Ionita C.I.

, Exergetical Cost-to-Quality-Analysis of an Autonomous Apartment Heating

EXERGETICAL COST-TO-QUALITY ANALYSIS OF AN AUTONOMOUS APARTMENT HEATING

Ion Ionita Lower Danube University 47 Domneasca St. 6200 Galati, Romania

ABSTRACT The paper presents the results of one year working study of an autonomous apartment heating. By measurements and computation the following values were determined: the equivalent global heat transfer coefficient of outdoor walls keq [J/s m2K]; the relation between heating cost and outdoor temperature in terms of cost-to-quality ratio; the daily cost of home heating, domestic water heating and cooking in winter or summer season including investment and operation maintenance expenditures. Finally, in a cost-to-quality diagram, a comparison between natural gas and electric heating was completed. Keywords: Heating, Thermo-economics, Exergo-economics, Cost-to-Quality Analysis NOMENCLATURE A air; C/Qs-1- the total unit cost of the service, that is the cost-to-quality ratio for all the s quality parameters, excepting one comparable parameter, for instance tq ; C-cost [$];
e c g - the unit cost of the natural gas related power,

[$/ m3 ]; N
g c e - the exergetical price of power, [$/kWh];

cI- the investment daily cost of the house heating or of domestic water heating, [$/day]; cOM- the operation-maintenance daily cost of house heating or of domestic water heating, [$/day]; cp(twl)- the mean specific heat of the outer walls, [J/kg K]; cpw the specific heat of water at constant pressure, [J/kg K]; Cthl - the cost-to-quality ratio for thermodynamic heater losses, as component of Eq.13 [$/h];

cA - the daily cost of A mode [/day]; cB - the daily cost of B mode [/day]; c E - the daily energy cost of B mode [/day]; cE- the composed energy( thermal) and exergy (electrical) unit cost of house heating, [$/day]; Ce- the cost-to-quality ratio of the associated to natural gas power, as component of Eq.13, [$/h]; Cg - the cost-to-quality ratio of natural gas as component of Eq.13, [$/ h]; cg- the price of the natural gas, [$/ m N ]; cth the price of thermal energy, [$/GJ]; ch,wh - the daily cost of house heating or for domestic water heating, [$/day];

CI t - the total investment cost, [$]; Cwhl- the cost-to-quality ratio for wall heat losses, as component of Eq.13, [$/h]; FG - flue gas; GM gas meter; K heater; keq - the equivalent heat transfer coefficient from indoor to outdoor, [J/s m2K] (Eq.2); ks the global steady state heat transfer coefficient between indoor and outdoor air, [J/s m2K](Eq.4); kw1,kw2,kwn,kd the global heat transfer coefficients for outside or inside walls, windows and outside door, respectively [J/s m2K]; ksv- the global state-variable heat transfer coefficient, [J/s m2K] (Eq.5);

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Ionita C.I., Exergetical Cost-to-Quality-Analysis of an Autonomous Apartment Heating

(ksv)hl - the heat loss term of ksv, [J/s m2K], (Eq.19); (ksv)inert - the thermo-inertial term of ksv, [J/s m2K], (Eq.20); LHV lower heating value of natural gas (LHV=35700 kJ/ m N ); m - the outdoor walls mass, [kg]; m w -the mass rate of warm domestic water, [kg/s]; NG - natural gas; P - circulating pump; P(f+p) - the driving power of the fan and circulating pump, [kW]; po and p the pressure of environment and of natural gas entering the gas meter, respectively, [bar]; Qs-1- the quality expressed by all (s-1) parameters; R radiator; So the outside surface area, [m2], So=Sw1+Swn; Sw1,Sw2,Swn,Sd the surface area of outside walls (temperature to), of dividing from staircase walls(temperature ti2), of windows and outside door, respectively, [m2]; th and tl the high and low temperature of domestic water, [oC]; ti2 the indoor staircase temperature, [oC]; t i and ti - the setting indoor temperature and the achieved in fact indoor temperature, respectively, [0C]; To and T the temperature of environment and of natural gas entering the gas meter, respectively [K]; TS thermostat; V fan;
s 3

