Applied Thermal Engineering 62 (2014) 581e592

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Applied Thermal Engineering

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/apthermeng

Simulation of energy use in buildings with multiple micro generators

S. Karmacharya a, *, G. Putrus a, C.P. Underwood a, K. Mahkamov a, S. McDonald b,
A. Alexakis a
a
b

Faculty of Engineering and Environment, Northumbria University, Newcastle upon Tyne NE18ST, UK
National Renewable Energy Centre (NAREC), Blyth, Northumberland, UK

h i g h l i g h t s

Dynamic modelling of a building along with its space heating and hot water systems.

Dynamic modelling of mCHP including its start-up and shut down characteristics.

Integration of micro generations with energy demands in a dwelling in real time.

Fuel utilisation and energy efciency in a dwelling is analysed in real scenario.

Overall efciency of a mCHP is largely inuenced by the number of switching.

a r t i c l e i n f o

a b s t r a c t

Article history:
Received 8 May 2013
Accepted 21 September 2013
Available online 23 October 2013

This paper focuses on the detailed modelling of micro combined heat and power (mCHP) modules and
their interaction with other renewable micro generators in domestic applications based on an integrated
modular modelling approach. The simulation model has been developed using Matlab/Simulink and
incorporates a Stirling engine mCHP module embedded in a lumped-parameter domestic energy model,
together with contributions from micro wind and photovoltaic modules. The Stirling cycle component
model is based on experimental identication of a domestic-scale system which includes start up and
shut down characteristics. The integrated model is used to explore the interactions between the various
energy supply technologies and results are presented showing the most favourable operating conditions
that can be used to inform the design of advanced energy control strategies in building. The integrated
model offers an improvement on previous models of this kind in that a fully-dynamic approach is
adopted for the equipment and plant enabling fast changing load events such as switching on/off domestic loads and hot water, to be accurately captured at a minimum interval of 1 min. The model is
applied to two typical 3- and 4-bedroom UK house types equipped with a mCHP module and two other
renewable energy technologies for a whole year. Results of the two cases show that the electrical
contribution of a Stirling engine type mCHP heavily depends on the thermal demand of the building and
that up to 19% of the locally-generated electricity is exported whilst meeting a similar percentage of the
overall annual electricity demand. Results also show that the increased number of switching of mCHP
module has an impact on seasonal module efciency and overall fuel utilisation. The results demonstrate
the need for the analysis of equipment design and optimal sizing of thermal and electrical energy
storage.
2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords:
Micro combined heat and power
Matlab/Simulink
Dynamic thermal modelling
Domestic electrical demand
Renewable energy sources

1. Introduction
The market for micro combined heat and power (mCHP) modules is expected to grow, as a viable option for domestic boiler
replacement [1]. Options include fuel cells, Stirling engine, organic

* Corresponding author.
E-mail address: samir.karmacharya@northumbria.ac.uk (S. Karmacharya).
1359-4311/$ e see front matter 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.applthermaleng.2013.09.039

Rankine cycle and conventional reciprocating engine based mCHP.

One of the most promising of these options is the Stirling cycle due
to its relatively low noise emission and low maintenance [2].
Having considered the energy and economic performance of a
range of domestic scale technologies, Barbieri et al. [3] concluded
that Stirling engine based mCHP is the best current option for a
range of domestic operating scenarios. However challenges exist
around: a) how to integrate these units into an unfamiliar application in which both heating demand and power demand vary

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Nomenclature
AU
C
Cwm
Cw,tank
G(s)
K
N
R
Ti
Tm
To
Ts
Tw

area-integrated thermal transmittance value (heat

emitter, W K1)
thermal capacitance (J m2 K1)
heat emitter combined water and material thermal
capacitance (J K1)
water tank thermal capacity (J K1)
transfer function of either power or heat in response to
switched event
gain (kW)
total number of heat emitter modelling zones
thermal resistance (m2 K W1)
temperature, internal ( C)
temperature, middle ( C)
temperature, external ( C)
temperature, surface ( C)
temperature, water ( C)

throughout the season often with a signicant random component;

