Diesel System Research Articles

Feasibility of active solar water heating systems with evacuated tube collector at different operational water temperatures

With rapid advancements in society, higher water temperatures are needed in a number of applications. The demand for hot water presents a great variability with water required at different temperatures. In this study, the design, installation, and evaluation of a solar water heating system with evacuated tube collector and active circulation has been carried out. The main objective is to analyze how the required tank water temperature affects the useful energy that the system is capable of delivering, and consequently its profitability. The results show how the energy that is collected and delivered to the tank decreases with increasing the required temperature due to a lower performance of the collector and losses in the pipes. The annual system efficiency reaches average values of 66%, 64%, 61%, 56%, and 55% for required temperatures of 40°C, 50°C, 60°C, 70°C, and 80°C. As a result, profitability decreases as temperature increases. The useful energy, and therefore the profitability, will decrease if the demand is not distributed throughout the day or focused on the end of the day. The system’s profitability was determined in two cases: considering maximum profitability of the system, assuming 100% utilization of useful energy (scenario 1); assuming a particular demand, considering that on many days all the useful energy the system can supply is not used (scenario 2). The analysis shows that through proper sizing of the system, optimizing the number of solar collectors, the investment in the solar system can be profitable with similar profitability values in the two contemplated scenarios. In scenario 2, a combined-delivery system (solar and diesel boiler) generates savings of between 23% and 15% compared to a single-delivery system of diesel, with a reduction in consumption of diesel close to 70%. The number of collectors that maximizes the profitability depends on the required temperature; therefore, in designing this kind of installation water temperature requirements must always be taken into account. From an environmental point of view, CO2 emissions can be reduced between 392 and 325kg CO2 per m2 of collector, depending on the required temperature. The results of this study can be very useful in determining the feasibility of using such systems to supply a part of demand for hot water.

Global cost advantages of autonomous solar–battery–diesel systems compared to diesel-only systems

Isolated diesel systems are the main electricity generation method in many rural areas nowadays and represent a viable option to supply un-electrified villages in the Global South. However, this generation scheme leads to a dependency on fossil fuels and their price volatility on a global market with a projected increase of costs in the future. At the same time, high carbon dioxide emissions increase environmental costs. Up to date, many hybrid mini-grid pilot projects and case studies were performed globally to assess how the inclusion of renewable energy in these systems can enhance technical and economic performance. This provides insights in local characteristics and challenges of that approach on a case by case basis. This study, on the other hand, takes a look at the overall global potential for solar–battery–diesel mini-grids for rural electrification and derives a comparative analysis of the respective regions. The introduction of a GIS-based analysis in combination with a sophisticated mini-grid simulation allows a highly automated approach to draw global conclusions with the option to downscale to local regions. The results of the methodology show that in many regions substantial LCOE reductions are achievable by introducing solar–battery–diesel systems compared to pure diesel systems. Furthermore, the crucial role of spatial varying of diesel fuel prices over different regions and the impacts on the feasibility of solar–battery–diesel systems can be observed.

Evaluation of Solar Hybrid Power Systems and its Efficacy in the UAE Market

Due to rapid industrialization and urbanization, the supplying of the electricity demand using hybrid (solar and diesel) systems has attracted great interest in UAE [1]. In this paper, comparisons of electricity generation with three configurations has been studied, starting from the base scenario of i) multiple stand-alone hybrid systems which is upgraded to ii) AC-coupled mini-grid and iii) DC-coupled mini-grid. The available energy supply, storage and transmission units as well as internal electrical demand of RAKRIC’s open air R&D laboratory, Solab, have constituted the basis of the calculations. The cost estimates for the major components forming mini-grids have been found out to be comparable for AC-coupled and DC-coupled networks. Although the results provided in this paper do not apply universally since feasibility of electricity transmission and storage is notably affected by the positions of supply and load centers along with the generation and consumption time profiles. Solar hybrid power system can be the next option for the UAE fast growing market.

