(144h) Optimal Design and Operation of Solar-Based Cooling, Heating, and Power Generation Systems for Industrial Processes

The escalating energy prices and the increasing environmental impact posed by the industrial usage of energy have spurred industry to adopt various approaches to conserving energy and mitigating negative environmental impact. This work is aimed at the development of a systematic procedure for energy conservation and the design of trigeneration systems (combined cooling, heating, and power ?CCHP?) while incorporating solar energy in industrial applications. The problem is decomposed into several categories with increasing levels of complexity. The approach is also sequenced into interacting steps. First, heat integration is carried out to minimize industrial heating and cooling utilities. Next, solar energy is considered used in supplying an appropriate portion of the needed utilities. A multi-period model is developed to account for the dynamic fluctuation of the solar energy. An optimization approach is adopted to determine the optimal profile of the solar energy to be supplied to the process, the system specifications, and the scheduling of the system operation. A case study is solved to demonstrate the effectiveness and applicability of the devised procedure.