Methods for the reliability optimization of district-distributed heating systems with prosumers

District-distributed heating systems are considered as the result of the development of existing district heating systems, in which various energy technologies are integrated to achieve maximum efficiency of the heating to consumers. The distributed sector in these systems is associated, first of all, with the implementation of prosumers. The problem statement is determining such values of reliability parameters of components (in particular, failure rates) of studied system that provide the required level of reliability of heating to consumers at the minimum cost for ensuring this level of reliability taking into account the redundancy of prosumers. A methodology is based on the nodal probability of failure-free operation index, the Markov random process, the laws of heat transfer processes in heat supply, and some other methods. A case example is considered, an analysis of the results obtained is carried out, and directions for further research are formulated. (c) 2022 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

Automated summary

District-distributed heating systems integrate various energy technologies to achieve maximum heating efficiency to consumers. Prosumers play a key role in the distributed sector of these systems. This study focuses on determining the reliability parameters of system components to ensure the required level of reliability at the minimum cost, considering the redundancy of prosumers. The methodology includes the nodal probability of failure-free operation index, Markov random process, laws of heat transfer, and other methods. A case example is presented, results are analyzed, and future research directions are proposed.