Urban distribution in medium-sized cities faces a major challenge, mainly when deliveries are difficult in the city center due to: an increase of e-commerce, weak public transportation system, and the promotion of urban sustainability plans. As a result, private cars, public transportation, and freight transportation compete for the same space. This paper analyses the current state for freight logistics in the city center of Pamplona (Spain) and proposes alternative transportation routes and transportation modes in the last-mile city center distribution according to different criteria evaluated by residents. An analytic hierarchy process (AHP) was developed. A number of alternatives have been assessed considering routes and transportation modes: the shortest route criterion and avoiding some city center area policies are combined with traditional van-based, bike, and aerial (drone) distribution protocols for delivering parcels and bar/restaurant supplies. These alternatives have been e... [more]

To optimize the performance of the transcritical CO2 two-stage compression refrigeration system, the energy analysis and the exergy analysis are conducted. It is found that higher COP, lower compression power, and less exergy destruction can be achieved when the auxiliary gas cooler is applied. Moreover, the discharge temperature of the compound compressor (HPS) can be reduced by decreasing the temperature at the outlet of the auxiliary gas cooler (Tagc,out). When the Tagc,out is reduced from 30 to 12 °C, the discharge temperature of the compound compressor (HPS) can be decreased by 13.83 °C. Furthermore, the COP and the exergy efficiency can be raised by enhancing the intermediate pressure. Based on these results, the optimizations of system design and system operation are put forward. The application of the auxiliary gas cooler can improve the performance of the transcritical CO2 two-stage compression refrigeration system. Operators can decrease the discharge temperature of the compo... [more]

The implementation of district heating networks into cities is a main topic in policy planning that looks for sustainable solutions to reduce CO2 emissions. However, their development into cities is generally limited by a high initial investment cost. The development of optimization methods intended to draft efficient systems using heating consumption profiles into a prescribed geographic area are useful in this purpose. Such tools are already referred to in the scientific literature, yet they are often restricted to limit the computational load. To bridge this gap, the present contribution proposes a multi-period mixed integer linear programming model for the optimal outline and sizing of a district heating network maximizing the net cash flow based on a geographic information system. This methodology targets a large range of problem sizes from small-scale to large-scale heating networks while guaranteeing numerical robustness. For sake of simplicity, the developed model is first appl... [more]

Green hydrogen technology has recently gained in popularity due to the current economic and ecological trends that aim to remove the fossil fuels share in the energy mix. Among various alternatives, biogas reforming is an attractive choice for hydrogen production. To meet the authorities’ requirements, reforming biogas-enriched natural gas and sole biogas is tempting. Highly effective process conditions of biogas reforming are yet to be designed. The current state of the art lacks proper optimization of the process conditions. The optimization should aim to allow for maximization of the process effectiveness and limitation of the phenomena having an adverse influence on the process itself. One of the issues that should be addressed in optimization is the uniformity of temperature inside a reactor. Here we show an optimization design study that aims to unify temperature distribution by novel arrangements of catalysts segments in the model biogas reforming reactor. The acquired numerical... [more]

Aiming at the problem of insufficient flexibility of the power system caused by large-scale wind power grid integration, a flexible economic dispatch model of the electricity-gas integrated system that considers power-to-gas and demand responses is proposed. First, it elaborates on the scheduling flexibility and demand response model. Secondly, the power system and the natural gas system are regarded as different stakeholders; with the goal of minimizing their respective operating costs, a two-tier distributed coordination optimization model of electricity and gas system is established. In order to achieve the coordination and optimization of the upper and lower systems, slack variables are introduced to describe the infeasible part of the power system scheduling results in the natural gas system and are used for interactive iterative solution of the model. The numerical results of the revised IEEE 30-node power system and 10-node natural gas system illustrate the effectiveness and nec... [more]

A marine condenser with exhausted steam as the working fluid is researched in this paper. Constructal designs of the condenser are numerically conducted based on single and multi-objective optimizations, respectively. In the single objective optimization, there is an optimal dimensionless tube diameter leading to the minimum total pumping power required by the condenser. After constructal optimization, the total pumping power is decreased by 42.3%. In addition, with the increase in mass flow rate of the steam and heat transfer area and the decrease in total heat transfer rate, the minimum total pumping power required by the condenser decreases. In the multi-objective optimization, the Pareto optimal set of the entropy generation rate and total pumping power is gained. The optimal results gained by three decision methods in the Pareto optimal set and single objective optimizations are compared by the deviation index. The optimal construct gained by the TOPSIS decision method correspondi... [more]

