RT Journal Article
T1 Solar thermal hot water system in hospitals: Robust design methodology considering uncertainties
A1 Atienza Márquez, Antonio
A1 Domínguez-Muñoz, Fernando
A1 Fernández-Hernández, Francisco Ángel
A1 Cejudo-López, José Manuel
K1 Energía térmica solar
K1 Hospitales
K1 Agua caliente - Abastecimiento
K1 Ingeniería térmica
K1 Ingeniería mecánica
AB The energy yield of solar thermal installations is influenced by local climatic conditions, heating demand, and the efficiency of the system. These factors are affected by uncertainties arising from natural variations and a lack of knowledge. Designers typically address these uncertainties by oversizing the collector area. However, this practice usually leads to high costs, low efficiency, and short service lifetimes of the system. This paper proposes a robust sizing methodology for the solar thermal system used for service hot water preparation in a case-study hospital with a daily average hot water consumption of 8.69 m3. This novel approach incorporates uncertainties through probabilistic simulations, assessing the system’s reliability in achieving a 70% solar fraction design goal. The simulations reveal a mere 22% confidence in the initial deterministic design concerning the solar target and emphasize the importance of thermal insulation, temperature control, and collector cleaning as key factors to reduce performance variability. Although the final revised design outcome requires a 15% increase in the collector area compared to the initial scenario and stricter specifications for control components, pipe insulation, and valve maintenance, it achieves a 90% reliability. In addition, annual carbon emissions and levelized costs of hot water production can be reduced by 18% and 13%, respectively.
PB Elsevier
YR 2024
FD 2024
LK https://hdl.handle.net/10630/32429
UL https://hdl.handle.net/10630/32429
LA eng
NO Antonio Atienza-Márquez, Fernando Domínguez-Muñoz, Francisco Fernández Hernández, José Manuel Cejudo López, Solar thermal hot water system in hospitals: Robust design methodology considering uncertainties, Renewable Energy, Volume 234, 2024, 121163, ISSN 0960-1481, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.renene.2024.121163
NO Funding for open access charge: Universidad de Málaga / CBUA. The authors acknowledge the Universidad de Málaga and ‘‘Programa Operativo FEDER Andalucía 2014-2020’’ for the financial support of the contract UMA18-FEDERJA-247. The authors also gratefully acknowledge Mr. Pedro Quintero Jiménez, head of the energy services at Hospital Comarcal de la Axarquía, for providing data and helpful information concerning the system analyzed.
DS RIUMA. Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de Málaga
RD 19 ene 2026