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Techno-economic Comparison of Timer and Optimal Switching Control applied

to Hybrid Solar Electric Water Heaters

Conference Paper · September 2018

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 Techno-economic Comparison of Timer and Optimal Switching
Control applied to Hybrid Solar Electric Water Heaters
P.A. Hohne, K. Kusakana, and B.P. Numbi
Abstract— In this paper, an optimal energy control model is
used to evaluate the potential energy cost saving of a hybrid
solar water heater. The aim is to maximize energy cost
savings under time-based pricing while maintaining the
desired water temperature of the hot water user. The
optimally controlled system is compared to traditional timer
based controlled system with the same layout as the
proposed system. The hybrid water heating system is
modelled and simulated using Matlab. From the formulated
objective function and the case study in this work, the results
present that using an optimally controlled hybrid heater will
have an approximate annual cost saving of 20.8%.
Index Terms—Cost minimization, Domestic water heating,
Electric storage tank water heater, Flat plate solar collector,
Hybrid solar water heater.
1 INTRODUCTION
Heating water for domestic use such as bathing and
showering has proven to be one of the highest energy
consuming processes. For instance, in South Africa up to
60% of energy used in residential building is dedicated to
heating water [1]. The temperature of water needs to be
increased to the desired temperature of the user before hot
water demand needs to be met. Customarily, a standard
electric storage tank-water heater (ESTWH), known as a
geyser in Southern Africa, has been the foremost device for
domestic water heating in the country.
Moreover, the upsurge in the South African populace
resulted in higher energy demand which in turn instigated a
gradually increasing electricity price. As an effort to resolve
this, the electricity supplier, Eskom, introduced educational
material for energy management, such as energy efficiency
(EE) activities, and the use of renewable energy (RE)
schemes [2].
Research and development on innovative and energy
efficient water heating technologies has been done in
accordance with most aspects associated with energy
management and design.
P.A. Hohne, Central University of Technology, Private Bag X20539,
Bloemfontein 9300, South Africa (e-mail: pahohne@gmail.com).
K. Kusakana, Central University of Technology, Private Bag X20539,
Bloemfontein 9300, South Africa (e-mail: kkusakana@cut.ac.za).
B.P. Numbi, Centre for the Development of Green Technologies,
Department of Electrical Engineering, Mangosuthu University of
Technology, 511 Mangosuthu Highway, Umlazi, 4031, P.O. Box 12363,
Jacobs, 4026 Durban, South Africa (e-mail: numbib@mut.ac.za).
Savings in energy achieved with renewable energy
systems in conjunction with energy efficiency activities
realized increased popularity in recent years. However,
some shortcomings do exist for these systems. A major
disadvantage is that the periods of high renewable energy
availability often falls in low demand periods. This is more
evident for solar water heating systems [3]. As a solution to
this, an optimally controlled hybrid water heater system is
proposed to ensure maximum energy savings while
maintaining the users desired thermal level. The cost
savings to be achieved will be based on the Time-of-Use
(TOU) pricing structure, implemented by the electricity
supplier, Eskom in South Africa. The proposed hybrid
system consists of a flat plate collector (FPC) and an electric
storage tank water heater (ESTWH) and was shown to be the
viable option. The viability is based on cost saving being
the highest concern for consumers.
The flat plate collector (FPC) type solar water heater is
approximately 30% less expensive to implement compared
