Title: Multi-objective thermodynamic optimisation of solar parabolic dish Stirling heat engine using NSGA-II and decision making

Authors: Rajesh Arora; S.C. Kaushik; Raj Kumar

Addresses: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Amity University Haryana, Gurgaon-122413, India ' Centre for Energy Studies, Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi, New Delhi-110016, India ' Department of Mechanical Engineering, YMCA University of Science and Technology, Faridabad-121006, India

Abstract: The proposed work investigates optimal values of various decision variables that simultaneously optimise power output, thermal efficiency and ecological function of solar driven Stirling heat engine using evolutionary algorithm based on NSGA-II. A finite time thermodynamic based mathematical model is developed in effect with regenerative heat losses, conducting thermal bridging losses, finite rate heat transfer and finite regeneration process time in MATLAB Simulink environment. In addition to this, effects imposed by the parameters as absorber temperature, concentrating ratio, radiation and convection heat transfer between absorber and working fluid and convective heat transfer between heat sink and working fluid are also included in the analysis. Pareto frontier is obtained for triple and dual objectives and the best optimal value is selected through four different decision making techniques viz. Fuzzy, Shannon entropy, LINMAP and TOPSIS. The optimal solutions attained are then compared and superior one is selected.

Keywords: solar energy; solar power; solar parabolic dish concentrators; irreversibility; finite time thermodynamics; FTT; Stirling heat engine; genetic algorithms; multi-objective optimisation; decision making; thermodynamic optimisation; NSGA-II; mathematical modelling; simulation; Shannon entropy; TOPSIS; LINMAP; fuzzy Bellman-Zadeh; fuzzy logic.

DOI: 10.1504/IJRET.2017.080873

International Journal of Renewable Energy Technology, 2017 Vol.8 No.1, pp.64 - 92

Accepted: 20 Jul 2016
Published online: 09 Dec 2016 *

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