twl- the climate temperature variation of the outer walls, [0C]; tq- the quality temperature difference (Eq.10); - variation; dwh the heat rate of domestic water heating, [J/s]; h house heating rate, [J/s]; (Eq.1); thl- the thermodynamic heater losses rate, [J/s] (Eq.8); h heater thermodynamic efficiency (h=0,90); z- the thermal conductive coefficient of the z thermal insulation layer [J/s m K]; 1 and 2 the measurement moments, [h]; A- the time interval of the climate temperature variation, [s]; lc - the equipment life cycle, [h];

Vg - volume fuel rate, [ m3 N /s];

3 d Vg - daily fuel rate of natural gas, [ m N /day];

Vo the normal volume of the consumed natural gas, [ m N ]; Vr the natural gas volume recorded by gas meter [m2]; Vr1 and Vr2 the natural gas volumes recorded by gas meter at the moments 1[h] and 2[h], respectively; i and 0- the convective heat transfer coefficient between indoor air and inner surface wall and between outer surface wall and environment, respectively [J/s m2K]; z- the thickness of the thermal insulation layer [m];
3

Superscripts d daily; g- natural gas; s- setting Subscripts dwh- domestic water heating; e - electricity; E - energy and exergy; eq equivalent; f+p fan + pump; h - heating; heater, high; hl heat loss; i -indoor; I-investment; inert thermo-inertial; l- low; lc- life cycle; o - outdoor; outside; OM - operation- maintenance; p - pressure; q - quality; r - recorded; s - steady state, suitable; sv state-variable; t - total; th thermal; thl thermodynamic heater losses; w - water; w1,w2 - wall; wh - water heating; whl wall heat losses; wn window; z - layer;

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Ionita C.I., Exergetical Cost-to-Quality-Analysis of an Autonomous Apartment Heating

1. INTRODUCTION

The author had the opportunity to measure (472 times) the values that determine the mean value of the global heat transfer coefficient for the walls of a heated apartment. Using the means of both thermo-economic analysis and quality analysis he could approach the dwelling heating in terms of cost-to-quality ratio. The measuring obtained data, using also the investment, operation-maintenance and energy consumption costs allowed the calculation of total costs for heating service and for warm domestic water production.
2. THE PHYSICAL MODEL

The paper work was completed using the physical model shown in Figure 1. The heat rate lost through outside walls and supplied by heat source is defined by h. The thermal source is the water heater K. It has the fan V introducing the combustion air as indicated by the arrow A and evacuating flue gas as shown by the arrow FG. Additionally the heater has circulating pump P, on service for radiators R. The installation running is controlled by room thermostat TS, which controls the requested internal temperature ti.
A FG ti=20oC to[oC]

The domestic warm water of heat rate dwh is automatically delivered at request, by depression created when consumption water tape is opened. The serviced space is an apartment in a stored building. This physical space is conventionally sketched in Fig.1 by dash line bordering the control volume. The outside heat transfer surface area of this volume is So=48,6 m2. The indoor and outdoor temperatures of the control volume are ti[oC] and to[oC], respectively . During all done measurements the indoor temperature ti=20oC was kept constant and 3 times a day the outdoor temperature to was measured. During 2001/2002 cold season the minimum value to=-12oC was recorded on 7 December 2001 at 10 p.m. and the night of 17-18 December 2001 between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m. The outside walls of the apartment have global equivalent heat transfer coefficient keq[J/s m2K], the value of which was obtained by experimental measurements. The meaning of this is explained by equation (2).
3. THE MATHEMATICAL MODEL

The heating installation working is governed by the following physical equations: The equation of the house heat losses:
h = k eqSo ( t i t o ) [J/s] The meaning of all symbols in equation (1) explained in Section 2 and in Nomenclature. The equation of the global equivalent transfer coefficient from indoor to outdoor: k S + k wn S wn + k eq = w1 w1 Sw1 + S wn [J/s m2K] k w 2S w 2 + k dSd t i t i 2 + S w1 + Swn ti to
s