b) unusual module response characteristics (particularly the Stirling cycle) involving relatively long run-up times; c) a wide range of
electrical and fuel tariff possibilities and, d) the possible existence
of other competing embedded renewable energy supply
technologies.
Much of the progress concerning the behaviour of mCHP plant
in domestic applications has focused on comparing the seasonal
economics of alternative module types [1,3,4] and on the measurement of the individual and comparative performances of these
systems [5e7]. Peacock and Newborough [8] studied the impact of
heat and power ows from Stirling engine and fuel cell modules
using constant effective module data and 1-min recordings of domestic energy demand concluding that these systems could supply
25e46% of a single dwellings annual electricity demand. However
this is at odds with De Paepe et al. [9] who concluded that only 10%
of the electricity generated by 5 different types of mCHP modules
can be used by the host dwelling based on energy demands from
the (relatively simple) simulation program DOE-2.5 applied to
typical Belgian family houses.
Though the modelling of mCHP modules has received attention,
most of this is related to solid oxide and proton-exchange membrane fuel cells [10e12] and very little work has been done on the
dynamic simulation of these plants when including the detailed
dynamic response of the local heating and electrical demand environments. Lombardi et al. [13] present a detailed semi-empirical
dynamic model of a domestic-scale Stirling engine mCHP module
which demonstrate improvements over an existing model as well
as a reduction in the number of experimental parameters needed.
However, no attention is given in this model to the balance of
system components and sub-systems (i.e. building, heating, electrical connections, etc). Dorer and Weber [14] used a simulation
modelling approach to compare two types of fuel cell, Stirling engine and internal combustion engine based mCHP options at domestic scale using the modular simulation program TRNSYS.
However most of their simulations were conducted at time intervals of 15-min which is adequate for capturing daily and seasonal energy proles and mean performances but can fail to
capture many of the shorter term dynamics particularly in relation
to local loading changes and electrical grid interaction.
The aim of the work presented in this paper is to address the
design and operational issues mentioned earlier, by proposing a
comprehensive dynamic system simulation in which not only the
mCHP module participates, but also the building, its heating and

Tw,i
Tw,o
cpw
mw
mw,io
n
qloss
qrad
qsupplied
td
xi
xm
xo
yi
yo

3 (s)

temperature, water at inlet ( C)

temperature, water at outlet ( C)
specic heat capacity of water (J kg1 K1)
mass ow rate, water (kg s1)
mass ow rate, water at both inlet and outlet (kg s1)
integer reference to heat emitter modelling zone
heat loss from the tank (W)
heat input due to radiation (W m2)
Heat supplied to the tank by mCHP (W)
delay time (s)
inner material resistance ration
middle zone material resistance ration
outer material resistance ration
inner material capacitance ration
outer material capacitance ration
time constant (s)
uniformly distributed error term

other thermal demand systems, other local renewable energy inputs, and the interaction with the local electricity grid. The objectives of the development of such a simulation model therefore are
as follows:

To develop a detailed dynamic thermal model of a domestic type
building together with its heating and domestic hot water systems, control and thermal storage

To incorporate a dynamic thermal model of a Stirling engine
micro-CHP module with sufcient detail to capture its protracted run-up transients

To incorporate other domestic-scale embedded renewable
electricity systems (specically photovoltaic systems and microwind turbines)

To incorporate a local area electrical grid model to enable the
impact of the typically randomly-varying demand and renewable supply patterns to be reconciled with the mCHP module
and prevailing grid behaviour

To apply the simulation model to a range of operating scenarios
applicable to typical UK housing

To use the results obtained to identify key operational, design
and sizing issues necessary for analysing and optimising energy
use in building.
The paper is organised as follows: Section 2 gives the principles
of system modelling and Section 3 gives details of the model
development. Section 4 gives the model implementation and Section 5 gives results obtained and discussion. Finally, conclusions
and suggestions for further work are given in Section 6.
2. Modelling philosophy
Approaches to the dynamic modelling of distributed thermodynamic systems broadly fall into three categories:

Generic system models; in which pre-dened components and
sub-systems are dened and solved sequentially. Parameters
can be changed at the component level by the user but in all
other senses these types of models are rigid and inexible in
that new components cannot be added (or existing components
changed in character).

Modular component-based modelling in which recognisable
system components (a heat exchanger, a pump, a valve for
example) are treated in a self-contained black box manner

S. Karmacharya et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 62 (2014) 581e592

583

with dened input/output information ows such that each

individual component forms an object. Components can be
selected and inter-connected by the user to form sub-systems
from which complete systems can be made. This approach
gives high exibility as well as being intuitive for practicefocused users.

