The simulation of transients in thermal plant. Part II: Applications

This paper deals with the simulation of the transients of thermal plant with control systems. In the companion paper forming part I of this article [G.L. Morini, S. Piva, The simulation of transients in thermal plant. Part I: Mathematical model, Applied Thermal Engineering 27 (2007) 2138–2144] it has been described how a “thermal-library” of customised blocks can be built and used, in an intuitive way, to study the transients of any kind of thermal plant. Each component of plant such as valves, boilers, and pumps, is represented by a single block. In this paper, the “thermal-library” approach is demonstrated by the analysis of the dynamic behaviour of a central heating plant of a typical apartment house during a sinusoidal variation of the external temperature. A comparison of the behaviour of such a plant with three way valve working either in flow rate or in temperature control, is presented and discussed. Finally, the results show the delaying effect of the thermal capacity of the building on the performance of the control system.