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<dc:title>Thermoeconomic Diagnosis of anUrban District Heating System based onCogenerative Steam and Gas Turbines</dc:title>
<dc:creator>VERDA, Vittorio</dc:creator>
<dc:contributor>Verda, Vittorio</dc:contributor>
<dc:subject>Thermoeconomic analysi</dc:subject>
<dc:subject> fault diagnosi</dc:subject>
<dc:subject> Exergy</dc:subject>
<dc:subject>Settore ING-IND/10 - Fisica Tecnica Industriale</dc:subject>
<dc:description>The energy system diagnosis is a experimental technique applied for the detection and the&#xd;
location of possible anomalies. These information are obtained by comparing the values&#xd;
assumed by opportune variables in a operation condition with the corresponding reference&#xd;
values. In this thesis a procedure based on the use of thermodynamic variables, elaborated&#xd;
using the thermoeconomic methods, is proposed. The main originality, in comparison with&#xd;
other thermoeconomic diagnosis procedures, consists on the evaluation of the regulation system&#xd;
effects on the plant working condition; these effects can be then isolated to achieve the&#xd;
purpose of the malfunction location. The usefulness of such an operation is shown by applying&#xd;
the procedure to some cases of anomalies, obtained using a mathematical model of two&#xd;
thermal power plants, located in Moncalieri (Turin).&#xd;
Thermoeconomics is an engineering discipline born in sixties, consisting in the contemporary&#xd;
use of thermodynamic principles and economic concepts. It allows to associate a cost to&#xd;
all the productive processes taking place inside a system and in particular their products. This&#xd;
cost can be measured in monetary units and eventually in pure thermodynamic units.&#xd;
The key of the thermoeconomic analysis procedures consists on a productive model of the&#xd;
system, called productive structure, generally different from its physical model. Every energy&#xd;
transformation is represented and quantified in terms of supplied product, i.e. the useful effect&#xd;
obtained, resources required and possible losses. Such quantities in modern thermoeconomics&#xd;
are expressed using exergy fluxes.&#xd;
The system is first divided in some subsystems or components, in each one a significant&#xd;
energy transformation takes place. The grade of detail depends on the available information&#xd;
and on the aim of the analysis. The thermodynamic variables (mass and energy flows, temperatures,&#xd;
pressures etc.) required to characterize the fluxes entering and exiting the component&#xd;
must be known. In this way a more detailed analysis furnish more information, but it&#xd;
requires the measures of a larger number of physical variables.&#xd;
The ratio between every resource used by a component and its product is called unit&#xd;
exergy consumption. The values assumed by the whole of the unit exergy consumptions completely&#xd;
describes the thermoeconomic model of the system. This means that the description of&#xd;
the system based on its productive model is a simplification of the physical model. The information&#xd;
are summarized in the thermoeconomic parameters, which substitute the thermodynamic&#xd;
variables measured in correspondence of the fluxes crossing the boundaries of the&#xd;
control volumes. The thermoeconomic diagnosis is made by studying the temporal variation&#xd;
of the unit exergy consumptions, while, the methodologies usually applied in the energy systems,&#xd;
the variation of a whole of different quantities is analysed.&#xd;
The thermoeconomic diagnosis allows the use of the same procedure for all the anomalies,&#xd;
so it is a general methodology. On the contrary the other methodologies use a different procedure,&#xd;
depending on the kind of anomaly wants to be detected; the available data must be chosen&#xd;
and organized so that they could furnish the required information. Nevertheless the thermoeconomic diagnosis only allows to detect anomalies having sensible repercussions on&#xd;
the thermodynamic behaviour of the system. Moreover some information are lost when the&#xd;
physical structure is substitute with the productive structure, which could make the procedure&#xd;
unable to locate some kind of malfunctions. These considerations suggest the contemporary&#xd;
use of the thermoeconomic diagnosis together with other methodologies, as they are often&#xd;
complementary. In particular the other techniques are normally devised to prevent the anomalies&#xd;
which can cause, if not repaired, failures. On the contrary the aim of the thermoeconomic&#xd;
diagnosis consists on the detection and the location of the anomalies causing the reduction of&#xd;
the system efficiency. Moreover it also allows to evaluate the costs associated to the variation&#xd;
of the working condition, which is more significant than the simple variation of the efficiency&#xd;
of a single process. The same efficiency variation can in fact involves a different fuel impact&#xd;
depending on where it takes place. This consideration is known as principle of non equivalence&#xd;
of the irreversibilities.&#xd;
The procedures of thermoeconomic diagnosis consist on the determination of the values&#xd;
assumed by the unit exergy consumptions in a operation condition and a reference condition,&#xd;
on the calculation of opportune evaluation indices based on these quantities and on their comparison.&#xd;
The two states must be characterized by the boundary conditions: the environment&#xd;
must be characterized by the same temperature, pressure and humidity, the plant production&#xd;
must be the same in quality and quantity (the same electric power and, in case of thermal production,&#xd;
the exiting flow must be characterized by the same energy flow, temperature, pressure&#xd;
and thermodynamic quality) and finally the fuel quality must be the same. Due to these&#xd;
constraints, the reference condition is usually determined by means of a simulator.&#xd;