Equation-based modelling using differential algebraic equations (DAEs). DAEs form sets of differential equations, in
which time is the independent variable, with their input/
output information ows such that each equation forms an
object. This approach offers innite exibility but additional
tools are needed to (a), sort and transform the user-supplied
equations into an algorithm and, (b) process the algorithm
to execution.
Sahlin et al. [15] concluded that component-based approaches
are too rigid in structure to accommodate the improvements and
exibility in use that are likely to be increasingly needed in future.
They argue that equation-based methods offer greater exibility.
However, though equation-based methods form a exible and
convenient approach when it is possible to express a closed set of
equations to describe a problem, they can often lead to longer
computation times than is the case with conventional componentbased simulation programs. Bertagnolio and Lebrun [16] found this
when they developed detailed steady-state component models of
HVAC plant with a low-order single zone building and applied the
model to problems in benchmarking [16] and auditing [17].
Furthermore, certain users (practitioners and some applied researchers) are not comfortable with these methods which limit
their use to those with requisite scientic knowledge and skills. On
balance, with an appropriate level of component granularity it is
possible to alleviate the exibility issue to a large extent and, thus,
it is clear that for most applications a component-based approach
offers the widest range of advantages.
The multi domain graphical simulation environment Simulink
[18] integrated within Matlab was used in this work. Components
and sub-systems were arranged into 5 groups:

The building envelope

Space heating and domestic hot water systems
The mCHP module
Locally-embedded renewable energy systems
The electrical distribution network.

3. Model development
3.1. The building envelope model
A high-order lumped parameter method was used for the
building envelope having the advantage of relative simplicity (i.e.
computational efciency) whilst also providing sufcient accuracy
and rigour to capture a wide range of transient effects. The method
adopted was developed by Gouda et al. [19] which envisages a
second-order description of each signicant thermal capacity
pathway (i.e. exterior wall, internal partition, oor, roof) together
with algebraic heat balances at low capacity pathways (i.e. windows
and ventilation air transfer) completed with a rst-order treatment
of the enclosing room air. Thus a 9th order model for each space is
arrived at, as shown in Fig. 1. This method retains the simplicity of
the lumped parameter method whilst offering greater accuracy than
the more common lower order models of this kind [20].
Energy balance about each element can be written as secondorder matrix differential equations. For example, for the external
wall element (Eq. (1)) [21]:

Fig. 1. Representation of the lumped-parameter building envelope model.




1=xm yi R$C
T_ s 1=R$C$xi yi xm yi 
1=R$C$xm yo xo yo 
1=xm yo R$C
T_ m





T
0
1=R$C$xi yi 1=yi C
 s ::::::
Tm
0
0
1=R$C$xo yo
2
3
Ti
 4 qrad 5
To

(1)

where the resistance (R), capacitance (C) and rations (xi,m,o; yi,o)
are obtained using the method described by Gouda et al. [19]. For
the thermal resistance through each construction element (i.e. wall,
partition, etc), these rations are fractions of the total element
resistance allocated to the notional inside resistor (xi), middle
resistor (xm) and outside resistor (xo) of each construction element
as illustrated in Fig. 1 (and, xi xm xo 1). For the thermal
capacitance the yi and yo rations allocate the overall element
thermal capacity to the inside and outside capacitors respectively
(and, yi yo 1). Gouda et al. [19] used the term ration for these
fractions to imply that they remain constant (in effect, a quasi
property of the construction element). They require to be tted
using a suitable rigorous reference model and an appropriate tting
method such as optimisation. In this work, values recommended by
Gouda et al. [19] typical of UK house construction were used. Eq. (1)
can be readily and efciently represented in Simulink using a statespace block. Further details of the application of the method can be
found in Ref. [22].
Here, the room model was completed by adding a simple
transmittance factor glazing model with an associated solar radiation algorithm to read-in measured hourly global horizontal irradiances from a weather le and resolve the data into in-plane
direct and diffuse radiation. The window model does not include
any blinds, curtains or internal shading devices. All radiant sources
(both short wave and long wave) are assumed to be distributed
uniformly to all opaque room surfaces with the exception of the
direct component of solar radiation which is assumed to be
absorbed by the oor surface only. The solar radiation algorithm
was based on Liu and Jordans [23] method. A simple air change
ventilation model was incorporated. Other rooms or clusters of
rooms forming heating zones could easily be added to form a multizone building by copying and pasting in Simulink and making

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appropriate connections where appropriate via the oor, ceiling

and partitions paths (see Fig. 1).
3.2. Space heating and hot water systems modelling
For the space heating, a distributed low pressure hot water
heating system model was rst spatially-discretised resulting in a
set of ordinary differential equations (Eq. (2)) [24]:

Cwm n

d
Tw n mw cpw Tw n  1  Tw n  AUTw n  Ti
dt
(2)

