With the arrival of smart grid era and the advent of advanced communication and information infrastructures, bidirectional communication, advanced metering infrastructure, energy storage systems and home area networks would revolutionize the patterns of electricity usage and energy conservation at the consumption premises. Coupled with the emergence of vehicle-to-grid technologies and massive distributed renewable energy, there is a profound transition for the energy management pattern from the conventional centralized infrastructure towards the autonomous responsive demand and cyber-physical energy systems with renewable and stored energy sources. Under the sustainable smart grid paradigm, the smart house with its home energy management system (HEMS) plays an important role to improve the efficiency, economics, reliability, and energy conservation for distribution systems. In this paper, a brief overview on the architecture and functional modules of smart HEMS is presented. Then, the advanced HEMS infrastructures and home appliances in smart houses are thoroughly analyzed and reviewed. Furthermore, the utilization of various building renewable energy resources in HEMS, including solar, wind, biomass and geothermal energies, is surveyed. Lastly, various home appliance scheduling strategies to reduce the residential electricity cost and improve the energy efficiency from power generation utilities are also investigated.

Smart home energy management systems: Concept, configurations, and scheduling strategies

The utilization of renewable energy is significantly important for the world because global energy consumption is increasing, while conventional energy sources are no longer sufficient to meet the energy demand, triggering energy crises. However, variation in solar radiation and wind speed caused by climate and weather conditions restricts the stable operation of renewable energy systems, therefore, causing the output to fluctuate. A hybrid renewable energy (HRE) system can be highly efficient by combining multiple renewable energy sources and is regarded as a promising solution to the above issue. In this review, a comprehensive summary and discussion of the uses of HRE in terms of space heating, cooling, hot water usage, power generation, hydrogen production, drying and multi-generation are conducted. Hybrid system configurations, specific devices, application procedures, and performance are reviewed. Moreover, the challenges and outlook for HRE utilization are discussed, including the following points: proper use of the local sources in view of disperse and regional distribution of renewable energy; development of hybrid storage subsystems for HRE to improve the stability of the energy supply; further optimization of the operation strategy and system size to minimize the cost in order to promote the application; and, clear identification of the supporting local policies of renewable energy, especially considering HRE. Furthermore, the research potential is described for HRE utilization integrating direct CO2 reduction.

A review on the utilization of hybrid renewable energy

This paper gives a review on performances of compact heat exchangers (CHEs), including well-established devices, some relative newcomers to the market and also designs still being tested in the laboratory. The structures of the CHEs are briefly introduced, and their heat transfer enhancement mechanisms, as well as their advantages and limitations, are summarized. Then, different heat transfer enhancement technologies in CHEs are compared and their thermo-hydraulic performances are analyzed on the basis of available correlations for heat transfer and friction factor developed by various investigators quoted in the open literature. Finally, the technologies that may fit the specifications for a new generation of solar receiver, which is a critical component of the Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) system, are proposed. It is concluded, among others in the review, that solar receivers based upon CHE technology have been rarely reported, and therefore, more work is needed in this field for a comprehensive understanding and to improve the uses of new energy sources and contribute to sustainability.

Compact heat exchangers: A review and future applications for a new generation of high temperature solar receivers

