Methodology for optimizing the operation of heating/cooling plants with multi-heat source equipments using simulation

A methodology for optimizing the operation of heating/cooling plants with multi-heat source equipments is proposed. The methodology decides the optimal combination of the running of multiple heat source equipments to minimize the energy consumption of a heating/cooling plant. The optimal running combination is decided automatically using MATLAB® Stateflow® tool corresponding to cooling and heating loads. The energy consumption at different running combination is simulated using MATLAB® Simulink® tool. A case study is introduced to demonstrate the methodology. An actual district heating/cooling plant located in Osaka Japan, which consist of two absorption chiller/heaters, one centrifugal chiller, one ice chiller, and two air-source heat pumps, is studied to find the optimal operation combination of the heat source equipments,. The optimal running combination found by this method can reduce primary energy consumption by 19.7%, running cost by 12.8%, and carbon dioxide emission by 29.6%, compared to present operation.