A Power Management Strategy for Hybrid Photovoltaic Diesel System with Battery Storage

This paper proposes a DC-AC-linked hybrid diesel/photovoltaic (PV)/battery storage system for stand-alone applications. PV is the primary power source. A diesel engine is used as a backup and a battery as storage device. An overall power management strategy is designed to manage power flows among the different energy sources and the storage unit. A configuration of diesel-engine generator and photovoltaic hybrid systems is evaluated based on technical constraints. A sizing of different component is established. A simulation model for the hybrid energy system has been developed. The system performance under different scenarios has been verified by carrying out studies using a load demand profile.

Design of a Reliable Hybrid (PV/Diesel) Power System with Energy Storage in Batteries for Remote Residential Home

This paper reports the experience acquired with a photovoltaic (PV) hybrid system simulated as an alternative to diesel system for a residential home located in Southern Nigeria. The hybrid system was designed to overcome the problem of climate change, to ensure a reliable supply without interruption, and to improve the overall system efficiency (by the integration of the battery bank). The system design philosophy was to maximize simplicity; hence, the system was sized using conventional simulation tool and representative insolation data. The system includes a 15 kW PV array, 21.6 kWh (3600 Ah) worth of battery storage, and a 5.4 kW (6.8 kVA) generator. The paper features a detailed analysis of the energy flows through the system and quantifies all losses caused by PV charge controller, battery storage round-trip, rectifier, and inverter conversions. In addition, simulation was run to compare PV/diesel/battery with diesel/battery and the results show that the capital cost of a PV/diesel hybrid solution with batteries is nearly three times higher than that of a generator and battery combination, but the net present cost, representing cost over the lifetime of the system, is less than one-half of the generator and battery combination.

Energy audit data for a resort island in the South China Sea.

The data consists of actual generation-side auditing including the distribution of loads, seasonal load profiles, and types of loads as well as an analysis of local development planning of a resort island in the South China Sea. The data has been used to propose an optimal combination of hybrid renewable energy systems that able to mitigate the diesel fuel dependency on the island. The resort island selected is Tioman, as it represents the typical energy requirements of many resort islands in the South China Sea. The data presented are related to the research article “Optimal Combination of Solar, Wind, Micro-Hydro and Diesel Systems based on Actual Seasonal Load Profiles for a Resort Island in the South China Sea” [1].

Data from renewable energy assessments for resort islands in the South China Sea.

Renewable energy assessments for resort islands in the South China Sea were conducted that involves the collection and analysis of meteorological and topographic data. The meteorological data was used to assess the PV, wind and hydropower system potentials on the islands. Furthermore, the reconnaissance study for hydro-potentials were conducted through topographic maps in order to determine the potential sites suitable for development of run-of-river hydropower generation. The stream data was collected for 14 islands in the South China Sea with a total of 51 investigated sites. The data from this study are related to the research article “Optimal combination of solar, wind, micro-hydro and diesel systems based on actual seasonal load profiles for a resort island in the South China Sea” published in Energy (Khan et al., 2015) [1].

Qualitative risk assessment of a Dual Fuel (LNG-Diesel) system for heavy-duty trucks

A Dual Fuel (LNG-Diesel) system can be applied to heavy-duty diesel trucks for achieving environmental benefits in comparison to existing diesel vehicles. Because of lack of reports about risk assessment of this technology, we performed a qualitative assessment based on a framework of some literature techniques for risk identification, analysis and evaluation. After constructing a Reliability Block Diagram (RBD) to establish the context, we conducted bow-tie analysis, Fault Tree Analysis (FTA), Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA), likelihood and consequence analysis, and used a risk matrix. We applied these methods and techniques qualitatively to identify causes (e.g. collisions), critical events (e.g. releases of natural gas), related consequences (e.g. fires and explosions), and different possible pathways from a specific cause to its consequence, and to assess some negative accident scenarios related to use and parking of the vehicle. The bow-tie analysis also allowed to make explicit barriers and controls that prevent critical events and/or mitigate consequences. Therefore, we identified a set of safety measures, including design, technical, management, and emergency actions, which shall be implemented in each step of the system's life cycle.Our risk assessment showed that the risk level of the Dual Fuel (LNG-Diesel) system is similar to the risk level of a traditional diesel system. Future research will overcome current lack of data and, therefore, permit a quantitative rating of the risk of the Dual Fuel (LNG-Diesel) system.