Given the large amount of energy required in the building sector, an interesting opportunity to reach future sustainable energy systems is the path towards low energy buildings. This work proposes an approach for optimally integrating building-scale energy technologies (both traditional and renewable) to enhance the transformation of the existing buildings (often energetically inefficient) in low-carbon systems. The approach promotes a transition sustainable from both the economic and environmental perspectives. Both operation and design optimization are considered with the aim of suggesting the best set of capacity of the technologies to be installed taking into account the expected operations. The building-scale technologies are integrated with proper storage units: Li-ion batteries and thermal storage (latent heat, that requires low installation space). As a dispatchable renewable technology, a biogas small-scale combined heat and power unit is included in the system. Once the key r... [more]

Transmission system operators impose several grid-code constraints on large-scale wind farms to ensure power system stability. These constraints may reduce the net profit of the wind farm operators due to their inability to sell all the power. The violation of these constraints also results in an imposition of penalties on the wind farm operators. Therefore, an operation strategy is developed in this study for optimizing the operation of wind farms using an energy storage system. This facilitates wind farms in fulfilling all the grid-code constraints imposed by the transmission system operators. Specifically, the limited power constraint and the reserve power constraint are considered in this study. In addition, an optimization algorithm is developed for optimal sizing of the energy storage system, which reduces the total operation and investment costs of wind farms. All parameters affecting the size of the energy storage systems are also analyzed in detail. This analysis allows the wi... [more]

This paper offers three easy-to-use metaphor-less optimization algorithms proposed by Rao to solve the optimal power flow (OPF) problem. Rao algorithms are parameter-less optimization algorithms. As a result, algorithm-specific parameter tuning is not required at all. This quality makes these algorithms simple to use and able to solve various kinds of complex constrained optimization and engineering problems. In this paper, the main aim to solve the OPF problem is to find the optimal values of the control variables in a given electrical network for fuel cost minimization, real power losses minimization, emission cost minimization, voltage profile improvement, and voltage stability enhancement, while all the operating constraints are satisfied. To demonstrate the efficacy of Rao algorithms, these algorithms have been employed in three standard IEEE test systems (30-bus, 57-bus, and 118-bus) to solve the OPF problem. The OPF results of Rao algorithms and the results provided by other swa... [more]

A tritium breeding blanket (TBB) is an essential component in a fusion reactor, which has functions of tritium breeding, energy generation and neutron shielding. Tritium breeding ratio (TBR) is a key parameter to evaluate whether the TBB could produce enough tritium to achieve tritium self-sufficiency (TBR > 1) for a fusion reactor. Current codes or software struggle to meet the requirements of high efficiency and high automation for neutronic optimization of the TBB. In this paper, the multiphysics coupling and automatic neutronic optimization method study for a solid breeder TBB is performed, and a corresponding code is developed. A typical module of China fusion engineering test reactor (CFETR) helium cooled ceramic breeder (HCCB) TBB was selected, and a 3D neutronics model of an initial scheme is developed. The automatic neutronic optimization was performed by using the developed code for verification. Results indicate that the TBR could increase from 1.219 to 1.282 (~5.17% improve... [more]

The high and growing share of renewable sources and the more important role of Distributed Energy Resources (DERs) in the Distribution System (DS) is leading to a need for more efficient coordination of those sources. In future power systems, TSO−DSO coordination will play a key role in providing flexibility services. Lack of proper coordination of sources may lead to congestion in the network or to a lack of possibility to generate or consume energy on a requested level. The crucial aspect is that the TSO−DSO coordination must be based on an active role of all participants: TSO, DSO, generation units and the demand. This paper presents the possible application of the TSO−DSO coordination by providing the flexibility services from DS to the Transmission System (TS). The paper presents the complex optimization of TS, DS and its coordination. The main goal of the paper is to show the possibility of the application of the flexibility market into the current system design. It requires the... [more]

A theoretical−experimental annual analysis of a hybrid industrial direct−indirect solar air heating system performance for drying was conducted considering temperatures, useful energy Qu, efficiency η, and solar fraction SF. The direct solar air heating system located in Morelos, México, has flat-plate solar air collectors, and the indirect system has flat-plate solar water collectors, a thermal storage tank, a cross-flow fin, and a tube heat exchanger. A validated TRNSYS program modeled the process; the validation was carried out by comparing each component outlet temperature and useful energy with the respective experimental field data. The analysis considered annual usage over seven days a week, nine hours a day (from 09:00 to 18:00 h), and three operation modes. For the direct, indirect, and hybrid operation modes, the Qu values were 31.60, 55.19, and 75.18 MWh/yr; the annual η values were 0.44, 0.41, and 0.42; and the annual SF values were 0.45, and 0.73 for the indirect and hybri... [more]

