Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
Faculty of Engineering and Environment, Northumbria University, Newcastle upon Tyne NE18ST, UK
National Renewable Energy Centre (NAREC), Blyth, Northumberland, UK
h i g h l i g h t s
Dynamic modelling of a building along with its space heating and hot water systems.
Dynamic modelling of mCHP including its start-up and shut down characteristics.
Integration of micro generations with energy demands in a dwelling in real time.
Fuel utilisation and energy efciency in a dwelling is analysed in real scenario.
Overall efciency of a mCHP is largely inuenced by the number of switching.
a r t i c l e i n f o
a b s t r a c t
Article history:
Received 8 May 2013
Accepted 21 September 2013
Available online 23 October 2013
This paper focuses on the detailed modelling of micro combined heat and power (mCHP) modules and
their interaction with other renewable micro generators in domestic applications based on an integrated
modular modelling approach. The simulation model has been developed using Matlab/Simulink and
incorporates a Stirling engine mCHP module embedded in a lumped-parameter domestic energy model,
together with contributions from micro wind and photovoltaic modules. The Stirling cycle component
model is based on experimental identication of a domestic-scale system which includes start up and
shut down characteristics. The integrated model is used to explore the interactions between the various
energy supply technologies and results are presented showing the most favourable operating conditions
that can be used to inform the design of advanced energy control strategies in building. The integrated
model offers an improvement on previous models of this kind in that a fully-dynamic approach is
adopted for the equipment and plant enabling fast changing load events such as switching on/off domestic loads and hot water, to be accurately captured at a minimum interval of 1 min. The model is
applied to two typical 3- and 4-bedroom UK house types equipped with a mCHP module and two other
renewable energy technologies for a whole year. Results of the two cases show that the electrical
contribution of a Stirling engine type mCHP heavily depends on the thermal demand of the building and
that up to 19% of the locally-generated electricity is exported whilst meeting a similar percentage of the
overall annual electricity demand. Results also show that the increased number of switching of mCHP
module has an impact on seasonal module efciency and overall fuel utilisation. The results demonstrate
the need for the analysis of equipment design and optimal sizing of thermal and electrical energy
storage.
2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords:
Micro combined heat and power
Matlab/Simulink
Dynamic thermal modelling
Domestic electrical demand
Renewable energy sources
1. Introduction
The market for micro combined heat and power (mCHP) modules is expected to grow, as a viable option for domestic boiler
replacement [1]. Options include fuel cells, Stirling engine, organic
* Corresponding author.
E-mail address: samir.karmacharya@northumbria.ac.uk (S. Karmacharya).
1359-4311/$ e see front matter 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.applthermaleng.2013.09.039
582
Nomenclature
AU
C
Cwm
Cw,tank
G(s)
K
N
R
Ti
Tm
To
Ts
Tw
Tw,i
Tw,o
cpw
mw
mw,io
n
qloss
qrad
qsupplied
td
xi
xm
xo
yi
yo
3 (s)
other thermal demand systems, other local renewable energy inputs, and the interaction with the local electricity grid. The objectives of the development of such a simulation model therefore are
as follows:
To develop a detailed dynamic thermal model of a domestic type
building together with its heating and domestic hot water systems, control and thermal storage
To incorporate a dynamic thermal model of a Stirling engine
micro-CHP module with sufcient detail to capture its protracted run-up transients
To incorporate other domestic-scale embedded renewable
electricity systems (specically photovoltaic systems and microwind turbines)
To incorporate a local area electrical grid model to enable the
impact of the typically randomly-varying demand and renewable supply patterns to be reconciled with the mCHP module
and prevailing grid behaviour
To apply the simulation model to a range of operating scenarios
applicable to typical UK housing
To use the results obtained to identify key operational, design
and sizing issues necessary for analysing and optimising energy
use in building.
The paper is organised as follows: Section 2 gives the principles
of system modelling and Section 3 gives details of the model
development. Section 4 gives the model implementation and Section 5 gives results obtained and discussion. Finally, conclusions
and suggestions for further work are given in Section 6.
2. Modelling philosophy
Approaches to the dynamic modelling of distributed thermodynamic systems broadly fall into three categories:
Generic system models; in which pre-dened components and
sub-systems are dened and solved sequentially. Parameters
can be changed at the component level by the user but in all
other senses these types of models are rigid and inexible in
that new components cannot be added (or existing components
changed in character).
