In this paper Phase Change Materials (PCM) have been studied in order to provide guidelines to increase the efficiency of a tank storage system typically used in Solar Domestic Hot Water (SDHW) plants. The work stems from some literature results about the use of PCM in storage tanks which highlight the scarce impact of this technology on the overall system. Some related studies suggest that the introduction of PCM modules into a storage tank may be convenient only if the system is optimized in order to exploit the energy storage capabilities of the material. In this process should be taken into account different parameters such as the complexity of the system, the PCM characteristics and the interaction with the climatic conditions. In this work a PCM improved storage tank, inserted into a typical Solar Domestic Hot Water (SDHW) system, has been optimized using mono and multiobjective genetic algorithms. The optimization has been carried with the modeFRONTIER optimization tool, while the system plant has been analysed by means of a modified version of the building energy simulation code ESP-r. In parallel with the optimization a sensitivity analysis has been carried on in order to find out the relation between the design parameters of the tank (geometry, temperature of the PCM and user behaviour) and the performance of the system. Thanks to the multiobjective optimization of the system different solutions have been presented with different rankings of the optimized variables.
Genetic Optimization of a PCM Enhanced Storage Tank for Dolar Domestic Hot Water Systems
PADOVAN, ROBERTA;MANZAN, MARCO
2013-01-01
Abstract
In this paper Phase Change Materials (PCM) have been studied in order to provide guidelines to increase the efficiency of a tank storage system typically used in Solar Domestic Hot Water (SDHW) plants. The work stems from some literature results about the use of PCM in storage tanks which highlight the scarce impact of this technology on the overall system. Some related studies suggest that the introduction of PCM modules into a storage tank may be convenient only if the system is optimized in order to exploit the energy storage capabilities of the material. In this process should be taken into account different parameters such as the complexity of the system, the PCM characteristics and the interaction with the climatic conditions. In this work a PCM improved storage tank, inserted into a typical Solar Domestic Hot Water (SDHW) system, has been optimized using mono and multiobjective genetic algorithms. The optimization has been carried with the modeFRONTIER optimization tool, while the system plant has been analysed by means of a modified version of the building energy simulation code ESP-r. In parallel with the optimization a sensitivity analysis has been carried on in order to find out the relation between the design parameters of the tank (geometry, temperature of the PCM and user behaviour) and the performance of the system. Thanks to the multiobjective optimization of the system different solutions have been presented with different rankings of the optimized variables.Pubblicazioni consigliate
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