(1) was heat

h
So[m ]
2

TS V K Warm domestic water Cold water

(2)

dwh

keq[J/s m2K] NG GM P Heating circuit

R

The meaning of symbols from Eq.(2) is shown in Nomenclature and in Fig.2. The conversion from chemical energy of fuel to useful thermal energy equation: h = Vg LHV h [J/s] (3) The equation of the global steady state heat transfer coefficient, between indoor and outdoor air: 1 ks = [J/s m2K] (4) z 1 1 + + i z o

Figure 1. The utilized physical model

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Ionita C.I., Exergetical Cost-to-Quality-Analysis of an Autonomous Apartment Heating

The equation of quality temperature difference:

t q = t s (10) i ti The general structure equation of the daily cost [1]: c h , wh = c I + c OM + c E [$/day] (11) Swn,kwn ti The investment daily cost equation: c I = C t / lc [$/day] (12)

Sw1,kw1

The cost-to-quality heating balance equation: C g + C e = C whl + C thl [$/h] (13) The cost-to-quality ratio for natural gas delivering equation C g = 3600 Vg c g [$/h] (14) The cost-to-quality ratio for associated to natural gas power equation:

to

C e = P(f + p) c g (15) e [$/h] The cost-to-quality ratio for wall heat losses equation: Sw2,kw2

ti2

Sd,kd

C whl = 3600 h c th / 10

[$/h]

(16)

The cost-to-quality ratio for thermodynamic heater losses equation C thl = 3600 thl c th / 10
6

[$/h]

(17)

Figure 2.About the values from Eq.2

The equation of global state-variable heat transfer coefficient between indoor and outdoor air:

4. THE STRUCTURE OF THE NEEDFUL COST TO - QUALITY RATIO

k sv =

Vg LHV h m c p ( t wl )t wl / So ( t i t o )

[J/s m2K] (5) The volume rate of the consumed fuel was calculated with equation:

Vg =

Vo 2 Vo1 3 [ m N /s] 2 1

The purpose of the paper is cost-to-quality analysis of the house heating accordingly to physical model shown by fig.1. By house heating we mean the heating processes aiming to compensate the house heat losses to environment (h) and to deliver the necessary warm domestic water (dwh). In the next sections we must to structure the cost-to-quality ratios for these two different needs.
4.1. The cost-to-quality ratio for house heating service

(6)

For the value recorded by gas meter Vr[m3], the normal volume of the consumed natural gas was corrected this way: T p 3 Vo = Vr o [ mN ] (7) T po

The house heating service has as final purpose to keep the setting indoor temperature t i from Eq.(1) when the outdoor temperature is to< t i . Among the parameters defining the quality of this service one can mention: - the indoor temperature of the serviced space, ti[oC]; - the outdoor temperature, to[oC];
s s

The thermodynamic equation:

heater

losses

rate (8)
(9)

thl = (1 h )Vg LHV [J/s]

The equation of domestic water heating: dwh = m w c pw ( t h t e ) (J/s)

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Ionita C.I., Exergetical Cost-to-Quality-Analysis of an Autonomous Apartment Heating

the quality temperature difference, tq, accordingly to Eq.(10); - the thermodynamic efficiency of the equipment h; - the quality of the thermal insulation and its behavior characterized by the global steady state heat transfer coefficient ks[J/s m2K], accordingly to Eq.(4); - the working safety of the equipment; - the operation comfort of the equipment, closely linked with its automation performances; - the environmental protection rules compliance; - the noise level [dB] of the running equipment; - the space requirements (overall dimensions, location, mounting requirements etc). For the house heating service the distinctive costto-quality ratio may be obtained using the values numerically expressing the cost and the quality of this service:

the cost-to-quality ratio of B mode must be expressed in [$/day].