Where n represents the nth zone of a heat emitter having a total of

N zones of equal volume. Underwood and Yik [25] and Fong et al.
[24] suggest that a satisfactory trade-off between accuracy and
computational cost for most heat exchangers of this type can be
obtained with N 3 and this was used in the present work.
Though the model developed in this work has the potential to be
used for advanced control strategies, in the work reported here it is
applied to conventional heating controls as would be expected in
most existing UK houses. All new and refurbished domestic hot
water heating systems in the UK require energy saving controls and
thermostatic radiator valves are mandatory. Despite their name,
thermostatic radiator valves contain a direct-acting sensing bulb
which acts to provide a variable water ow rate in response to room
temperature e they in fact modulate hot water ow with a relatively wide proportional control band. They also tend to exhibit
quite long time constants (5 min or more). Space heating control
was therefore represented by a single on/off thermostat in one
space of the house (usually the ground oor lobby) together with
an upper limit thermostat on the water discharge side of the mCHP
module; either of which can switch the mCHP module off, but both
of which must be on to permit the heating to operate. Both thermostats adopted a hysteresis switching pattern with a switching
dead-band of 2 K (room thermostat) and 5 K (mCHP module ow
water temperature). At the emitter level, the thermostatic radiator
valve was modelled as an equal-percentage modulating valve with
an actuator and sensing bulb with a 10-min time constant; details
of which can be found in Gouda et al. [21].
The domestic hot water system model consisted of a stored hot
water tank for two principal reasons. Firstly, it is well-established
that stored hot water provides capacity to smooth peaks in hot
water demand and, secondly, the stored capacity can act as a heat
sink for the mCHP module during periods of light heating demand
e an important consideration in order to restrict the number of
module starts over a given time period. A simple single-zone tank
from the Simulink extended thermodynamic systems component
library was used for this purpose which is based on the following
energy balance (Eq. (3)) [26]:

Cw;tank



d
Tw;o mw;io cpw Tw;i  Tw;o qsupplied  qloss
dt

(3)

Where Tw,i is the cold water in-feed temperature to the tank ( C),
Tw,o is the outow water temperature to the draw-off points ( C),
qsupplied is the heat input to the tank from the mCHP module (W)
and qloss is the heat loss from the tank (W). The water demand ow
rate (mw,io, kg s1) forms a model input variable which is read from
a le of demand data obtained from eld-monitoring surveys.
3.3. Micro-CHP modelling
The modelling of mCHP based on Stirling engines has received
relatively little attention. For dynamic simulations it is necessary to

treat the problem rigorously because these systems tend to exhibit

quite long run-up times. Whilst having the advantage of generic
applicability, a rigorous theoretical approach will lead to a complex
model requiring high computational power for its solution. It
would also most likely require at least some parameterisation from
empirical data (e.g. Lombardi [13]). In situations where experimental transient response data are available it is suggested that an
empirical model tted to such data is a preferred choice on the
grounds of computational cost (i.e. relative model simplicity) and
accuracy. This is the approach adopted in the present work. A
transient response test was carried out on a natural gas-red domestic scale mCHP module (specications are given in Appendix A)
discharging into hot water panel radiators and a local electrical
distribution bus in laboratory conditions. The laboratory heating
system test rig was congured using conventional panel radiators
with a combined capacity similar to what might be found in a
typical family house. The test mCHP module (Fig. 2) had a nominal
rated capacity of 6 kW (heat output) and 1 kW (single phase power
output). The heating system held the mCHP module at a moderately steady load for several hours before being shut down.
Inspection of the test data suggested that a transfer function of
the following form could be tted (Eq. (4)):

Gs

Ketd s
3 s
ss 1

(4)

Where G(s) is the response in power output or heat output of the

mCHP module, K is the gain, td is a pure time delay, s is a time
constant and 3 (s) is a uniformly distributed error term. Fitted parameters to Eq. (4) for the test module are given in Table 1.
The error term reects a random pattern of variance about a
nominal mean and mainly arises from variations in the heating
water ow rate. Such variations are evident in most ow measurements of this kind due to small variations in pump operating
condition and the presence of small bubbles of air, etc, and cannot
generally be individually explained in detail. This was modelled in
the time domain as a Gaussian random number sequence with a
mean of zero and a variance equal to the standard deviation of the
heat output value or power output value with respect to the their
respective mean values during the steady load period of the
response.
Results of the test including the tted model response data are
given in Fig. 3. The data to which the model was tted reects a
cold-start situation in which the laboratory air (and heating emitter
water contents) was at an initial steady temperature of approximately 18  C.
It is noted here that exibility arises when constructing system
simulation models in Simulink in that many alternative model
formats may be used without extensive mathematical manipulation by the user. Eq. (4) represents the third (of three) different
types of differential equation format used in the present work e
that of a linear transfer function. It is conveniently built into the
simulation information ow diagram using a generic transfer
function block which can then be appropriately decomposed by the
numerical engine without further involvement by the user. The
other types used here are given by Eq. (2) which is a nonlinear
ordinary differential equation (nonlinear on account of the product
of a variable water mass ow rate, mw, and variable water temperatures, Tw(n  1) and Tw(n)) and Eq. (1) which is a linear matrix
differential equation. The former was built using a user-dened
equation function (for the derivative) and a generic integrator
block whereas the latter was dened using a generic state-space
block. This sort of exibility is not normally available in other
simulation modelling environments (such as equation-based
methods) which are usually restricted to tight formatting conditions on the equations used.