Modular component-based modelling in which recognisable
system components (a heat exchanger, a pump, a valve for
example) are treated in a self-contained black box manner
583
3. Model development
3.1. The building envelope model
A high-order lumped parameter method was used for the
building envelope having the advantage of relative simplicity (i.e.
computational efciency) whilst also providing sufcient accuracy
and rigour to capture a wide range of transient effects. The method
adopted was developed by Gouda et al. [19] which envisages a
second-order description of each signicant thermal capacity
pathway (i.e. exterior wall, internal partition, oor, roof) together
with algebraic heat balances at low capacity pathways (i.e. windows
and ventilation air transfer) completed with a rst-order treatment
of the enclosing room air. Thus a 9th order model for each space is
arrived at, as shown in Fig. 1. This method retains the simplicity of
the lumped parameter method whilst offering greater accuracy than
the more common lower order models of this kind [20].
Energy balance about each element can be written as secondorder matrix differential equations. For example, for the external
wall element (Eq. (1)) [21]:
1=xm yi R$C
T_ s 1=R$C$xi yi xm yi
1=R$C$xm yo xo yo
1=xm yo R$C
T_ m
T
0
1=R$C$xi yi 1=yi C
s ::::::
Tm
0
0
1=R$C$xo yo
2
3
Ti
4 qrad 5
To
(1)
where the resistance (R), capacitance (C) and rations (xi,m,o; yi,o)
are obtained using the method described by Gouda et al. [19]. For
the thermal resistance through each construction element (i.e. wall,
partition, etc), these rations are fractions of the total element
resistance allocated to the notional inside resistor (xi), middle
resistor (xm) and outside resistor (xo) of each construction element
as illustrated in Fig. 1 (and, xi xm xo 1). For the thermal
capacitance the yi and yo rations allocate the overall element
thermal capacity to the inside and outside capacitors respectively
(and, yi yo 1). Gouda et al. [19] used the term ration for these
fractions to imply that they remain constant (in effect, a quasi
property of the construction element). They require to be tted
using a suitable rigorous reference model and an appropriate tting
method such as optimisation. In this work, values recommended by
Gouda et al. [19] typical of UK house construction were used. Eq. (1)
can be readily and efciently represented in Simulink using a statespace block. Further details of the application of the method can be
found in Ref. [22].
Here, the room model was completed by adding a simple
transmittance factor glazing model with an associated solar radiation algorithm to read-in measured hourly global horizontal irradiances from a weather le and resolve the data into in-plane
direct and diffuse radiation. The window model does not include
any blinds, curtains or internal shading devices. All radiant sources
(both short wave and long wave) are assumed to be distributed
uniformly to all opaque room surfaces with the exception of the
direct component of solar radiation which is assumed to be
absorbed by the oor surface only. The solar radiation algorithm
was based on Liu and Jordans [23] method. A simple air change
ventilation model was incorporated. Other rooms or clusters of
rooms forming heating zones could easily be added to form a multizone building by copying and pasting in Simulink and making
584
Cwm n
d
Tw n mw cpw Tw n 1 Tw n AUTw n Ti
dt
(2)
Cw;tank
d
Tw;o mw;io cpw Tw;i Tw;o qsupplied qloss
dt
(3)
Where Tw,i is the cold water in-feed temperature to the tank ( C),
Tw,o is the outow water temperature to the draw-off points ( C),
qsupplied is the heat input to the tank from the mCHP module (W)
and qloss is the heat loss from the tank (W). The water demand ow
rate (mw,io, kg s1) forms a model input variable which is read from
a le of demand data obtained from eld-monitoring surveys.
3.3. Micro-CHP modelling
The modelling of mCHP based on Stirling engines has received
relatively little attention. For dynamic simulations it is necessary to
Gs
Ketd s
3 s
ss 1
(4)
585
on e heat
on e power
off e heat
off e power
K (kW)
s (s)
td (s)
6
1
4
0
91.4
131.4
161.4
e
60
120
0
e
586
1996 for the detached house. The occupancy patterns assumed two
working parents with children of school age (i.e. weekdays 06:00e
08:00 h and 17:00e23:00 h; weekend days 07:00e23:00 h). Internal casual heat gain assumptions were based on those used by
Anderson et al. [32] in the development of the UKs leading domestic energy model BREDEM. A typical International Weather
form Energy Calculations (IWEC) weather data le for the north of
587
588
was repeated for the case of domestic hot water demands. The
monitored hot water demand at an interval of 5 min in UK houses is
show in Fig. 12.This is one of the main advantage of this model
where the demand pattern at resolution of 1 min can be given as
input, whereas in other models the interval used is 15 min [14] or
higher.
