District heating is an efficient way to provide heat to residential, tertiary and industrial users. Heat is often produced by CHP (combined heat and power) plants, usually designed to provide the base thermal load (40–50% of the maximum load) while the rest is provided by boilers. The use of...

The aim of this work is to investigate design improvements of a shell-and-tube latent heat thermal energy storage unit using an approach based on the analysis of entropy generation. The study is conducted by means of a computational fluid-dynamic (CFD) model which takes into account phase change...

The aim of the paper is to investigate possible improvements in the geometry design of a monolithic solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) through analysis of the entropy generation terms. The different contributions to the local rate of entropy generation are calculated using a computational fluid...

In this paper, a biogas fuelled hybrid system, obtained by integrating a molten carbonate fuel cell with a micro-turbine is considered. The size of the plant is selected on the basis of the maximum biogas production registered by monitoring the annual operation of an anaerobic digestion plant....

Diagnosis procedures are used in power plants in order to detect the presence of anomalies that affect the performance of a system and to locate the components where the anomalies have occurred. Any decision concerning maintenance strategies is conditioned by their economic convenience. The...

In this paper, a thermoeconomic approach is applied to a gas turbine based power plant in order to analyze the performance of its control system when variations in the operating condition, due to some internal or external causes, occur. Different control strategies are compared by quantifying,...

This paper goes further with the aim at demonstrating the capabilities of the thermoeconomic approach to the diagnosis of energy utility systems. This paper deals with a common vocabulary, definitions of concepts and mathematical principles, and above all, focuses on the concept of malfunction,...

In this paper, a waste-to-energy (WTE) system integrated with a gas fuelled combined cycle is considered. The plant is designed as a possible future option for thermal utilization of urban wastes in the northern part of the Turin Province, Italy. The plant should provide electricity (about 160MW...

The use of exergetic and thermoeconomic analysis for the diagnosis of efficiency reductions in energy systems has been widely discussed in literature. Several procedures, based on thermoeconomic analysis with the aim of locating and quantifying malfunctions, have been proposed and applied to...

This work is focused on the planning of rational heating systems for urban areas. District heating is an important option to supply heat to the users in urban areas. The energy sustainability of such option depends on the annual energy request, the population density and the efficiency in heat...