In the summer period, the COP produced by the system is mainly dissipated. Thus, there is no
of the same HP, operating as a chiller, (COPHP,chill) is above 5, due to energetic convenience to increase the PVT area to values higher
operation of the aquifer well that supplies cooling water to the than 40 m2.
source side of HP. Moreover, the COP of the adsorption chiller The variations of the main system energetic and economic
(COPADS) is near the nominal one (0.60), for all the locations. This performance parameters as a function of the PVT area are shown in
occurs because the hot side inlet temperature of ADS in summer is Fig. 14. Thermal efficiency is sensitive to the PVT area: higher
maintained mostly between 60 and 65 C, for a proper performance thermal efficiency for lower PVT field sizes would be achieved, due
of the thermally powered chiller. to the lower mean temperature of the SCF entering the collectors.
Fig. 13. Parametric analysis: energies, solar collector area.
Fig. 14. Parametric analysis: efficiency and economic parameters, solar collector area.
On the contrary, the electric efficiency is scarcely sensible to the becomes almost constant, since DHW is almost completely sup-
PVT field size: only a slight decrease can be observed, due to the plied by the solar thermal energy. Moreover, the increase of ther-
increase of the mean PVT inlet temperature with a PVT area mal energy produced by the PVT collectors and not utilized by the
increment. building (see Fig. 13), determines an increase of the solar utilization
In Fig. 14, the previously defined solar utilization factors factor related to the heat dissipation by HE.
(referred to TK1, TK2 and HE), are also shown. An increase of the Furthermore, the COP related to HP heating mode increases for
PVT area implies a lower solar energy utilization factor for TK1. This larger PVT solar fields, due to TK1 higher average temperature. In
is due to a constant space heating and cooling demand and to a particular, a significant increase from 10 to 40 m2 is reported.
consequent constant solar heat supplied by TK1 for higher PVT area. Obviously, COP of HP in chilling mode is not reported, because it is
For TK2 tank, such factor rapidly moving from 10 m2 to 30 m2; then, independent of the field size, only depending on the operation of
a decrease rate appears. This one for a PVT area higher than 40 m2 the aquifer well. Moreover, the COP of the adsorption chiller is
Fig. 15. Parametric analysis: energies, specific TK1 volume.