The correct anomaly location is only possible in the cases where its effect is largely concentrated&#xd;
in the component where it has taken place. This does not happens always.&#xd;
The first effect of an anomaly is the reduction of the efficiency of the component where it&#xd;
has occurred (intrinsic malfunction). If the component resource has been maintained constant,&#xd;
the anomaly causes the reduction of its product. As this product is generally resource of other&#xd;
components, their production is affected too and in particular it decreases. This effect is not&#xd;
negative, but can have a negative consequence: the efficiency of the components generally&#xd;
depends on the working condition, so the variation of their resources involve a variation of&#xd;
their efficiency too. A malfunction, called induced malfunction, takes so place in the other&#xd;
components, although any anomalies have occurred in them.&#xd;
A second consequence of the variation of the working condition consists on the variation&#xd;
of some control parameters. In particular the total production of the plant has varied and some&#xd;
set-points can have varied. The working condition originated as direct effect of the anomaly is&#xd;
unacceptable, so the control system intervenes to operate a regulation in order to restore the&#xd;
setting values of these parameters. The intervention modifies the natural effects of the anomaly,&#xd;
so other malfunctions and dysfunctions are induced. The location of the intrinsic malfunctions&#xd;
becomes more difficult once the regulation system has intervened.&#xd;
The thermoeconomic diagnosis procedure here proposed is based on the determination of&#xd;
the working condition that would have taken place if the regulation system did not intervene.&#xd;
This condition is fictitious, as the constraints imposed by the control system are not complied,&#xd;
so it must be mathematically calculated.&#xd;
If the anomaly is sufficiently little, the effect of the regulation parameters on the unit&#xd;
exergy consumptions can be calculated using a Taylor’s development. The independent variables&#xd;
are represented by the characteristic variables of the regulation system, i.e. a set of variables&#xd;
which completely individuated its positioning. In this way an artificial working condition can be built, where the effects of the regulation system are not present but the effects of the&#xd;
anomaly are. This condition is here called free condition.&#xd;
The diagnosis is made by comparison of the values assumed by the unit exergy consumptions&#xd;
in free and reference conditions. The thermoeconomic diagnosis procedures proposed in&#xd;
literature are based on the comparison between operation and reference conditions. In this&#xd;
comparison the contribution of the regulation system is hidden and sometimes makes impossible&#xd;
the correct location of the anomalies, as shown in the proposed applications.&#xd;
The proposed procedure is here applied to two energy systems: a steam turbine and a gas&#xd;
turbine plants, both able to also provide thermal power to an urban district heating network. A&#xd;
mathematical model of the plants, described in the first chapter, has been built in order to simulate&#xd;
their behaviour. Some anomalies have been simulated by varying the values of the characteristic&#xd;
parameters of the components, like efficiencies, heat transfer coefficients and&#xd;
pressure drops. The model also takes into account the regulation system. In particular its characteristic&#xd;
parameters in the gas turbine plant are the fuel mass flow, the opening grades of the&#xd;
inlet guided vanes and of the by-pass valve and the water mass flow passing through the&#xd;
recuperator. The regulation parameters of the steam turbine are the fuel mass flow, the opening&#xd;
grade of the throttles and the mass flow of the steam extraction for the cogeneration.&#xd;
The effect of these variables on the productive structure fluxes has been differently evaluated&#xd;
for the two plants: an analytical calculation, using the mathematical model of the plant, is&#xd;
proposed for the gas turbine plant, while a numerical calculation, using some working conditions,&#xd;
is proposed for the steam turbine plant.&#xd;
The analytical development has been expressed in form of a constrained optimization&#xd;
problem, mathematically described using a Lagrangian function. Such expression is particular&#xd;
significant as the Lagrange multipliers coincide with the marginal costs associated to&#xd;
every variable. In this way a cost can be associated to the regulation parameters.&#xd;
The procedure is applied to some cases of single and multiple malfunctions. In all the&#xd;
cases it allows to locate where the anomalies have taken place. The procedure is particularly&#xd;
helpful in the application to the gas turbine plant, where the effects induced by the regulation&#xd;
system are sometimes larger than the intrinsic malfunction, so that the correct location is&#xd;
impossible using the ordinary thermoeconomic procedures. On the contrary, in the steam&#xd;
power plant the effect of the malfunctions are mainly intrinsic, so that the correct location is&#xd;
in most of the cases possible using both the procedures.&#xd;
A further develop of the diagnosis technique consists on the erasure of the contribution of&#xd;
the effects induced by the specific components behaviour, i.e due to the efficiency variations&#xd;
caused by the variation of the resources. To take into account this contribution the system can&#xd;
be split into its components, each one considered separately. The knowledge of different&#xd;
working conditions, corresponding to as many regulations, allows to build a linear thermoeconomic&#xd;
model of the components. The each product can be calculated as resources vary.&#xd;
This dependence is acceptable only if the difference between the fluxes in free and reference&#xd;
conditions is sufficiently low.&#xd;
