Control algorithm for an advanced hybrid heating and cooling node – Analysis of its potential

The development and implementation of 4th generation advanced heating and cooling nodes is needed in the face of growing, and more and more differential thermal comfort needs. The paper introduces a unique novel structure of hybrid heating and cooling node designed, constructed and already operated under moderate climate conditions of Poland. The substation integrates centralized district heat rate with locally produced useful heat gain from solar thermal collectors. The system driven both by heat and electricity delivers central heating, domestic hot water, cooling power, and low-temperature waste heat. This manuscript describes the simulation model, preliminary validation results, proposes a method for smart control of the node with a flexibly chosen optimization criterion and shows its impact. Creation of the control procedure satisfying economic or environmental savings objective functions is presented and discussed. The procedure was built upon assumed economic data and boundary conditions. Its potential is verified by means of simulation on validated component models. Depending on function-defined thermal comfort needs, current surrounding conditions and chosen optimization criterion, implementing the procedure may contribute to savings of variable scale if compared to a reference case. Preliminary simulation results revealed that in average, the by applying the economic optimization criterion, the cumulative operational costs become 1/3 of the reference case. At the same time, if the environmental optimization criterion is considered, the cumulative harmful substances emission indicator can be decreased less significantly: by 0.6%.