5. THE COST STRUCTURE AND VALUES

Firstly we have to notice that any cost of a product or of a service is in fact a cost-to-quality ratio, because always any cost is related to the payment object. More about this subject the reader can find in [2,4]. For our present case, both the cost of house heating ch and the cost of domestic water heating cwh have the same structure which is composed by three terms, accordingly to Eq.(11). The value cI was calculated by means of the total investment cost C t = 1408,45 $ and of the life cycle lc = 10 years using the Eq.(12). It was obtained cI = 38,49 /day for house heating. Having in view the operation experience of this sort of equipments (Bosch ThermotechnikNovatherm ZW20AME) it was considered cOM = 0,1 cI. A real value of the cOM can be obtained only after life cycle ending. As the Nomenclature shows, the value cE[$/day] represents the energy and exergy cost of heating. It is the cost of the consumed both natural gas and electricity to burn the measured fuel. For the installation that was studied the chemical energy of the fuel becoming thermal energy and the corresponding electricity (that is exergy) are consumed in one of the following analytically distinct programs: A mode In cold season (house heating + domestic water heating + cooking); B mode In summer time (domestic water heating + cooking); When cooking, the natural gas is consumed both for preparing meals and to prepare dish washing warm water. There is no reason to separate the above-mentioned two close linked consumptions. C mode In summer time (only domestic water heating, no cooking). The studied heating installation is working with 140 W power for circulating pump and for fan. It is set to consume 1,5 m3 N /h at nominal state. For the price of natural gas cg = 9,83 / m N and for corresponding cost of electricity c e g [/ m N ], the combined price of the consumed both energy and exergy is c (g + e) = c g + c e g = 10,42 / m N .
3
3 3 I

h [J / s]c g [$ / m 3 N ]3600[s / h ]24[ h / day]

3 LHV[kJ / m 3 N ] 10 [ J / kJ ]

=
(18)

C = Qs 1

[$ / day]

In the Eq.(18) the value C/Qs-1 is the cost-toquality ratio for all the s above enumerated quality parameters, excepting one comparable parameter, for instance the quality temperature difference tq. More about this procedure the reader can find in [2,3]
4.2. The cost-to-quality ratio for domestic water heating

The warm domestic water is a product that the user needs it almost permanently at request. The quality of the domestic warm water can be expressed here just by its temperature th(Eq.9), all the other quality parameters being complied by the cold delivered from urban net water. The necessary cost-toquality ratio can be expressed by [$/kg] of warm water of th temperature. On the other hand, lets think that for an apartment the supplied natural gas can be quasi-simultaneously utilized for house heating, domestic water heating and meals cooking (A mode). More, the domestic water heating and meals cooking are inseparably and functionally linked therefore they must be treated as a domestic service, characterized by B mode. As consequence,

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Ionita C.I., Exergetical Cost-to-Quality-Analysis of an Autonomous Apartment Heating

We have to notice that for the studied case, the electricity share in the total cost of consumed energy represents economically (0,59/10,42)100=5,66%
6. THERMO-ECONOMICAL, EXERGOECONOMICAL AND COST-TO-QUALITY APPROACHES.

In the case of a heating process there are two essentially different energy categories utilized in this purpose: - the thermal energy, converted from the chemical one of the fuel by combustion and not reaching up to exergy form, just stopping the conversion chain of process at thermal stage; - the electricity used to drive fan and circulation pump electro-motors, that is the exergy obtained in power plants by fuel combustion. In a balance equation of the studied thermal system we may not add values of different dimensional units, like energy (measured in kJ) and exergy (measured in kWh). More about this subject the reader is invited to find in the papers [5,6]. What we can do here is to express both energy and exergy rates in their economically corresponding values, that is in money units, which may be added together. In the Fig.3 the inlet cost rates are for fuel Cg [ /h] and for driving corresponding power Ce[ /h]. The outlet cost rates are for wall heat losses Cwhl [ /h] and for thermodynamic heater losses Cthl [/h]. (Eq.13). All the terms of Equation (13), both from the left hand side and from the right hand side are