The unit exergy consumptions of every component in a condition characterized by the&#xd;
same resources as in free condition can be calculated. In this condition any anomaly is present&#xd;
in the system, as it is built starting from the reference state. A difference between the unit&#xd;
exergy consumptions respect to the reference values is due to the behaviour of the components. The induced malfunctions caused by the dependence of the efficiencies on the quality and&#xd;
amount of resources can be so erased. The more desegregate is the productive structure and&#xd;
the better works this technique. The use of structures defined by splitting exergy into its components&#xd;
is recommended. The procedure has been applied to some gas turbine operation conditions,&#xd;
where single malfunctions and a triple malfunction have been simulated. In all cases&#xd;
it has allowed to find at the same time how many were the intrinsic effects and where they&#xd;
had occurred. This is an important improvement in the application to the real systems, as the&#xd;
number of malfunctioning components is a priori unknown.&#xd;
The procedure is described in the forth chapter, while the applications to the power plants&#xd;
is shown in chapters 5 and 6. In this last chapter an application obtained using measured data&#xd;
relative to the steam power plant is proposed.&#xd;
These results do not constitute a demonstration of the absolute validity of the methodology&#xd;
for the energy system diagnosis. Nevertheless an important result has been obtained: a correct&#xd;
thermoeconomic diagnosis is impossible without considering the regulation system. It is not a&#xd;
finish line, but the starting point for future studies in this field. In particular, when if more&#xd;
than one anomaly are present in the system, the proposed diagnosis procedure does not allow&#xd;
to correctly predict the technical energy saving obtained by completely removing each one. In&#xd;
fact, this information requires the use of a mathematical model of the system.&#xd;
A second aspect of the thermoeconomic analysis here studied in deep is the effect of the&#xd;
choice of the productive structure on the results. The definition of fuels and products is not&#xd;
universally accepted, although many studies and applications have allowed to achieve a certain&#xd;
agreement. Some grade of freedom are so available for the analyst.&#xd;
The choice of the productive structure has a sensible impact on the cost calculation, in particular&#xd;
when some losses occur in the system, i.e. some fluxes characterized by a non zero&#xd;
exergy exit the system without being provided (and sold) to the users. These fluxes are not&#xd;
products, as they do not have any usefulness, so they can not exit the system in the productive&#xd;
model. The components of the system must be charged for them. Different criteria allow to&#xd;
make this operation. A different productive structure, an so a different cost accounting, corresponds&#xd;
to each criterion.&#xd;
In the third chapter some criteria are described and applied to the Moncalieri plants. A particular&#xd;
emphasis is given to the choice of the productive models for the gas turbine plant.&#xd;
The diagnosis procedure is not sensitive to the choice of the productive structure: all the&#xd;
examined cases give information in coherent to indicate the components responsible for the&#xd;
malfunctions. Moreover a detailed structure, obtained splitting exergy into mechanical and&#xd;
thermal (and if necessary chemical) components to define fuels and products, also allows to&#xd;
obtain a more detailed information. In particular, if the gas turbine plant is considered, a more&#xd;
detailed structure allows to individuate the causes of pure mechanical or thermal malfunctions.&#xd;
On the contrary if other kinds of malfunctions occur, the location becomes more difficult,&#xd;
as the effects are split on terms of the unit exergy consumption matrix. Nevertheless the&#xd;
information does not contradict the one given by a simpler structure, so the contemporary use&#xd;
of both of them is suggested.&#xd;
The last contribution of this thesis is the evaluation of the exergy cost to be associated to&#xd;
the regulation system intervention. This quantity is obtained considering the fuel consumption&#xd;
and the total product in operation and free conditions. The unit cost is defined as the ratio between the variation of the resources and the corresponding variation of the products.&#xd;
This parameter allows to evaluate the incidence of internal constraints, like set-points, on&#xd;
the plant efficiency. If the plant does not present any anomaly this parameter is equal to the&#xd;
marginal cost calculated in reference condition, otherwise it assumes a different value. An&#xd;
higher value means that the regulation system intervention causes an increase in the cost of&#xd;
the products, while a lower value causes a cost decrease. negative values are associated the&#xd;
contemporary decrease (or increase) of the plant efficiency and the total production.&#xd;
From the malfunction analysis point of view, a value of the unit cost of the regulation&#xd;
higher than the unit cost of the plant products means that the regulation system induces malfunctions&#xd;
in the system. In that case the use of the proposed procedure is particularly suitable,&#xd;
as it allows to eliminate those malfunctions from the system.</dc:description>
<dc:date>2001</dc:date>
<dc:type>info:eu-repo/semantics/doctoralThesis</dc:type>
<dc:identifier>http://hdl.handle.net/11583/2501287</dc:identifier>
<dc:identifier>10.6092/polito/porto/2501287</dc:identifier>
<dc:language>eng</dc:language>
<dc:relation>numberofpages:319</dc:relation>
<dc:rights>info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess</dc:rights>
<dc:publisher>Politecnico di Torino</dc:publisher>
<dc:publisher>country:Italy</dc:publisher>
<dc:rights>license:Pubblico - Tutti i diritti riservati</dc:rights>
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