Load flow analysis is an essential tool for the reliable planning and operation of interconnected power systems. The constant increase in power demand, apart from the increased intermittency in power generation due to renewable energy sources without proportionate augmentation in transmission system infrastructure, has driven the power systems to function nearer to their limits. Though the power flow (PF) solution may exist in such circumstances, the traditional Newton−Raphson based PF techniques may fail due to computational difficulties owing to the singularity of the Jacobian Matrix during critical conditions and faces difficulties in solving ill-conditioned systems. To address these problems and to assess the impact of large-scale photovoltaic generator (PVG) integration in power systems on power flow studies, a derivative-free quasi-oppositional heap-based optimization (HBO) (QOHBO) technique is proposed in the present paper. In the proposed approach, the concept of quasi-oppositi... [more]

Nowadays, many organizations and individual users are employing cloud services extensively due to their efficiency, reliability and low cost. A key aspect for cloud data centers is to achieve management methods to reduce energy consumption, increasing the profit and reducing the environmental impact, which is critical in the deployment of leading-edge technologies today such as blockchain and digital finances, IoT, online gaming and video streaming. In this review, various clustering, optimization, and machine learning methods used in cloud resource allocation to increase the energy efficiency and performance are analyzed, compared and classified. Specifically, on the one hand, we discuss how clustering methods and optimization techniques are widely applied in energy management due to their capacity to provide solutions for energy consumption reduction. On the other hand, we study how multi-objective optimization methods focus on reducing energy consumption as well as service level agr... [more]

At present, magnetically coupled resonance wireless power transfer (MCRWPT) is the main technology used in electric vehicle wireless power transfer (WPT) due to its advantages of high transmission power and high efficiency. The resonant compensation circuit of the system generally adopts the double LCC (DLCC) structure, which has many capacitor and inductor components. Therefore, it is necessary to optimize the circuit parameters to improve the transmission performance of the system. In this study, the DLCC compensation circuit was modeled and analyzed to lay the foundation for parameter optimization. Secondly, the size parameters of the energy transmitting and receiving coil were determined, and the influence of the change of the primary and secondary compensation inductance on the circuit element stress and output performance was analyzed to determine the optimal compensation inductance value. Thirdly, the realization condition of zero voltage switching (ZVS) was analyzed, the relati... [more]

Energy Internet is a complex nonlinear system. There are many stakeholders in the load trading market, which is usually regarded as a multi-player gaming. Although gaming theory has been introduced to solve Multivariate Load trading problems, different conditions should be considered to accurately optimize the multivariate load trading problem. For example, the selling side needs to reduce the reserve capacity and improve profits, but the consumer side needs to reduce costs and minimize the impact on its own electricity consumption. These contradictory conditions require multiple Nash equilibrium to achieve obviously. To address this issue, a unified architecture of the power system cloud trading is constructed in this paper, which is combined with the multiple load classification of the power system. In addition, according to the power market operation mechanism, a price-guided multivariate load trading game strategy is designed. More importantly, a multivariate load trading optimizat... [more]

In the last decade, logistic systems based on small aerial vehicles (drones) have become attractive for urban delivery operations as a sustainable alternative to ground vehicles because they are not affected by the congestion of the road network, thus allowing for faster and more reliable services. Aerial logistic systems, however, require a substantially different approach to operations management and need specifically designed supportive infrastructures. While the research on urban aerial delivery mostly focuses on the optimization vehicle operations, the appropriate design of supportive infrastructures is seldom considered. This paper focuses on the energy efficiency of aerial logistic systems, and proposes a new original methodology to obtain a realistic estimate of the overall energy consumed by a swarm of drones employed for urban delivery, taking into account the extension of the area served and its specific features. The methodology proposed offers relevant information for the... [more]

Electric vehicles (EVs) have a lot of potential to play an essential role in the smart power grid. EVs not only can reduce the amount of emission yielded from fossil fuels but also can be considered as an energy storage system (ES) and a backup system. EVs could support the demand response (DR) strategy that is considered as utmost importance to shift electricity demand in peak hours. This article aims to assess the impact of the presence of EV on DR strategy in a home-microgrid (H-MG). In order to reach the optimal set point, our energy management system (EMS) has been merged with differential evolution (DE) method. The results were auspicious and showed that the proposed method could decrease market clearing price (MCP) by 26% and increase the performance of DR by 17%.

Deterministic forecasting models have been used through the years to provide accurate predictive outputs in order to efficiently integrate wind power into power systems. However, such models do not provide information on the uncertainty of the prediction. Probabilistic models have been developed in order to present a wider image of a predictive outcome. This paper proposes the lower upper bound estimation (LUBE) method to directly construct the lower and upper bound of prediction intervals (PIs) via training an artificial neural network (ANN) with two outputs. To evaluate the PIs, the minimization of a coverage width criterion (CWC) cost function is proposed. A particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm along with a mutation operator is further implemented, in order to optimize the weights and biases of the neurons of the ANN. Furthermore, wavelet transform (WT) is adopted to decompose the input wind power data, in order to simplify the pre-processing of the data and improve the accur... [more]