S. Karmacharya et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 62 (2014) 581e592

585

Fig. 2. mCHP test module.

3.4. Modelling of micro renewable energy systems

Besides incentivising mCHP, the Feed-in Tariff (FiT) in the UK [27]
also provides subsidies for other electrical renewable energy technologies. At the domestic level, the two applicable technologies are
photovoltaic (PV) systems and micro-wind turbines. Because of the
likelihood of interaction between one (or both) of these options with
the mCHP module (for energy management), it was essential to
incorporate them in the simulation model. The PV system model was
based on the two-diode model of Ishaque et al. [28] combined with
the maximum power point tracking (MPPT) controller model proposed by Jiang et al. [29]. A simple xed inverter loss assumption was
made. The micro-wind turbine was modelled using a classical
power-law model with power coefcients taken from typical manufacturers literature and entered into the Simulink model by means
of a look-up table. Also included is a permanent-magnet generator
model with a voltage regulator based on a buck-boost converter.
Details of the latter can be found in Mohan et al. [30].
3.5. Modelling of the electrical network
The local power grid connection was modelled as one balanced
three-phase (400 V) power supply including resistive and inductive
impedance of the feeder based on part of the distribution network
model developed by Barbier et al. [31]. The intention is to capture
the impact of a simultaneous penetration from several micro generators to the distribution network. The dynamic load block
(Fig. 4) will either import or export power from/to the local threephase grid connection taking into account any capacity from local
Table 1
Model parameters for the test case mCHP module.
State
Switch
Switch
Switch
Switch

on e heat
on e power
off e heat
off e power

embedded renewable generators and the prevailing local demand

by the house. Although the model is focused on one subject house,
the impact of uctuating power ow from a small number of
several neighbouring houses can be explored, as the three phase
network is assumed to be balanced.
Electrical demand in domestic applications has considerable
randomness due to switched loads by occupants. Some attention
has been given to the modelling of these demands by considering
rst the power usage characteristics of electrical appliances and
then introducing a probabilistic model to describe how and when
they are likely to be used by the house occupants [32,33]. In this
work, the power demand patterns measured by Richardson and
Thompson [34] were used instead as they were considered to be
more representative and typical and, in addition, the appliances in
use were precisely stipulated.
4. The integrated system model
The completed simulation model expressed as a Simulink block
diagram is shown in Fig. 4. Note that the space heating block
masks the multi-zone house model (Section 2.2) as well as the
heating system and its thermostatic controls (Section 2.3). Time
series input data are read from les as follows:

Domestic hot water demand

Weather data (external air temperature, wind speed, global
horizontal solar radiation)

Occupancy activity schedule

Electrical power demand.
4.1. Application

K (kW)

s (s)

td (s)

6
1
4
0

91.4
131.4
161.4
e

60
120
0
e

The model was applied to two typical UK family house types; a

semi-detached house (Fig. 5) and a larger detached house (Fig. 6).
As a simplifying assumption, the houses were divided into 3
heating zones according to internal temperature standard; the
Living Room zone (nominally 21  C); the bedrooms zone

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S. Karmacharya et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 62 (2014) 581e592

Fig. 3. Fitted model to mCHP data.

(nominally 16  C) and a balance zone comprising all other spaces

(nominally 18  C). This is a common assumption for domestic energy modelling in the UK [32]. The house constructions were
assumed to be in accordance with typical recent construction
standards as set out in the UKs National Calculation Methodology
simplied building energy modelling database [35] and the UK
Building Regulations, Part L, 2006 for the semi-detached house and

1996 for the detached house. The occupancy patterns assumed two
working parents with children of school age (i.e. weekdays 06:00e
08:00 h and 17:00e23:00 h; weekend days 07:00e23:00 h). Internal casual heat gain assumptions were based on those used by
Anderson et al. [32] in the development of the UKs leading domestic energy model BREDEM. A typical International Weather
form Energy Calculations (IWEC) weather data le for the north of

Fig. 4. Integrated simulation model.

S. Karmacharya et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 62 (2014) 581e592

587

Fig. 5. Semi-detached house type used in model application.