expressed in [ /h], accordingly to dimensional analysis requirements. In the next section we will see the obtained experimental results. Here we have to notice that in the Eq.(13) for the term Cg we utilized thermo-economical analysis while for term Ce we have to use exergo-economical analysis. What we have done in the Fig.3 and in Eq(13) is a combined approaching way, because we had to take into consideration both the cost and the quality of the consumed energies. This is, in fact, a cost-to-quality analysis as we already noticed in Sections 4 and 5. The investment and operation maintenance costs were not written because the Eq.(13) refers only to energy forms of expenditure.
7. EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS

Fuel Cg [/h]

Power Ce [/h]

The serviced space ti [oC] So [m2], keq [J/s m2K] Cwhl [/h] Wall heat losses Cthl [/h] Thermodynamic heater losses

to [oC]

The experimental measurements were done for the indoor temperature ti, automatically kept at 20oC, with errors much less than 1oC. The measuring period was 22 nov.2001- 5 aug.2002, with 472 measurements totally. The recording table had the following columns: the current number, the month day, the day hour, the outdoor temperature to[oC], the index of gas-meter Vr[m3], comments. Three times a day measurements were done in the following manner: - in the morning before heating the domestic water; - in the noon or later, after cooking; - in the night, when the domestic water heating ended. The measured data work were used to calculate: - the heating process parameters (no domestic water heating and cooking) during the night time; - the natural gas consumption for cooking and domestic water heating (B mode), during summer time, in the cooking days; - the natural gas consumption for domestic water heating only (C mode) in summer time, in no cooking days.
7.1. The state-variable global heat transfer coefficient

The house heating process (no cooking and domestic water heating) was studied calculating experimentally by direct measurements the heat loss term of ksv (Eq.5), that is (ksv)hl:

Figure 3. The cost-to-quality heating balance

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Ionita C.I., Exergetical Cost-to-Quality-Analysis of an Autonomous Apartment Heating

(k sv ) hl =

Vg LHV k So ( t i t o )

[J/s m K]

(19)

The thermo-inertial term mc p ( t wl )t wl / [J/s m2K] (20) (k sv )inert = So ( t i t o ) the values of which is giving the positive or negative differences versus to mean value (ksv)hl were not calculated, anyway they balance each other. They are written here only to explain the value difference between (ksv)hl (Eq.19) and keq (Eq.2). The night measurements (23 p.m.) after C mode ending and the next morning (6 a.m.) measurements, before C mode beginning, were used for (ksv)hl calculation. From the total of 115 measuring nights, the mean result was (ksv)hl = 2,48 J/s m2K, with the following values distribution (Tab.1). Table 1. The distribution of (ksv)hl [J/s m K] obtained values Values 1,01 1,51 2,01 2,51 interval 1,50 2,0 2,50 3,0 % cases 6,0 7,8 16,6 23,6 3,01 3,51 4,01 4,51 5,01 3,5 4,0 4,5 5,0 5,5 12,3 16,5 2,6 0,8 0,8
2

An evaluating value of house heating daily cost vs. outdoor temperature ch(to) can be calculated with statistic equation ch(to) = 67,52 3,38to [/day] It was obtained using Eqs.(1) and (11) and the experimental results.
7.3. The cost-to-quality ratio of B mode

The daily consumption rate in B mode was measured as

B Vg = 1,032 m 3 N / day . As we

calculated before (Section 5) the combined price of the energy and exergy consumed is cE=10,42/ m N ; it results the daily energy cost c E of the B mode:
B cB E = c E Vg = 10,75 /day.

