A detailed performance model of the 30 MWe SEGS VI parabolic trough plant was created in the TRNSYS simulation environment using the Solar Thermal Electric Component model library. Both solar and power cycle performance were modeled, but natural gas-fired hybrid operation was not. Good agreement between model predictions and plant measurements was found, with errors usually less than 10%, and t...

With the current focus on energy performance certification, factors such as increased and unstable fuel prices and consequent heating and electrical costs as well as the large number of buildings that are going to require energy analysis, a real need has surfaced for powerful, fast, and easy to use energy analysis solutions that will not be limited to energy experts. Live Energy (formerly calle...

Simulation codes of thermal behaviour could significantly improve housing construction design. Among the existing software, CODYRUN and TRNSYS are calculations codes of different conceptions. CODYRUN is exclusively dedicated to housing thermal behaviour, whereas TRNSYS is more generally used on any thermal system. The purpose of this article is to compare these two instruments in two different ...

A TRNSYS component (Type 262) has been written to simulate a concentrating PV/Thermal collector. The component is based on a dynamic model of a concentrating PV/Thermal collector, which includes thermal capacitance effects, and detailed equations describing the temperature dependent energy flow between the collector and surroundings. The CHAPS system, a 30x concentration parabolic trough PV/The...

The Australian National University has a 400m Paraboloidal dish solar concentrator system, informally named “the Big Dish” that produces superheated steam via a receiver mounted monotube boiler. The system, (shown in Figure 1) which is the worlds largest was constructed in 1994. This paper describes the results of the latest experimental tests plus associated system performance modelling. The s...

The main focus of this work was the simulation and optimization of a BIPV-façade-system configuration through the development of simulations using the software ”TRNSYS”. First, several limitations and constraints within the TRNSYS framework needed to be solved to develop a reliable simulation environment. Various parameters were detected which are influencing the temperature distribution over a...

In the operating theatre, where exhausted air is not permitted to be re-circulated, maintaining the conditions could be tedious on the HVAC systems and found to be energy inefficient. This research will look into the potential energy savings using heat recovery devices in treating the ventilation air, without compromising the occupants’ thermal comfort and health in the conditioned space. For t...

Throughout its thirty year history, the transient energy simulation package TRNSYS has been under continual enhancement by an international group of developers and users. This paper briefly describes a subset of the features that were added to the simulation package with the release of its 16 version in November, 2004.

This study was born in the context of new challenges imposed by the recast of the EU Energy Performance of Buildings Directive. The aim of this work is to develop strategies to identify and investigate the relationship between decisional variables within a nZEB design concept, providing a useful method to deal with a huge number of simulations corresponding to a large number of building configu...

As interest for clean renewable electric power technologies grows, a number of parabolic trough power plants of various configurations are being considered for deployment around the globe. It is essential that plant designs be optimized for each specific application. The optimum design must consider the capital cost, operations and maintenance cost, annual generation, financial requirements, an...