England (Finningley) [36] was used. The houses were assumed to

be ventilated at an average rate of 0.5 air change per hour
(including external air inltration) with respect to the whole house
volumes in winter, and allowed to rise to 3 air changes per hour
when the heating systems were inoperative (i.e. in summer) in an
attempt to limit high summertime temperatures. This average rate
was assumed to apply during conditions of average site wind speed
with a correction applied at other wind speeds.
In both applications of the model, the mCHP module was
congured for heat-led control. Thus when there is a demand for
heat, the module is active and simultaneously servicing either power demand or exporting power to the grid (or both). As the demand for heat falls, power importing will become predominant.
A domestic-scale wind turbine with a rated capacity of 420 W
(specications of the wind turbine are given in Appendix B) was
applied to both house types. Four roof-mounted mono-crystalline

PV modules were applied each with a rated power output of 185 W

(specications at standard test conditions are given in Appendix C)
were applied to the semi-detached house. For the detached house
with a much larger roof area, the PV module provision was
increased to 14 modules (with the same module specication). The
mCHP module applied to both houses was a natural gas-red under-bench Stirling engine based module with a rated active power
output of 1 kW and corresponding heat output of 6 kW at a hot
water ow temperature of 75  C.
In this application, the electrical demands were based on
measured demands [34] for two houses with similar characteristics
to those depicted in Figs. 5 and 6. The 1-min resolution data in both
cases reect the appliances in the monitored houses as summarised
in Table 2. The weekday and weekend demand patterns are given in
Figs. 7 and 8 and it was assumed that the daily patterns formed a
repeating sequence throughout one complete year. Similar pattern

Fig. 6. Detached house type used in model application.

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S. Karmacharya et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 62 (2014) 581e592

was repeated for the case of domestic hot water demands. The
monitored hot water demand at an interval of 5 min in UK houses is
show in Fig. 12.This is one of the main advantage of this model
where the demand pattern at resolution of 1 min can be given as
input, whereas in other models the interval used is 15 min [14] or
higher.
5. Results and discussion
A full annual simulation was carried out using a variable step
trapezoidal solver. This solver was selected to provide an efcient
computation (i.e. variable step) and the use of the trapezoidal rule
was considered to give some limited capacity to handle stiffness in
the model (mainly arising due to control devices within the space
heating model). The computational requirement was noted to be
3.6s of computer time per hour of simulation time in winter
simulation periods when the space heating is active, falling by
about half in summer simulation periods based on a typical modern
desktop PC. The time step limits were set at 5 s (minimum) and
1800 s (maximum e though this was never reached). Samples of
results were extracted for a typical winter week (Figs. 9e11), a
typical warm summer week (Figs. 12 and 13) for the semi-detached
house only, and summaries of annual energy ows are given in
Tables 3 and 4 for both house types.
Zone temperatures for one typical winter week (starting with
the weekend) are shown in Fig. 9 for the semi-detached house (also
plotted are the corresponding external air dry bulb temperature
and global (horizontal) solar radiation). In the application given
here, the house is occupied intermittently during the day. Thus two
characteristic peaks in zone internal temperatures can be seen for
each day for the morning and evening periods during which the
house is occupied often with a free-oat mid-day peak which can
be traced in Fig. 9 to a corresponding increase in solar radiation.
Note that the heating is controlled from a thermostat mounted in
the ground oor entrance lobby together with local trim by
thermostatic radiator valves. This is normal practice in UK domestic heating control. As a consequence, room temperature control involves wide variations among zones (in applications where
the lobby space contains signicant heat gains, serious underheating can occur in other spaces). In practice, the comfortcritical living room space in UK houses is commonly equipped
with a further method of heating (e.g. a focal-point heater such as
a wood burning stove, etc). Note that the energy associated with the
focal point heating has not been included in the present study on

Fig. 7. Daily power demand pattern (semi-detached house type).

practical grounds. The fuel used for this varies and, nowadays, solid
fuel appliances such as log-burning stoves are gaining in popularity.
Therefore, the total energy demands given in Tables 3 and 4 should
be interpreted accordingly.
Electrical energy ows for a typical winter week are plotted in
Fig. 10 for the semi-detached house. This shows power generated
by the three sources (mCHP, wind turbine and PV modules) as well
as imported (shown negative) and exported (shown positive) power ows. Between two and three bursts of daily power from the
mCHP module can be seen as the module is called to meet space
heating and domestic water heating demands. It is encouraging
that more frequent switching of the mCHP module is avoided as
this might lead to module wear and early breakdown. Renewable
energy activity in this typical week is low with the exception of a
windy day (day 2) giving rise to the wind turbine operating at its
rated capacity for a signicant part of the day. Most of the power
generated is used by the host even during unoccupied periods
during which standby loads absorb the available renewable power,
though there are small contributions to export from the mCHP
module when active.
The thermal energy ows in a typical winter week and plotted
in Fig. 11 and, in a typical summer week, in Fig. 12, for the semidetached house. In winter, the mCHP module is switched typically once only in the morning and once or twice to meet the
evening demand. Usually, just one or two relatively short charging