Comparison of different procedures for the optimisation of a combined Diesel engine and organic Rankine cycle system based on ship operational profile

At a time of strong challenges for shipping in relation to economic and environmental performance, the potential of waste heat recovery has been identified as among the most important technologies to lower fuel consumption. This paper presents the comparison of four different procedures for the optimisation of a combined Diesel and organic Rankine cycle system with increasing attention to the ship operational profile and to the inclusion of engine control variables in the optimisation procedure. Measured data from two years of operations of a chemical tanker are used to test the application of the different procedures. The results indicate that for the investigated case study the application of an optimisation procedure which takes the operational profile into account can increase the savings of the installation of an organic Rankine cycle from 7.3% to 11.4% of the original yearly fuel consumption. The results of this study further show that (i) simulating the part-load behavior of the ORC is important to ensure its correct operations at low engine load and (ii) allowing the engine control strategy to be part of the optimisation procedure leads to significantly larger fuel savings than the optimisation of the waste recovery system alone.

Enhancement of Fuzzy Controlled Photovoltaic–Diesel System With Battery Storage Using Interleaved Converter With Hybrid MPPT for Rural Home

Hybrid energy systems normally comprise photovoltaic (PV) modules, diesel generator, a DC–DC converter with maximum power point tracking (MPPT) control, a DC–AC inverter with pulse width modulation (PWM) controller and storage system. In this paper, interleaved converter with an hybrid perturb and observe (P&O) fuzzy MPPT technique was proposed to enhance the effectiveness of the hybrid system. The enactment of unipolar sinusoidal pulse width modulation (SPWM) technique and proportional integral (PI) controller enhances the performance of bidirectional H-bridge inverter by getting rid of lower order harmonics, which leads to least possible switching losses, thus improves the inverter efficiency.

Expansion of a Diesel Plant into a Hybrid Power System Using Power Pinch Analysis

Diesel power system is one of the popular schemes for energy supply generation. It is, however, typically associated with high costs of emission control and maintenance on top of the diesel fuel cost. These limitations can be overcome by incorporating renewable energy technologies such as wind turbines and solar PV along with the existing diesel station. Hybrid systems provide cleaner and reliable power supply, and can be more cost-effective than sole diesel systems. This paper assesses the feasibility of expanding an existing diesel power plant into a hybrid power system (HPS) using Power Pinch Analysis (PoPA). An HPS configuration developed with PoPA methodology can provide optimal solar and wind electricity supplies while minimising the diesel runtime. Results show that an HPS that combines solar and wind system with diesel power generation can provide significant diesel fuel savings while satisfying the demands at a reasonable cost.

Study of a Solar Pv/Wind/Diesel Hybrid Power System for a Remotely Located Population near Arar, Saudi Arabia

Different hybrid configurations of wind, photovoltaic (PV), and diesel systems for a village in the north-eastern region of Saudi Arabia are presented. The configurations (i) diesel only, (ii) wind-diesel, (iii) PV-diesel, and (iv) wind-PV-diesel power generation systems are designed and compared to select the optimal alternative system by considering the minimum cost of energy and least environmental impact. For sizing and optimizing the hybrid power systems, local hourly average wind speed, hourly total solar radiation, and hourly load data have been used as input. Of the four configurations investigated, the diesel only system is found to be most cost effective with an energy cost of 0.037 US$/kWh with a fuel cost of 0.067 US$/1. Among the hybrid power systems, the PV-diesel hybrid system with 1,500 kW PV capacity, equal inverter capacity, and four diesel generators each of 1120 kW capacity are found to the most economical solution with a COE of 0.038 US$/kWh.