Plate heat exchangers have been widely applied in numerous industrial applications since their first commercial exploitation in the 1920s. Enhancing the thermal-hydraulic performance of plate heat exchangers is of crucial importance for the energy conversion as well as for the improvement of the system economy, through savings in the capital investment. The efficiency of a plate heat exchanger can be improved either by optimizing its geometry or using heat transfer enhancement techniques. This paper provides a comprehensive review of previous works regarding the effects of chevron corrugation geometrical parameters on the performance of plate heat exchangers, and the application of heat transfer enhancement techniques in plate heat exchangers, focusing on passive surface techniques and the use of nanofluids. The objective of the paper is not only to describe relevant studies, but also to provide an understanding of the heat transfer mechanisms governing the results, and to evaluate and compare the different heat transfer enhancement techniques. In addition, prospective directions for future research are provided. The review indicates that for the chevron-type plate heat exchanger, the chevron angle is the most influential geometrical parameter by changing the flow structures in the single-phase heat transfer; meanwhile the chevron angle has a significant influence on the heat transfer regions characterized by convection in the two-phase heat transfer. An analysis based on the performance evaluation criteria suggests that the thermal-hydraulic performances of the studies with different geometrical parameters and enhancement techniques are generally higher at low Reynold numbers. Furthermore, the review and analysis indicate that the capsule-type embossing surface and the microstructured surface with a nano- and microporous layer are the enhancement techniques that present the highest performance in single-phase and two-phase heat transfer, respectively.

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A review of heat transfer enhancement techniques in plate heat exchangers

Performance and cost benefits analysis of double-pass solar collector with and without fins

Generalized correlations for predicting heat transfer and pressure drop in plate heat exchanger channels of arbitrary geometry

Numerically assisted analysis of flat and corrugated plate solar collectors thermal performances

Dynamic modeling approach for determining buildings technical system energy performance

The paper presents the investigation on the influence of different geometric parameters such as the chevron angle  , pressing depth b and corrugation wave length l on thermal-hydraulic performances of corrugated channels, commonly employed in plate heat exchangers. In order to fully understand a rather complex flow phenomena occurring in corrugated channels, a number of dye based visualization tests have been conducted on two channels with chevron angles  =28° and  =61° at low Re-number flow conditions. The existence of two flow components has been recorded. The influence of flow components on the heat transfer depends mainly upon the angle  and Re-number as well as on the aspect ratio b/l. The exception are plates with the angle  <45° where the aspect ratio b/l does not significantly influence neither thermal nor hydraulic performances. Also, the influence of b/l on heat transfer declines as Re- numbers decrease. Thermal-hydraulic performances are evaluated in terms of the heat transfer coefficient, pressure drop and area goodness factor calculated from experimental data reported in the literature. Results indicate higher increase of the pressure drop relative to increase in the heat transfer for plates with deeper grooves (higher b/l) at fixed Re-number and angle  .

Influence of chevron plates geometry on performances of plate heat exchangers

This paper presents a novel 2D numerical and experimental approach which can be used to assess the thermal performances of a polymer solar collector as a part of the design process. Numerical simulations are performed using software package FLUENT. To simulate radiative heat transfer, different radiation models that are available within FLUENT are applied including the discrete ordinates (DO) and surface-to-surface (S2S) model. Solar incident radiation is taken into account as an energy source computed analytically or via ray tracing software or as an external beam which is a part of boundary condition in semi-transparent DO model. Different combinations of longwave and shortwave radiation modeling are tested, first on a segment of a typical flat plate collector. In the second step, these models are applied to the test box at different boundary conditions and materials. Numerical models are then applied to the geometry of polymer solar collector prototype to assess its thermal efficiency. Combination of longwave radiation computed with DO and S2S sub-model and solar incident radiation modeled analytically or via ray tracing software yields sufficiently accurate results on the all tested computational domains, thus any of them can be used to compute thermal efficiency of a polymer solar collector. On the other hand, when applying semi-transparent DO model with the solar incident radiation modeled by the external beam, the obtained results are unphysical. Present approach is a part of the research aimed at the development of a thermally efficient low-cost polymer solar collector running in a drain back system. The prototype will be then experimentally tested.

Damir Dović

Papers

Generalized correlations for predicting heat transfer and pressure drop in plate heat exchanger channels of arbitrary geometry

Numerically assisted analysis of flat and corrugated plate solar collectors thermal performances

Dynamic modeling approach for determining buildings technical system energy performance

Influence of chevron plates geometry on performances of plate heat exchangers

Numerical and experimental approach for evaluation of thermal performances of a polymer solar collector