almost constant at different PVT area values, due to the constant winter. Conversely, COP of the adsorption chiller decreases for
operation conditions of the thermally driven chiller (optimal inlet higher TK1 set point temperatures in summer, according to the data
hot side temperature) ensured by the control system. sheet of the producer. Moreover, SPB period is sensitive to the
Fig. 14 shows the Simple Pay-back period, SPB. In particular, the summer TK3 set point temperature decrease; this is due to the
minimum SPB is obtained for a PVT area of 30 m2. However, in that lower solar heat supplied to TK2. As a consequence, lower savings
case SPB is too high (about 15 years) and the system is not by the solar production of DHW are achieved for lower TK3 set
economically profitable. In case of a capital investment subsidy of point temperature.
50%, this value is halved.
Fig. 15 shows the parametric analysis as a function of the ratio 5.6. Thermoeconomic optimization
between TK1 volume and PVT area. As a consequence, an increase
of this parameter determines a corresponding increase of the solar In order to complete the study, a thermo-economic optimi-
thermal storage capacity of TK1. Results show that this parameter zation of the case study for the city of Naples is also performed.
scarcely affects the energy flows involved in the system. It is worth The analysis was implemented using TRNOPT plug-in tool
noting that the thermal energy produced by the PVT field decreases included in TRNSYS package, where complex mathematical al-
in case of higher values of this parameter, due to a higher PVT inlet gorithms are adopted in order to perform the optimization.
temperature. In particular, this is due to a larger energy supply from TRNOPT tool is designed to link the optimization algorithm and
SCF to PVT field by TK1; TK1 mean bottom temperature is higher the dynamic simulation. In particular, this tool uses the algo-
compared to the TK2 internal heat exchanger outlet one. In fact, the rithms included in the GENOPT package developed by Lawrence
produced PVT electric energy also decreases with higher PVT area. Berkeley National Laboratory [85]. For this analysis, the Gener-
Moreover, the solar energy supplied by TK2 decreases due to the alized Search Method was used for the optimization process. The
higher thermal energy supplied to TK1 and to the lower PVT ther- performed method avoids the calculation of partial derivatives in
mal output, both achieved for TK1 volume increment. Results show the optimal value calculation procedure. In particular, the Hoo-
that both electrical and thermal efficiencies of the PVT are scarcely keeJeeves [86] modified algorithm was performed. The structure
sensitive to the increase of TK1 volumes (Fig. 16). According to the of this algorithm avoids the achievement of local minimum
energy flows reported in Fig. 15, TK1 solar utilization factor in- points and takes into account the TRNSYS solving technique for
creases. Thus, the utilization factor of ADS increases too. As a the approximation of the objective function. This robust opti-
consequence, HP utilization for space cooling decreases. Further- mization method allows one to perform realistic computational
more, as shown in Fig. 16, the COP of the heat pump heating mode is times and to obtain the optimum value in a relatively low
almost constant at TK1 specific volume area higher than 50 l/m2, number of simulations.
only a slightly decrease is detected for lower TK1 specific volumes. The optimization was performed considering only the main
This is due to the lower storage capacity of TK1 that causes a lower design variables, namely: PVT field area, TK1 specific volume, TK3
temperature of the tank in case of low radiation. Furthermore, SPB volume and TK1 winter/summer set point temperatures. Moreover,
period increases linearly with the increase of TK1 volume, due to the SPB was selected as optimization objective function. Fig. 17
the increase of the capital cost along with a decrease of the pro- shows SPB and independent variables as a function of optimiza-
duced thermal and electric energy. tion iteration. The optimization process converged in about 100
In addition, the performance of the system as a function of the iterations. Results of the thermo-economic optimization are
specific flow rate of P1 pump was analyzed. The results show that consistent with the ones obtained by the sensitivity analysis. The
the system performance is scarcely affected by the variation of this optimum SPB value of 14.38 years is obtained for a PVT area of
parameter over 25 kg/(h m2). Moreover, the heat dissipated by HE 24.25 m2, TK1 specific volume of 50.00 l/m2, TK1 winter and
increases for low specific flow rates of P1 (lover than 20 kg/(h m2)), summer set-point temperature of 20.00 and 65.00 C, respectively,
due to the recurrent high PVT peak outlet temperature. The para- and a TK3 volume of 1.00 m3. Note that in Fig. 17, the TK3 volume
metric analysis plots as a function of the specific flow rate of P1 are optimization variable is not reported because during the optimi-
omitted for sake of brevity. zation process the variation of such parameter is negligible.
Moreover, Table 9 shows that system performance is almost Moreover, it is worth noting that, the optimization algorithm was
independent with respect to the variation of set point temperatures performed limiting the lower value of TK1 specific volume to
of PVT, TK1 and TK3, in winter and summer. It is only shown that 50.00 l/m2 in order to limit the number of on/off events of the solar
COP of HP is higher for higher set point temperatures of TK1 in loop.
Fig. 16. Parametric analysis: efficiency and economic parameters, specific TK1 volume.
Table 9
Parametric analysis: efficiency and economic parameters vs set point temperatures.
Parameter
hth,PVT hel,PVT fTK1 fTK2 fHE1 fADS fHP COPHP,heat COPADS SPB SPBcis
Tset,PVT,wint 30 0.387 0.105 0.466 0.365 0.088 0.723 0.277 4.21 0.545 16.3 8.13
32 0.387 0.105 0.465 0.366 0.088 0.720 0.280 4.21 0.544 16.2 8.12
34 0.387 0.105 0.464 0.367 0.088 0.720 0.280 4.20 0.544 16.2 8.12
36 0.387 0.105 0.464 0.366 0.088 0.720 0.280 4.20 0.544 16.2 8.12
38 0.387 0.105 0.464 0.367 0.088 0.720 0.280 4.20 0.544 16.2 8.12
40 0.387 0.105 0.464 0.368 0.088 0.720 0.280 4.19 0.544 16.2 8.11
Tset,PVT,summ 70 0.387 0.105 0.466 0.365 0.088 0.723 0.277 4.21 0.545 16.3 8.13
72 0.384 0.105 0.468 0.367 0.084 0.723 0.277 4.21 0.545 16.3 8.14
74 0.384 0.105 0.469 0.366 0.080 0.726 0.274 4.21 0.547 16.3 8.15
76 0.382 0.105 0.471 0.371 0.075 0.720 0.280 4.21 0.546 16.3 8.14
78 0.379 0.105 0.477 0.372 0.071 0.725 0.275 4.21 0.548 16.3 8.15
80 0.379 0.105 0.473 0.376 0.067 0.719 0.281 4.21 0.549 16.3 8.13
Tset,TK1,wint 25 0.387 0.105 0.466 0.365 0.088 0.723 0.277 4.21 0.545 16.3 8.13
26 0.387 0.105 0.466 0.363 0.087 0.721 0.279 4.26 0.545 16.3 8.14
27 0.387 0.105 0.466 0.361 0.087 0.716 0.284 4.31 0.545 16.3 8.15
28 0.387 0.105 0.469 0.357 0.087 0.722 0.278 4.35 0.545 16.3 8.17
29 0.387 0.105 0.471 0.354 0.087 0.722 0.278 4.40 0.545 16.4 8.19
30 0.387 0.105 0.472 0.351 0.086 0.723 0.277 4.44 0.545 16.4 8.21
Tset,TK1,summ 65 0.387 0.105 0.466 0.365 0.088 0.723 0.277 4.21 0.545 16.3 8.13
66 0.384 0.105 0.484 0.344 0.086 0.753 0.247 4.21 0.542 16.6 8.30
67 0.382 0.105 0.497 0.337 0.084 0.768 0.232 4.22 0.537 16.7 8.37
68 0.379 0.105 0.506 0.326 0.080 0.776 0.224 4.21 0.533 17.0 8.48
69 0.376 0.105 0.512 0.322 0.079 0.779 0.221 4.21 0.534 17.1 8.54
70 0.373 0.105 0.516 0.322 0.076 0.781 0.219 4.22 0.535 17.1 8.56
Tset,TK3,wint 45 0.382 0.105 0.471 0.372 0.077 0.721 0.279 4.37 0.546 16.2 8.11
46 0.382 0.105 0.471 0.372 0.077 0.722 0.278 4.30 0.548 16.2 8.12
47 0.382 0.105 0.473 0.369 0.077 0.723 0.277 4.21 0.545 16.3 8.15
48 0.382 0.105 0.471 0.372 0.077 0.718 0.282 4.14 0.547 16.3 8.14
49 0.382 0.105 0.474 0.368 0.077 0.725 0.275 4.05 0.547 16.3 8.17
50 0.382 0.105 0.473 0.371 0.077 0.722 0.278 3.97 0.548 16.3 8.16
Tset,TK3,summ 10 0.379 0.105 0.533 0.312 0.074 0.788 0.212 4.22 0.525 17.8 8.88
11 0.382 0.105 0.513 0.333 0.075 0.781 0.219 4.21 0.527 16.9 8.45
12 0.384 0.105 0.498 0.341 0.077 0.769 0.231 4.21 0.532 16.7 8.33
13 0.384 0.105 0.482 0.356 0.077 0.738 0.262 4.21 0.537 16.4 8.22
14 0.382 0.105 0.473 0.369 0.077 0.723 0.277 4.21 0.545 16.3 8.15
15 0.382 0.105 0.461 0.381 0.078 0.716 0.284 4.21 0.561 16.1 8.06
Fig. 17. Thermo-economic optimization: SPB objective function and optimization variables.
6. Conclusion assisted heat pump, in winter, and the adsorption chiller, in