to the evacuated tube collector (ETC). Furthermore, studies
suggest that sufficient solar irradiance is captured to
maintain the desired temperature [4]. Additionally, the ETC
array system is costlier to replace in the event of damage as
a result of hail, while only the glass pane over the flat plate
collector is replaced at a minimal cost for the same case.
The only major drawback of the FPC is lower frost
resistance in cold weather [5]. This is particularly true for
the direct collector systems. In retrospect, the FPC with
indirectly heating system coupled to an ESTWH is proposed
for the South African case.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the
temperature of the water needs to reach at least 60 °C once a
day to reduce the risk of infection by Legionella bacteria [6].
The ESTWH can support the prevention of contamination
by heating water to 60 ºC daily.
Hot water consumers should be able to implement a
system that fits their hot water and geographical
requirements with suitable financial assistance from the
government in order to reduce fossil fuel dependency.
Energy efficient systems with relevant knowledge of the
advantages these systems might offer can reduce the strain
on the national electricity supplier. This in turn, will allow
South Africans to improve their financial situation.
2 BASELINE AND PROPOSED HYBRID SYSTEM
As stated in the introduction, the objective of this paper is
to present an optimal control method which minimizes the
operation cost while maintaining desired temperature levels
of the water to be consumed under time-based electricity
pricing. Therefore, a baseline system consisting of the same
hybrid system is modeled which is thermostatically
controlled in conjunction with a timer system. The results of
this control method is shown in section 5.1, while the
optimally controlled system is presented in section 5.2.
2.1 Timer based control
Fig. 1 illustrates the operation and location of the electric
resistive element with a bi-metal thermostat used to control
the temperature of the water inside the storage tank in the
ESTWH. Large degrees of thermal stratification are
assumed for model development purposes [7].
Fig. 1. ESTWH layout and operation
Fig. 2a and b illustrates two different timer devices
frequently used for energy management activities, a digital
timer relay normally preferred by consumers as it has a
battery backup.
Fig. 2a. Mechanical Time Relay [8] Fig. 2b. Digital Time Relay [9]
2.2 Proposed hybrid solar water heater
The proposed hybrid water heater layout is shown in Fig.
3. As stated, an indirect FPC is coupled to the ESTWH. A
heat exchanger is situated inside the collector in order to
transfer thermal energy to the water inside the storage tank.
A circulation pump forces water when a temperature
differential is detected between the water inlet and outlet of
the collector. The switch (Se) in the figure, controls the
ON/OFF state of a resistive element and is the control
variable of the optimal control problem.
Fig. 3. HSWH layout and operation
3 MODEL DEVELOPMENT
3.1 Objective function
The minimization of energy costs and thermal discomfort
of the user while maintaining fixed final state conditions for
repeated implementation should be represented
mathematically. Therefore, the developed model has the
following aggregate objective function (f(x)) [10]:
N N N
min J = w1 (ts  PELk pk Sek ) + w2 (ts (Tk − Fk )2 + ts (TN − T0 )2 ) (1)
k =1 k =1 k =1
Where:
• w1 and w2 is the prioritization weighting factors.
• t s is the sampling interval;
• N is the total number of sampling intervals within the
operation range or period of the system;
• PEL is the power supplied to the resistive element (kW);
• k is the kth time-step;
• pk is the Time-Of-Use tariff function (ZAR/kWh);
• Sek is the control variable;
• Tk is the variable temperature of the water inside the
storage tank and the state variable (°C);