Here, too, using the Eq.(11) and the same values of

c I and c OM , we calculate the daily cost for B mode: cB = cI + cB E + c OM = 38,49+10,75+3,85 = = 53,09 /day
7.4. The combined cost-to-quality ratio for A mode This study dealt globally with A mode, which contains house heating in winter season and both domestic water heating and cooking all year long. c h ( t o ) = 67,52 3,38 t o c A, B

From the Tab.1 we can easily recognize the Gauss distribution of the measured values, excepting (0,01-0,50) interval, where the thermo-inertial component (ksv)inert ( Eq.20) is prevailing.
7.2. The cost-to-quality ratio for house heating (6 months)

[/day] 145,91

c h = 92,83

In the studied time period of h =916 hours only for house heating (no cooking and domestic water heating) were totally consumed GM = 185,703 m N natural gas, which means a mean daily fuel rate:
d = Vg
3

cA
c E = 10,75 cI = 38,49
cB
B

53,09 42,34 3,85

24 GM = 4,85 m 3 N / day h

cOM = 3,85

Using the Eq.(11) and the already obtained values cI = 38,49 /day and cOM = 0,1cI, for house heating cost-to-quality ratio we calculate: c h = c I + c E + c OM = 38,49 + 50,5 + 0,385 = = 92,83 cent / day

Winter season ( c A ) Summer season ( c B ) Figure 4. The daily costs for A and B modes

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Ionita C.I., Exergetical Cost-to-Quality-Analysis of an Autonomous Apartment Heating

The combined daily costs must be separately calculated for winter season ( A mode) and for summer season ( B mode). For winter season: c A = c h + c B = 92,83 + 53,09 = 145,91 /day For summer season the daily cost c B was already calculated (Subsection 7.3). All the obtained results are graphically represented in the Fig.4.
8. ABOUT THE COST TO - QUALITY COMPARED ANALYSIS

The carried out analysis allows plotting the studied modes in a cost vs. quality diagram (Fig.5). As single quality comparison parameter was chosen the temperature quality difference (Eq.10) and used here as 1/tq. More about the reasons used to go this way the reader can find in [3,7]. In the same diagram we can plot other heating solutions, and compare them in terms of cost and quality features.
C Qs 1 [/day] 354 Electric heating Variant 1

For instance, assuming that the apartment will be heated electrically, the evaluation gives 3,03 $/day for energy and 50,6 /day for equipment and operation-maintenance cost. Totally the electric heating variant will cost 3,54$/day with the same quality parameters. Comparing these data with those of natural gas heating, it results that electric heating is more than two times more expensive for the same quality (Fig.5). In the Fig.5 are represented schematically other 3 different variants (1,2 or 3) that could be: district heating, wood or coal heating using tiled stove or fireplace, oil stove and so on. Calculating and representing graphically each variant, the end user or the designer can compare them on cost-toquality terms and can choose the more convenient solution, related to affordable cost and to required quality.
REFERENCES

[1] Bejan A., Tsatsaronis G., Moran M. Thermal

Design & Optimization. John Wiley & Sons, New York, 1996. [2] Ionita C.I. About the Application of Extended Exergy Analysis to the Optimization of Industrial Systems Using Cost/Quality Ratio. Ecos 2000 Proceedings, University of Twente, Nederland, pp.187-198 [3] Ionita,C.I., Popa.V. The Analysis of the HVAC Systems Using Cost-to-Quality Criterion of Optimization. 7th REHVA World Congress Clima 2000, Napoli 2001, Proceedings on CD. [4] Ionita C.I. Engineering and Economic Optimization of Energy Production. International Journal of Energy Research, 2002; 26:697-715 (DOI: 10.1002/er.811) [5] Ionita C.I. Extending Thermoeconomic Analysis by Cost-to-Quality Optimization ECOS 2002, Berlin-Germany, pp.1434-1441. [6] Ionita C.I. The Cost-to-Quality Ratio-Based Optimization of the Energy Production. Entropie, Paris, Nr.232/2001, pp.10-19. [7] www.tmt.ugal.ro/Optimcost.

Variant 2

145,91 Natural gas, A mode Variant 3 53,09 Natural gas, B mode

Q1 =

1 t q

Figure 5: About cost-to-quality comparison of different heating variants

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