Search results for "cost"
showing 10 items of 5421 documents
Coordinated energy management using agents in neighborhood areas with RES and storage
2016
This study proposes a novel coordination mechanism for smart homes in a small-scale neighborhood. This mechanism deploys a price and incentive-based energy management algorithm that considers renewable energy sources and battery storage. The objective of the proposed coordination algorithm is to decrease the electricity bills of the smart homes by increasing renewable energy usage inside the neighborhood, and enabling electricity trading among smart homes. The neighborhood is modeled using multi-agent systems, and heuristic problem solving is used by deploying a genetic optimization and rolling-horizon technique for day-ahead scheduling of the electricity appliances. Simulation results show…
On Thermoeconomic Diagnosis of a Fouled Direct Expansion Coil: Effects of Induced Malfunctions on Quantitative Performance of the Diagnostic Technique
2017
Thermoeconomic diagnosis represents a promising technique for the detection of common faults in refrigeration systems, which are responsible of degradation in their energetic performance. Recently, the authors have carried out a sensitivity analysis of the performance of this method to the thermodynamic conditions of inlet air and to the geometry of the direct expansion coil, in case of degradation induced by evaporator fouling. The analysis showed that the method is able to detect this fault, but sometimes its quantitative assessments are not satisfactory. In order to understand more in-depth the origin of such results and identify margins for refinement of the technique, this paper is aim…
Aspects of Improving the Cost-Performance Ratio for the Manufacturing of Small-Size Cast Parts
2010
Abstract The paper analyses some of the commercially available solutions for casting small-size metallic parts and outlines possible solutions that would reduce the cost of such systems while maintaining a high performance level. high performance level. One typical application area for small-size parts is human prosthetics, so the commercial casting machines analysed here are used mainly in this application domain. The paper shows how high-cost systems added to the machines for providing protective atmospheres can be replaced by low-cost solutions with the same results in terms of part quality. Moreover, a solution is described that avoids the typical drawbacks of the currently used casting…
Efficiency assessment of wastewater treatment plants: A data envelopment analysis approach integrating technical, economic, and environmental issues
2015
The assessment of the efficiency of wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) is essential to compare their performance and consequently to identify the best operational practices that can contribute to the reduction of operational costs. Previous studies have evaluated the efficiency of WWTPs using conventional data envelopment analysis (DEA) models. Most of these studies have considered the operational costs of the WWTPs as inputs, while the pollutants removed from wastewater are treated as outputs. However, they have ignored the fact that each pollutant removed by a WWTP involves a different environmental impact. To overcome this limitation, this paper evaluates for the first time the efficien…
Experimental test results vs. analytical prediction of welded joint strength in hybrid steel trussed concrete beams (HSTCBs)
2013
The aim of the paper is to provide practical guidelines for the design of welded joints of steel truss for encased composite steel–concrete beams. The results of experimental tests are presented and interpreted. The steel truss is made of a steel plate acting as the bottom chord, made of S355 structural steel, coupled with steel rebars which form the upper chord, and steel inclined web rebars (V-reverse) welded to the two chord elements, both of them made of steel B450C. Butt welded joints of web bar to bottom steel plate and fillet welding joints of inclined web bars to top chord bars were tested, as they are different from the ones which are normally used due to the coupling of different …
Economic feasibility study for wastewater treatment: a cost-benefit analysis.
2010
Water resource management should be made from a multidisciplinary perspective. In this sense, economic research into the design and implementation of policies for the efficient management of water resources has been emphasized by the European Water Framework Directive (WFD). Cost-benefit analysis (CBA) is one of the more widely accepted economic instruments since it is a rational and systematic decision-making support tool. Moreover, the wastewater treatment process has significant associated environmental benefits. However, these benefits are often left uncalculated because they have no market value. In this paper, using the concept of shadow price, a quantification of the environmental be…
Economic feasibility study for new technological alternatives in wastewater treatment processes: a review
2012
The concept of sustainability involves the integration of economic, environmental, and social aspects and this also applies in the field of wastewater treatment. Economic feasibility studies are a key tool for selecting the most appropriate option from a set of technological proposals. Moreover, these studies are needed to assess the viability of transferring new technologies from pilot-scale to full-scale. In traditional economic feasibility studies, the benefits that have no market price, such as environmental benefits, are not considered and are therefore underestimated. To overcome this limitation, we propose a new methodology to assess the economic viability of wastewater treatment tec…
Uncertainty assessment of a membrane bioreactor model using the GLUE methodology
2010
A mathematical model for the simulation of physical-biological organic removal by means of a membrane bioreactor (MBR) has been previously developed and tested. This paper presents an analysis of the uncertainty of the MBR model. Particularly, the research explores the applicability of the Generalised Likelihood Uncertainty Estimation (GLUE) methodology that is one of the most widely used methods for investigating the uncertainties in the hydrology and that now on is spreading in other research field. For the application of the GLUE methodology, several Monte Carlo simulations have been run varying the all model influential parameters simultaneously. The model was applied to an MBR pilot pl…
Adjustable prestressing for construction stages of incrementally launched bridges
2014
Incrementally launched bridges, which are generally built with the static scheme of a continuous beam on supports, change their scheme several times during launching. In these different configurations, internal forces vary and bending moments of opposite signs occur in the same sections for different positions of deck during advancement. In these bridges, two different kinds of prestressing are necessary: a temporary one during launching and a definitive one in service life. In this study, the possibility of implementing automatic adjustable prestressing for the launching stages is investigated; the launch prestressing is partially supplied by a system which can change the tension value in …
Evaluation of the apparent losses caused by water meter under-registration in intermittent water supply
2009
Apparent losses are usually caused by water theft, billing errors, or revenue meter under-registration. While the first two causes are directly related to water utility management and may be reduced by improving company procedures, water meter inaccuracies are considered to be the most significant and hardest to quantify. Water meter errors are amplified in networks subjected to water scarcity, where users adopt private storage tanks to cope with the intermittent water supply. The aim of this paper is to analyse the role of two variables influencing the apparent losses: water meter age and the private storage tank effect on meter performance. The study was carried out in Palermo (Italy). Th…