• Fk is the desired thermal level of the user (°C);
• TN is the water temperature at the end of the specified
control horizon (°C);
• T0 is the initial storage tank water temperature (°C).
3.2 Constraints
The developed objective function is subjected to the
following constraints:
3.2.1. Energy balance
At any given sampling interval, the sum of the energy
supplied and lost should be equal to the stored energy in the
hot water tank. The energy consumed by the circulation
pump is ignored for the sake of simplicity. This can be
expressed [11]:
 Qs = QCOLL + QEL − QL − QD
Where:
Qs is the energy contained within the storage tank (J);
Qcoll is the solar energy received by the collector (J);
QEL is the energy supplied to the electric element (J);
QL is the standby losses through the water tank surface (J);
QD is the energy losses due to the hot water consumed (J);
The energy consumed by the circulation pump is neglected
in this case.
3.2.2. Variable limits
This constraint represents the control variable ( Se ) of
k
the resistive element inside the water storage tank so that a
single binary value can be taken as the switching status that
needs to be optimized:
Sek  {0,1}
3.3 Proposed algorithm
The objective function is modeled where the linear and
non-linear functions of the HSWH are summed. The linear
and non-linear optimization problem is solved using the
“SCIP” solver in the interface OPTI-Toolbox in MATLAB
[12]. Then modified so that the canonical form suited to the
specific developed model can be expressed:
min f ( x)
x
Subject to: lb  x  ub
Where:
lb, and ub are vectors,
f(x) is the sum of linear and non-linear functions,
x is the control variable.
4 SIMULATION INPUT PARAMETERS
4.1 Hot water consumption profile
The daily hot water demand profile for a case study in
winter and summer periods are shown in Fig. 4 and 5,
respectively.
Fig. 4. Winter hot water demand profile
(2)
Fig. 5. Summer hot water demand profile
The profiles originate from a three-occupant household with
a strong showering preference. The times at which the
occupants typically take their showers are 06h30, 07h00 and
20h00, additional hot water is consumed at 11h00 by a
dishwasher or washing machine. Observing these figures, a
much higher demand in winter is noted when compared to
summer, this is due to the difference in temperature between
the hot-water supply and cold-water inlet to the user that
needs to be reduced by means of thermal mixing in order to
(3)
reach the user’s desired temperature.
4.2 Time-of-Use tariff structure
The time-based pricing structure introduced by the local
electricity supplier, provides electricity tariffs for a low
demand season (summer) and a high demand season
(winter). Illustrated in Fig. 6, each day is divided into
segments representing an off-peak, peak and standard
pricing period [13].
(4)
Fig. 6. Time-of-Use time chart [13]
The tariffs for each period shown in Fig. 6 is shown in
Table I. As can be observed from the table, the peak period
electricity price for the high demand season is significantly
higher than the off-peak period when compared to the low
demand season.
Table I. TOU tariff electricity prices [14]
Tariff description Price (ZAR/Kwh)
Off-peak electricity price (Winter) 1.79
Peak electricity price (Winter) 3.24
Standard electricity price (Winter) 1.86
Off-peak electricity price (Summer) 1.21
Peak electricity price (Summer) 1.71
Standard electricity price (Summer) 1.33
4.3 Hybrid system simulation parameters 5.1.2 Summer Case
For this study, a HSWH with a bi-metal thermostat in
conjunction with a timer relay to control the temperature of
the water inside the storage tank is used as a baseline.
For the optimally controlled approach, the timer is
removed and a simulated controller takes its place. The
resistive element is rated at 3000 W. The tank has a capacity
of 150 L. The simulation data is presented in Table II.

