Robust Design Approach for Low-Temperature Solar Thermal Utility Systems

This work looks at the design of flat-plate solar collector utility systems for the supply of low-temperature process heat, subject to restrictions such as the availability of land area for installation. The design approach is based on the formulation of a multi-objective optimisation strategy. The main stages in the methodology are (a) the use of a parametric model that predicts the thermohydraulic performance of a network of solar collectors and (b) a two-level multi-objective optimisation approach where the collector geometry is first optimised followed by the optimisation of the design of the network structure. The application of the proposed methodology to a case study reveals that the approach produces designs that are capable of efficiently operating throughout the year delivering the required process thermal needs. The results show that optimised designs exhibit a payback time reduction of 55.5% with respect to a design using standard commercial collectors.