Table 2
Electrical appliances in use [34].
Appliance type

Detached house

Semi-detached house

Electric shower
Occasional use of electric
heating
Economy-t tariff
Use of timer controls
Energy saving lighting
usage (%)
Halogen lamp usage
Outdoor oodlight
Refrigerator
Freezer
Television
Computer
Electric oven
Microwave
Kettle
Toaster/sandwich toaster
Dish washer
Washing machine
Tumble drier

Yes
Yes

No
No

Yes
Yes
25

No
No
25

12
No
2  Fridge/freezer
No
1 (tube)
6
1
1
1
1
1
1
1

4
Yes
1
1
1 (tube), 2 (plasma), 1 (LCD)
3
1
1
1
2
1
1
1

Fig. 8. Daily power demand pattern (detached house type).

S. Karmacharya et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 62 (2014) 581e592

589

Fig. 9. Typical winter week zone temperatures (semi-detached house type).

cycles per day are needed for the hot water tank. When just one is
needed, this tends to take place during the evening when the mCHP
module is also servicing space heating loads. In the summer, when
the mCHP module is called to meet domestic hot water demands
only, just one or two short daily bursts of mCHP activity are needed
for hot water tank charging and this usually occurs when there is
high coincident demand by the host for electricity (Fig. 13). In all
cases, the high degree of damping (due to the space heating and the
hot water tank) is such that frequent switching of the mCHP
module is avoided which is good for module maintenance and
operation.
Electrical energy ows during a typical warm summer week are
plotted in Fig. 13 for the semi-detached house. One most days, only
one burst of mCHP activity per day is evident in summer and this
will be due to entirely domestic hot water tank charging. In summer, a stronger pattern of electrical export is evident and this is
mainly due to daytime power generated by the PV modules (in this
typical summer week, the contribution from the wind turbine is
very small). However, power imported is high during this week due
mainly to the restricted use of the mCHP module since the heating
demand is now restricted to domestic hot water only and the PV
modules are generating at periods outside the main occupied

hours. The use of battery technology could help to reduce import at

the expense of export (but only if the economics were favourable)
and this will be added to the model in future. Annual totals for
electrical and thermal energy are given in Tables 3 and 4 for both
house types. It is clear that the heat-led strategy for the mCHP
module restricts its ability to contribute electrical power e indeed
the power generated by the wind turbine and PV modules both
exceed that produced by the mCHP module (by a substantial degree
in the case of the detached house type due to a much larger PV
capacity). However this is desirable in that the zero-carbon technologies dominate power in this application whereas the low carbon technology contributes a smaller share of the power but all of
the heating. Combining technologies in this way, almost 20% of all
power generated is exported by the semi-detached house but this
falls to approximately 11% for the detached house due to its much
higher power demand. However, against the overall electrical demand for the house, the mCHP module and renewable technologies
met a similar proportion of around 20% of the demand of both
house types (i.e. around 80% of the annual electricity demand
needed to be imported). It is clear that the electrical contribution

Fig. 10. Typical winter week electrical power ows (semi-detached house type).

Fig. 11. Typical winter week thermal power ows (semi-detached house type).

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S. Karmacharya et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 62 (2014) 581e592

Table 3
Annual energy account (power).

Fig. 12. Typical summer week thermal power ows (semi-detached house type).

from the mCHP module is heavily dependent on coincident heating

and how water demand. To illustrate this point, consider the winter
months November through February when very little renewable
electricity is available (Fig. 10). If all of the base demand for electricity (averaging approximately 250 W for the semi-detached
house (Fig. 7) and 800 W for the detached house (Fig. 8)) was
met by the mCHP module without regard to heating, then at least
720 kWh of electricity would have been offered by the mCHP
module to the semi-detached house (whereas the module generated just 425.9 kWh in the entire operating year e Table 3) and
2304 kWh offered to the detached house (as against 719 k W h
generated in the entire year e Table 3).
As to heating, the mCHP module met all of the domestic hot
water demand and all of the space heating demand of the background (radiator) heating system collectively amounting to
2820 kWh for the semi-detached house and 5114 kWh for the detached house (Table 4). As was pointed out earlier, however, this is
for background space heating only and excludes energy consumed
by local focal point heating in the living room (which can be signicant). There is clearly a need to examine the design capacities of
the various technologies together with both electrical and a longer-

Energy stream

Semi-detached kWh

Detached kWh

Generated by mCHP
Generated by wind turbine
Generated by PV modules
Exported
Overall demand
Imported