Table II. Simulation parameters

Item Value Fig. 9. Switching function
Simulation horizon time 24 hrs
Sampling time 10 min
Comfortable thermal level range 55 °C  Ts  65 °C
5 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
In this section, the baseline, and the optimally controlled
system are simulated using SCIP when subjected to the same
hot water demand profile and exogenous variable data for
the location of the case study. The results obtained from
simulation include the summer and winter switching
functions and their associated storage tank water
temperatures. Fig. 10. Storage tank water temperature
5.1 Baseline: Timer (thermostat) controlled HSWH
From Fig. 7, it can be realised that in winter the baseline 5.2 Optimally controlled HSWH
system switches ON during the peak and standard periods Fig. 11 shows that the proposed systems’ resistive
while Fig. 8 changes switching state during the standard element need only be switched on during the off-peak period
tariff period in summer. No switching-ON takes place in order to maintain comfortable thermal levels in winter. A
during off-peak periods which results in unnecessarily high similar trend can be observed for the summer case in Fig.
energy costs. The temperature of the water inside the 13, switching only takes place once during off-peak periods
storage tank remains within the desired range of the user. while maintaining the desired temperature.
5.1.1 Winter Case 5.2.1 Winter Case

Fig. 7. Switching function Fig. 11. Switching function

Fig. 8. Storage tank water temperature Fig. 12. Storage tank water temperature
5.2.2 Summer Case
Fig. 13. Switching function
Fig. 14. Storage tank water temperature
5.3 Daily energy consumption and savings
The cumulative cost of energy consumed after each
simulation of the baseline and optimally controlled system
are compared in Table III and IV. A 29.8% saving in the
winter season is observed, while a 9.3% saving during
summer is observed. It is evident that the duration of the
switching-ON times is equal for both the baseline and
optimally controlled scenario for their respective seasons.
However, the switching statuses that changes during off-
peak periods for the optimal strategy results in significant
savings in cost.
Table III. Winter daily energy cost savings
SYSTEM COST (ZAR)
Thermostatically timer-based control (baseline)
Optimal control
Savings
Table IV. Summer daily energy cost savings
System Cost (ZAR)
Thermostatically timer-based control (baseline)
Optimal control
Savings
5.4 Annual energy consumption and savings
The total annual savings in cost is calculated by using
the data in Table III and IV. As defined by the TOU pricing
structure, the high demand season (winter) duration is 92
days, whereas the low demand season (summer) spans over
273 days [15]. The number of days in the season is
multiplied with the daily cost saving for the respective
season. The approximate annual savings in cost is obtained
by adding the savings of the two seasons. With this
method, the savings for the year 2017 were calculated and
shown in Table V and VI.
Table V. Total winter energy cost and savings
SYSTEM Cost (ZAR)
Thermostatically timer-based control (baseline) 234.6
Optimal control 164.68
Savings 69.92
Table VI. Total summer energy cost and savings
SYSTEM COST (ZAR)
Thermostatically timer-based control (baseline) 180.18
Optimal control 163.8
Savings 16.8
6 CONCLUSIONS
In this work, an optimal operation control strategy for a
hybrid solar/electric water heater is modelled and simulated
according to a proposed objective function. The operation
of a baseline system which consists of a thermostatically
controlled hybrid water heater was simulated. Exogenous
data from the case study location was used in the two
systems in order to validate the need for an optimal control
approach. The objective was to minimize the energy cost of
the system under time-based pricing while maintaining the
desired temperature of the hot water supplied to the user.
The summer and winter periods as defined by the Time-of-
Use tariff structure introduced by the electricity supplier of
South Africa, Eskom, was from September to May (summer)
and June to August (winter).
SCIP in the MATLAB interface OPTI-Toolbox was used
to solve the optimal control problem of the hybrid water
heater. During the winter season a saving of 29.8% was
observed, while in the summer, a saving of 9.3% was shown.
This translates into a cost saving of 20.8% annually.
The results from this study can promote the use of hybrid
solar water heaters in conjunction with optimal control
strategies in order to reduce non-renewable energy
dependability while maintaining comfortable thermal levels
of hot water users.
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AUTHORS BIOS AND PHOTOGRAPHS
P.A. Hohne obtained his B.Tech degree in
Electrical Engineering in 2016 and his M.Eng
degree in 2018 from the Central University of
Technology. Since 2016, he has been working
at the Central University of Technology as a
lecturer’s assistant and plans to enrol for the
D.Eng degree in Electrical Engineering. His
area of interest is optimal energy management
of hybrid renewable energy systems.
K. Kusakana (DTech, Pr.Eng, CEM) is a
NRF rated researcher. His research interests
are power and energy systems, energy
management, renewable and alternative
energies. He is currently an Associate
Professor and Head of the Electrical,
Electronic and Computer Engineering
Department at CUT.
B.P. Numbi obtained his PhD from the
University of Pretoria (UP) in 2015. From
2010 to 2012, he was a teaching assistant at
TUT. From 2014 to 2015, he worked as a
project engineer on mining energy efficiency
projects in the Centre of New Energy Systems
(CNES) at UP. From 2015 to 2016, Dr Numbi
worked as a postdoctoral research fellow
within the Centre for the Development of
Green Technologies (CDGT) at the
Mangosuthu University of Technology
(MUT).
Presenting author: The paper will be presented by P.A. Hohne