summer, and secondarily to produce DHW. A base case study was
The dynamic simulation model of a trigeneration system developed and discussed, referred to a building located in Naples,
including a solar-assisted heat pump coupled with an adsorption in the South of Italy.
chiller is presented. In particular, the system under investigation The results of the dynamic simulation showed that:
is based on a PVT collector field coupled with a reversible heat
pump and a zeolite adsorption chiller. The electric energy pro- - PVT thermal energy is fluctuating due to the external radiation
duced by the PVT field is totally consumed by the system users, and temperature, thus an auxiliary system is always mandatory
while the thermal energy is used primarily to supply the solar in order to satisfy the DHW and space cooling demand;
- in summer period, the combination of PVT and an adsorption load referred to the load side of heat pump
chiller allows one to maximize the utilization of the solar energy NG natural gas
because no thermal energy produced by the PVT is dissipated; op operational
- the utilization of the produced solar thermal energy is about out output
83%; PS proposed system
- the space heating demand is entirely supplied with the solar pump referred to pump
assisted heat pump, and the cooling demand is supplied by PV photovoltaic
higher than 70% by the adsorption chiller for the base case PVT PVT solar collectors
study; ref reference condition
- the system energetic and economic performance is better in rej rejected
localities with high irradiance availability, as Naples and RS reference system
Palermo; source referred to the source side of heat pump
- the system may is not profitable without public incentive (SPB tank tank
higher than 16 years), became profitable with capital invest- th thermal
ment subsidy of 50%. TK1 referred to TK1 tank
- for the base case, the system optimal performance in terms of TK2 referred to TK2 tank
economic profitability is achieved with a collector area of tot total
24.25 m2;
- the system performance is scarcely dependent on the set point References
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A Novel Solar HP With PVT

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Energy 95 (2016) 346e366

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A novel solar-assisted heat pump driven by photovoltaic/thermal

1. Introduction polygeneration [10,11] system included in this paper. In the fol-

System main component Description

previously validated vs experimental data, as shown in TRNSYS Table 5

In the followings, for sake of brevity, only a brief description is

The temperature of the cell is calculated through an energy NCheating

3.2. Reversible heat pump 3.3. Adsorption chiller

represented by type 909. As for the heat pump, the component is

DPE ¼ PERS PEPS

it is not negligible with respect to the PVT electric energy

Note that in the previous equation, COP of HP is accurately

CADS ¼ 500Qchill;ADS (24)

Jtot ¼ Cop;RS Cop;PS

Table 6 appropriately simulate controllers operation, since the time step is

Fig. 5. Daily DHW demand for the simulated building.

Fig. 6. Temperatures, winter day 27th January (600e624 h).

Fig. 8. Temperatures, summer day 19th June (4032e4056 h).

space cooling demand. As a consequence, the reversible heat pump Table 7

Table 8 In Table 8, an investment cost of the proposed system of 27.1 kV

Fig. 13. Parametric analysis: energies, solar collector area.

Fig. 15. Parametric analysis: energies, speciﬁc TK1 volume.

6. Conclusion assisted heat pump, in winter, and the adsorption chiller, in

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