Hybrid electric aero-propulsion requires high power-density electric motors. The use of a constrained optimization method with the finite element analysis (FEA) is the best way to design these motors and to find the best solutions which maximize the power density. This makes it possible to take into account all the details of the geometry as well as the non-linear characteristics of magnetic materials, the conductive material and the current control strategy. Simulations were performed with a time stepping magnetodynamic solver while taking account the rotor movement and the stator winding was connected by an external electrical circuit. This study describes the magnetic FEA direct optimization approach for the design of Halbach array permanent magnet synchronous motors (PMSMs) and its advantages. An acceptable compromise between precision and computation time to estimate the electromagnetic torque, iron losses and eddy current losses was found. The finite element simulation was paired... [more]

Connected communities potentially offer much greater demand response capabilities over singular building energy management systems (BEMS) through an increase of connectivity. The potential increase in benefits from this next step in connectivity is still under investigation, especially when applied to existing buildings. This work utilizes EnergyPlus simulation results on eight different commercial prototype buildings to estimate the potential savings on peak demand and energy costs using a mixed-integer linear programming model. This model is used in two cases: a fully connected community and eight separate buildings with BEMS. The connected community is optimized using all zones as variables, while the individual buildings are optimized separately and then aggregated. These optimization problems are run for a range of individual zone flexibility values. The results indicate that a connected community offered 60.0% and 24.8% more peak demand savings for low and high flexibility scenar... [more]

This paper presents the analysis of the main reasons for a significant decrease in the intensity of diffusion processes during the formation of gas hydrates; solutions to this problem are proposed in a new process flow diagram for the continuous synthesis of gas hydrates. The physical processes, occurring at the corresponding stages of the process flow, have been described in detail. In the proposed device, gas hydrate is formed at the boundary of gas bubbles immersed in cooled water. The dynamic effects arising at the bubble boundary contribute to the destruction of a forming gas hydrate structure, making it possible to renew the contact surface and ensure efficient heat removal from the reaction zone. The article proposes an assessment technique for the main process parameters in the synthesis of hydrates based on the criterion of thermodynamic parameters optimization. The optimization criterion determines the relationship of intensity of heat and mass transfer processes at the phase... [more]

Pipe height in cylindrical neutron moderator is an important factor to flow pattern, temperature distribution and even the neutron characters. In this paper, the steady-state thermal analysis of cold neutron moderator is carrying out with different heights, conjugated heat transfer method and one-way coupled with a neutron transfer software. The different pipe heights, which is the jet-to-surface distances (H/D = 0.5~6), were compared using a 2D moderator model. The results show that vortex size and velocity gradient from container wall to vortex center vary with H/D, the center of recirculation zone nearly remain constant, and heat transfer effect is weakened on the target bottom surface. With H/D increasing, the velocity at bottom target surface is progressively decreased, and cooling effect is poor, leading to the rise in temperature. The optimal range cooling performance is (H/D) = 0.5~1 at Re = 1.7 × 105, and the enhancement of beam power further strengthens the thermal deposition... [more]

This study aimed to examine the energy and exergy indices of the rosemary drying process in a hybrid-solar dryer (HSD) and the effects of air-drying parameters on these thermodynamic indices. Drying experiments were carried out at four levels of air temperature (40, 50, 60, and 70 ∘C) and three levels of air velocity (1, 1.5, and 2 m/s). Energy and exergy were calculated by application of the first and second laws of thermodynamics. Based on the principal laws, energy efficiency, exergy losses, and exergetic improvement potential rate, were evaluated. The results showed that the energy utilization ratio (EUR) ranged from 0.246 to 0.502, and energy utilization (EU) ranged from 0.017 to 0.060 (kJ/s). Exergy loss and efficiency varied from 0.009 to 0.028 (kJ/s) and from 35.08% to 78.5%, respectively, and increased with increased temperature and air velocity. It was found that the exergy loss rate was affected by temperature and air velocity because the overall heat transfer coefficient wa... [more]

An intelligent control strategy is proposed in this paper which suggests the Optimum Power Quality Enhancement (OPQE) of grid-connected hybrid power systems with solar photovoltaic, wind turbines, and battery storage. Unified Power Quality Conditioner with Active and Reactive power (UPQC-PQ) is designed with Atom Search Optimization (ASO) based Fractional-order Proportional Integral Derivative (FOPID) controller in the proposed Hybrid Renewable Energy Sources (HRES) system. The main aim is to regulate voltage while reducing power loss and reducing Total Harmonic Distortion (THD). UPQC-PQ is used to mitigate the Power Quality (PQ) problems such as sag, swell, interruptions, real power, reactive power and THD reductions related to voltage/current by using ASO based FOPID controller. The developed technique is demonstrated in various modes: simultaneous to improve PQ reinforcement and RES power injection, PRES > 0, PRES = 0. The results are then compared to those obtained using previous l... [more]