Numerical optimization of domestic hot water systems based on global cost

Abstract

The scope of this work is motivated by the large number of solar heaters recently installed by the government in joint housing developments for the low-income population in Brazil, the technical challenges inherent in deploying domestic hot water systems, and innovative new models of sustainability technology being developed in Brazil. Computational algorithms were developed to establish the criteria for optimization, such as minimizing the required recycling, the energy consumption in pumping, and the diameter of the pipes in the secondary circuit of the distribution network. The numerical method adopted, the conjugate gradient method combined with a genetic algorithm, has exhibited a very satisfactory degree of convergence, even though high-oscillation amplitudes were observed, which are attributed to slight variations in the pipe diameters (commercial). Copyright © 2013 by ASME.