Methodology
The methodology involves cooperation and fluent communication among the different partners working in their specialisation fields. It goes from industrial partners needs to technological developers and comes back to the industrial partners with the integrated system developed for the involved end users.
The methodology starts from the collected innovation potentials and the initial research of the different partners to develop a new concept to cover the heating and/or cooling demand of the end-users, which will be disseminated, exploited and communicated.
The development of the ASTEP integrated concept will follow the next steps:
Development of thermal demand profiles for the two end-users.
Dimensioning of the SunDial for both processes, involving the following tasks:
- Optical characterisation: Montecarlo Raytracing method.
- Thermal characterisation: Aided by In-house codes and Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) tools.
- Mechanical and structural assessment, using analytical and Finite Element Method (FEM) approaches.
Dimensioning of the Thermal Energy Storage (TES) for both processes, defining the optimal honeycomb arrangement, aided by CFD tools.
A dynamic model of the ASTEP system will be developed in the project by integrating the different component sub-models under a simulation environment. Furthermore, optimization algorithms and Thermal Demand Side Response (TDSR) principles will be established to achieve the most optimal configuration of energy generation and storage based on user case profiles. Also, a statistical assessment will be used to design the integrated system with targets for either Thermal Loss of Load Probability (TLOLP, %), or Solar Thermal Penetration (STP, %) in the case of a system with auxiliary heat.
Construction and test of the solar collectors and TES in order to analyse these systems at a Lab Scale.
Models revision from the test data and detailed design of the final systems to be installed at industrial sites.
Transport and local construction of the auxiliary system and elements dedicated to integrating the system into the process. This process will be supervised by technological partners, as the quality control an accuracy for this step is critical for the success of the project.
The whole process will be repeated over (at least) 2 iterative sequential testing cycles to ensure that potential improvements will be taken into consideration in the re-design of the system after the first testing cycle.
ASTEP P.E.S.T. analysis
PEST (Political, Economic, Social and Technological) analysis was chosen to identify the key external factors that can initially affect ASTEP project. This was usefully prepared in order to balance the risks of being the “Innovator”.