5. Results and discussion
A full annual simulation was carried out using a variable step
trapezoidal solver. This solver was selected to provide an efcient
computation (i.e. variable step) and the use of the trapezoidal rule
was considered to give some limited capacity to handle stiffness in
the model (mainly arising due to control devices within the space
heating model). The computational requirement was noted to be
3.6s of computer time per hour of simulation time in winter
simulation periods when the space heating is active, falling by
about half in summer simulation periods based on a typical modern
desktop PC. The time step limits were set at 5 s (minimum) and
1800 s (maximum e though this was never reached). Samples of
results were extracted for a typical winter week (Figs. 9e11), a
typical warm summer week (Figs. 12 and 13) for the semi-detached
house only, and summaries of annual energy ows are given in
Tables 3 and 4 for both house types.
Zone temperatures for one typical winter week (starting with
the weekend) are shown in Fig. 9 for the semi-detached house (also
plotted are the corresponding external air dry bulb temperature
and global (horizontal) solar radiation). In the application given
here, the house is occupied intermittently during the day. Thus two
characteristic peaks in zone internal temperatures can be seen for
each day for the morning and evening periods during which the
house is occupied often with a free-oat mid-day peak which can
be traced in Fig. 9 to a corresponding increase in solar radiation.
Note that the heating is controlled from a thermostat mounted in
the ground oor entrance lobby together with local trim by
thermostatic radiator valves. This is normal practice in UK domestic heating control. As a consequence, room temperature control involves wide variations among zones (in applications where
the lobby space contains signicant heat gains, serious underheating can occur in other spaces). In practice, the comfortcritical living room space in UK houses is commonly equipped
with a further method of heating (e.g. a focal-point heater such as
a wood burning stove, etc). Note that the energy associated with the
focal point heating has not been included in the present study on
practical grounds. The fuel used for this varies and, nowadays, solid
fuel appliances such as log-burning stoves are gaining in popularity.
Therefore, the total energy demands given in Tables 3 and 4 should
be interpreted accordingly.
Electrical energy ows for a typical winter week are plotted in
Fig. 10 for the semi-detached house. This shows power generated
by the three sources (mCHP, wind turbine and PV modules) as well
as imported (shown negative) and exported (shown positive) power ows. Between two and three bursts of daily power from the
mCHP module can be seen as the module is called to meet space
heating and domestic water heating demands. It is encouraging
that more frequent switching of the mCHP module is avoided as
this might lead to module wear and early breakdown. Renewable
energy activity in this typical week is low with the exception of a
windy day (day 2) giving rise to the wind turbine operating at its
rated capacity for a signicant part of the day. Most of the power
generated is used by the host even during unoccupied periods
during which standby loads absorb the available renewable power,
though there are small contributions to export from the mCHP
module when active.
The thermal energy ows in a typical winter week and plotted
in Fig. 11 and, in a typical summer week, in Fig. 12, for the semidetached house. In winter, the mCHP module is switched typically once only in the morning and once or twice to meet the
evening demand. Usually, just one or two relatively short charging
Table 2
Electrical appliances in use [34].
Appliance type
Detached house
Semi-detached house
Electric shower
Occasional use of electric
heating
Economy-t tariff
Use of timer controls
Energy saving lighting
usage (%)
Halogen lamp usage
Outdoor oodlight
Refrigerator
Freezer
Television
Computer
Electric oven
Microwave
Kettle
Toaster/sandwich toaster
Dish washer
Washing machine
Tumble drier
Yes
Yes
No
No
Yes
Yes
25
No
No
25
12
No
2 Fridge/freezer
No
1 (tube)
6
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
4
Yes
1
1
1 (tube), 2 (plasma), 1 (LCD)
3
1
1
1
2
1
1
1
589
cycles per day are needed for the hot water tank. When just one is
needed, this tends to take place during the evening when the mCHP
module is also servicing space heating loads. In the summer, when
the mCHP module is called to meet domestic hot water demands
only, just one or two short daily bursts of mCHP activity are needed
for hot water tank charging and this usually occurs when there is
high coincident demand by the host for electricity (Fig. 13). In all
cases, the high degree of damping (due to the space heating and the
hot water tank) is such that frequent switching of the mCHP
module is avoided which is good for module maintenance and
operation.