Comparative economic viability and environmental impact of PV, diesel and grid systems for large underground water pumping application (55 wells) in Jordan

The current work was based on four selected underground water production wells (W25, W29, W34 and W47), out of 55 wells available in total, at Disi water project located south of Jordan to power underground water pumping using a stand-alone solar photovoltaic (PV) system for an operation period of 25 years. The economic viability of large stand-alone solar PV system of 13 MW in total had been analysed through life-cycle cost computation compared with other four possible powering options, i.e. genset-powered, grid-networked systems, PV-grid and PV-genset. Individual cost banks were identified and studied based on previous practical experiences. Results of the life cycle costs per kWh in the order from the best to worst alternative is the PV (US$0.136 /kWh), PV/grid (0.140), grid (US$0.144 /kWh), PV-genset (0.185), and genset (US$0.239 /kWh), respectively. This proved that the PV solar system is more cost effective and suitable to use over other conventional types of energy for such large power system. Also, payback period analysis was carried out and showed that the PV system is a good option to be recommended highly compared with the other options. Following, the environmental aspects of using clean PV energy were discussed. The resulting savings in CO2 emission reached 30,000 tons per well throughout the study period, which summed up to about 1.5 million tons of CO2 for all Disi wells. A briefed risk assessment was conducted for the intended project. Risk levels associated to several hazards were identified as well. The work in this paper can be generalized to other cases worldwide under similar conditions.

Modeling and optimization of batteryless hybrid PV (photovoltaic)/Diesel systems for off-grid applications

This paper presents a new model and optimization procedure for off-grid hybrid PV (photovoltaic)/Diesel systems operating without battery storage.The proposed technico-economic model takes into account the variability of both the solar irradiation and the electrical loads. It allows optimizing the design and the operation of the hybrid systems by searching their lowest LCOE (Levelized Cost of Electricity). Two cases have been investigated: identical Diesel generators and Diesel generators with different sizes, and both are compared to conventional standalone Diesel generator systems. For the same load profile, the optimization results show that the LCOE of the optimized batteryless hybrid solar PV/Diesel (0.289 €/kWh for the hybrid system with identical Diesel generators and 0.284 €/kWh for the hybrid system with different sizes of Diesel generators) is lower than the LCOE obtained with standalone Diesel generators (0.32 €/kWh for the both cases). The obtained results are then confirmed by HOMER (Hybrid Optimization Model for Electric Renewables) software.

A case study of an integrated manufacturing performance measurement and meeting system

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is, first, to expose an integrated manufacturing performance measurement and meeting system implemented to focus the organization on value streams and, by doing it, to improve performance, and, second, to analyze the results obtained. Design/methodology/approach – This paper is based on an exploratory case study carried out at Delphi Diesel Systems (DDS) plant in Sant Cugat (Spain). Findings – The integrated manufacturing performance measurement and meeting system implemented by DDS Sant Cugat resulted in being very successful and appropriate to obtain the established objectives: focus the organization on value streams; and, by doing it, to improve performance, particularly the overall equipment effectiveness. Research limitations/implications – Considering the limited amount of research on the subject this kind of exploratory research is considered to be appropriate. The main limitation is that a single manufacturing plant was analyzed. Even though the characteristics of the plant and the problems addressed are common and, in consequence, it can be thought that the experience is replicable, further research should be conducted to verify it. Practical implications – For the management community, this paper provides a new way of designing and using manufacturing performance measurement systems. Originality/value – The presented case confirms previous works stating the importance of how performance measures and meetings are used and the need of involvement of the whole organization. The joint planning of the performance measures and the meeting system that has been presented had not previously been analyzed by the literature.

Integrated Hybrid Renewable, Diesel System with Improved Power Quality

Integrated Hybrid Renewable, Diesel System with Improved Power Quality

Techno‐economic feasibility study of autonomous hybrid wind and solar power systems for rural areas in Iran, A case study in Moheydar village