425.9
279.4
539.2
233.6 (18.8%)
5298
4287 (80.9%)

719
279.4
1752.7
305.5 (11.1%)
11,542
9119 (79%)

term form of thermal storage than a simple water tank (e.g. phase
change storage) in relation to available import and export tariff
structures so that an optimum economic balance can be arrived at.
On this last point for instance, a 300 L water tank coupled with the
mCHP module with a thermostat switching differential of 5 K
would meet the design heating demand of 6 kW for approximately
30 min between switching intervals. A phase change store
comprising 150 L of phase change material with a transition
enthalpy of 200 kJ/L plus 150 L of water would meet the 6 kW
design heating demand for 1.5 h e three times as long.
The fuel consumption of the mCHP module was 4137 kWh for
the semi-detached house and 7949 kWh for the detached house
(Table 4) giving an efciency (electrical power-to-fuel energy) of
10.30% and 9.05% respectively. The overall fuel utilisations (electrical and thermal-to-fuel energy) are 78.5% and 73.4% respectively.
The reason for the lower efciency and fuel utilisation in the case of
the larger detached house is due to a greater number of cold
module starts. The initial warm-up phase during a cold module
start results in a short period of rated fuel use during which the
power and heat outputs are below their rated values.
6. Conclusions
An integrated simulation model for analysing micro combined
heat and power (mCHP) systems and embedded renewable systems in domestic applications has been developed and presented in
this paper. The model differs from most previous models of this
kind in that a detailed dynamic treatment of the plant, equipment
and building envelope has been considered in the present work
whereas previous models have tended to use simplied quasisteady-state methods. Thus the present model is able to predict
plant response at very small time intervals allowing it to capture
high frequently changing electrical and hot water demands and
accurately simulate the run-up and shut down characteristics of
domestic scale mCHP modules.
The model has been applied to two typical UK domestic applications consisting of a 3-bedroom semi-detached house and a 4bedroom detached house. Both houses are equipped with a mCHP
module, a wind turbine and a photovoltaic array. The simulation
model is used for analysis of typical winter and summer operating
weeks as well as the overall annual energy use during the whole
year. Results obtained show that the electrical contribution by the
mCHP module is heavily dependent on the space heating and hot
water demand of the building. The results also show that the
contribution from the mCHP supplemented with embedded wind
and solar power (for export or use within the building) depends on

Table 4
Annual energy account (heat).

Fig. 13. Typical summer week electrical power ows (semi-detached house type).

Energy stream

Semi-detached kWh

Detached kWh

Demand due to space heating

Demand due to hot water service
Annual fuel demand (natural gas)

1728
1092
4137

3995
1119
7949

S. Karmacharya et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 62 (2014) 581e592

the electrical demand of the house and can contribute to around

20% of the overall electrical demand of both house types whilst
exporting almost 19% of their combined electrical outputs for the
semi-detached house falling to around 11% for the larger detached
house. However the increased number of mCHP module starts in
the case of the detached house was found to result in a reduction in
the electrical efciency and overall fuel utilisation of this module
compared with the semi-detached house type where the number of
module starts was lower. The results obtained demonstrate the
need for the analysis of tariff structures and the impact they have
on equipment design as well as the potential for thermal and
electrical energy storage.
Appendix A. Specications of Stirling engine based microCHP (Whispergen)

General:
Engine
Generator
Electrical output:
Electricity supply
Nominal mode
Thermal output:
Nominal mode
Maximum
Fuel:
Type
Supply pressure
Fuel consumption:
Maximum burner ring rate

4 Cylinders double acting Stirling cycle

4 Pole single phase induction motor
230 Vac, 50 Hz
Up to 1 kW
Up to 7 kW
Up to 12 kW (including auxiliary burner)
2H-2nd family natural gas
17e25 mbar (20 mbar nominal)
1.55 m3/h

Appendix B. Specications of the wind turbine

Wind rotor characteristics

Radius of the wind rotor
Number of blades
Moment of inertia of the wind rotor and rotating parts
of the generator
Cut-off wind speed
Permanent magnet generator
No of pole pairs (p)
Stator phase resistance (Rph)
k0 (pFm)

2.25 m
2
9.77 kg m2
12 m/s
6
1.25 U
1.5

Appendix C. Specications of the PV module

Specication

Value

Short circuit current

Open circuit voltage
Current at maximum power
Voltage at maximum power
Short circuit current coefcient
Open circuit voltage coefcient

5.69 A (dc)
44.4 V (dc)
5.03 A (dc)
36.8 V (dc)
3.1  105 A (dc)/K
3.84  104 V (dc)/K

591

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