Electrical energy ows during a typical warm summer week are
plotted in Fig. 13 for the semi-detached house. One most days, only
one burst of mCHP activity per day is evident in summer and this
will be due to entirely domestic hot water tank charging. In summer, a stronger pattern of electrical export is evident and this is
mainly due to daytime power generated by the PV modules (in this
typical summer week, the contribution from the wind turbine is
very small). However, power imported is high during this week due
mainly to the restricted use of the mCHP module since the heating
demand is now restricted to domestic hot water only and the PV
modules are generating at periods outside the main occupied
Fig. 10. Typical winter week electrical power ows (semi-detached house type).
Fig. 11. Typical winter week thermal power ows (semi-detached house type).
590
Fig. 12. Typical summer week thermal power ows (semi-detached house type).
Energy stream
Semi-detached kWh
Detached kWh
Generated by mCHP
Generated by wind turbine
Generated by PV modules
Exported
Overall demand
Imported
425.9
279.4
539.2
233.6 (18.8%)
5298
4287 (80.9%)
719
279.4
1752.7
305.5 (11.1%)
11,542
9119 (79%)
term form of thermal storage than a simple water tank (e.g. phase
change storage) in relation to available import and export tariff
structures so that an optimum economic balance can be arrived at.
On this last point for instance, a 300 L water tank coupled with the
mCHP module with a thermostat switching differential of 5 K
would meet the design heating demand of 6 kW for approximately
30 min between switching intervals. A phase change store
comprising 150 L of phase change material with a transition
enthalpy of 200 kJ/L plus 150 L of water would meet the 6 kW
design heating demand for 1.5 h e three times as long.
The fuel consumption of the mCHP module was 4137 kWh for
the semi-detached house and 7949 kWh for the detached house
(Table 4) giving an efciency (electrical power-to-fuel energy) of
10.30% and 9.05% respectively. The overall fuel utilisations (electrical and thermal-to-fuel energy) are 78.5% and 73.4% respectively.
The reason for the lower efciency and fuel utilisation in the case of
the larger detached house is due to a greater number of cold
module starts. The initial warm-up phase during a cold module
start results in a short period of rated fuel use during which the
power and heat outputs are below their rated values.
6. Conclusions
An integrated simulation model for analysing micro combined
heat and power (mCHP) systems and embedded renewable systems in domestic applications has been developed and presented in
this paper. The model differs from most previous models of this
kind in that a detailed dynamic treatment of the plant, equipment
and building envelope has been considered in the present work
whereas previous models have tended to use simplied quasisteady-state methods. Thus the present model is able to predict
plant response at very small time intervals allowing it to capture
high frequently changing electrical and hot water demands and
accurately simulate the run-up and shut down characteristics of
domestic scale mCHP modules.
The model has been applied to two typical UK domestic applications consisting of a 3-bedroom semi-detached house and a 4bedroom detached house. Both houses are equipped with a mCHP
module, a wind turbine and a photovoltaic array. The simulation
model is used for analysis of typical winter and summer operating
weeks as well as the overall annual energy use during the whole
year. Results obtained show that the electrical contribution by the
mCHP module is heavily dependent on the space heating and hot
water demand of the building. The results also show that the
contribution from the mCHP supplemented with embedded wind
and solar power (for export or use within the building) depends on
Table 4
Annual energy account (heat).
Fig. 13. Typical summer week electrical power ows (semi-detached house type).
Energy stream
Semi-detached kWh
Detached kWh
1728
1092
4137
3995
1119
7949
General:
Engine
Generator
Electrical output:
Electricity supply
Nominal mode
Thermal output:
Nominal mode
Maximum
Fuel:
Type
Supply pressure
Fuel consumption:
Maximum burner ring rate
2.25 m
2
9.77 kg m2
12 m/s
6
1.25 U
1.5
Specication
Value
5.69 A (dc)
44.4 V (dc)
5.03 A (dc)
36.8 V (dc)
3.1 105 A (dc)/K
3.84 104 V (dc)/K
591
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