In this research, a feasibility study of using a small wind turbine as an integrated system with a solar photovoltaic system and a diesel generator was performed using the HOMER® optimization model. For this purpose three main scenarios have been taken into account. In the first two scenarios the diesel price was considered 0.8 $/L (Scenario 1) and 1.5 $/L (Scenario 2) and no limits were assumed for emissions of diesel generator. The most efficient system in the first scenario consists of one wind turbine (15 kW), a 75 kW generator, 35 batteries, and a 15 kW converter with renewable fraction of 53%. However in the second scenario, 7 kW photovoltaic array was added to the designed optimal hybrid system and thus the renewable fraction was increased to 71%. In the third scenario the limits were specified for the different pollutants using the CAP (Ontario Clean Air Program) standard. It was revealed that the optimal configuration which contains a 75 kW diesel generator, 21 kW photovoltaic array, 75 kW wind turbines, 50 batteries, and a 20 kW converter would be the most economically feasible. Emission analysis revealed that among all of the designed hybrid systems, highest level of CO2 emissions was observed for a stand‐alone diesel system with value of 115,436 kg/yr and the lowest level was observed for the hybrid system in the third scenario with value of 991 kg/yr. Additionally it was proved that the third scenario would be the best option for connecting the system to the grid. © 2015 American Institute of Chemical Engineers Environ Prog, 34: 1521–1527, 2015

Techno‐economic analysis of hybrid PV–diesel–battery and PV–wind–diesel–battery power systems for mobile BTS: the way forward for rural development

AbstractIn recent times, hybrid renewable energy systems are increasingly being utilized to provide electricity in remote areas especially where the grid extension is considered too expensive. This study presents the results of techno‐economic analysis of hybrid system comprising of solar and wind energy for powering a specific remote mobile base transceiver station (BTS) in Nigeria. All the necessary modeling, simulation, and techno‐economic evaluation are carried out using the assessment software package HOMER (Hybrid Optimization Model for Electric Renewable). Two best optimal system configurations namely PV–diesel–battery and PV–wind–diesel–battery systems are compared with the conventional stand‐alone diesel generator (DG) system. Findings indicated that PV array (10 kW) – DG (5.5 kW) – battery (64 units Trojan L16P) is the most economically viable option with the total net present cost of $69,811 and per unit cost of electricity of $0.409. The sensitivity analysis is also carried out to find the effects of probable variation in solar radiation, wind speed, and diesel price in the optimal system configurations. Finally, the environmental benefit of hybrid systems over the conventional stand‐alone diesel system is described. The obtained results show that the hybrid PV–diesel–battery system provides a reduction in CO2 emissions of about 16.4 tons per year as compared to the stand‐alone DG system.

Evaluation of Optimal Hybrid Distributed Generation Systems for an Isolated Rural Settlement in Masirah Island, Oman

ABSTRACTThis paper summarizes the findings from a study that has been conducted to evaluate the feasibility of using renewable energy sources such as solar and wind in combination with the conventional power system; diesel systems in an isolated island of Masirah in Oman. The study has been conducted to determine the best sustainable generation system to meet the electrical load requirements for a small community of 500 residential buildings. A series of a simulation analyses have carried out to assess different distribution technologies including photovoltaics, wind and diesel for electrical generation in combination with storage batteries. It was found that the cost of energy could be reduced by as much as 48% compared to the cost under the idealized design currently used in the Masirah Island (i.e. Diesel Driven Generators). In particular, it was found that wind turbines in combination with storage batteries have a great impact in reducing the cost of generating electrical energy for the residential co...

Optimal energy control of grid tied PV–diesel–battery hybrid system powering heat pump water heater

This paper develops an optimal control strategy for power dispatch of the grid-tied photovoltaic (PV)–battery–diesel system to power heat pump water heaters (HPWH). The system consists of the PV modules, grid, battery, HPWH, diesel generator (DG) and other domestic appliances. The PV can simultaneously feed in the excess power to the grid and supply the loads. The battery is used as storage of cheaper-to-buy off-peak grid energy, dependent on the time-of-use (TOU) electricity tariff, while the DG is a backup power source to the HPWH. The objective function of the model is to minimize energy and fuel cost while maximizing PV energy trade-off for incentives. The TOU is an important control parameter in this model. The power flows from each power source are the control variables. The optimal control shows a great potential to realize a practical net zero-energy building and demand side management. This model meets both the technical and operational constraints. A case study is done based on a 3×16kW HPWH installed at a Pretoria Hotel in South Africa. Simulations run over a year on selected seasonal dates using the actual measured demand of the HPWH. The optimal control problem is solved using a mixed integer non-linear program and the results show how TOU affects the power dispatch to the HPWH. The energy and cost savings are presented in this paper.