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Application of Thermoeconomics in the diagnosis of building energy supply systems allows the localization and quantification of an abnormal operation, which can cause significant increase in energy consumption to obtain the same product. To do that, a comparison between the real operation of the energy system and the reference operation must be done. In this paper a DHW and heating plant based on a condensing boiler has been analysed. Diagnosis is applied through a mono-failure case using a methodology based on the fuel impact formula and the malfunction and dysfunction analysis. An innovative methodology will be presented in order to filter the induced effects that take place in a dynamic situation due to the control system. Although the real aim of diagnosis is to solve the inverse problem, in this work we have faced a direct problem, in which a parameter of one component of the plant has been modified and its effect over the other components and the whole plant is evaluated. The major outcome is that by the application of this methodology the effects produced by the faulty component can easily be quantified, both in performance and economic terms. Those effects are due to the component malfunction as well as the induced malfunctions and dysfunctions generated in the other components of the facility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: A thermoeconomic analysis has been applied to the annual operation of a micro-cogeneration installation in a tertiary sector building combining the capabilities of dynamic simulation with the thermoeconomic analysis. The SenerTec’s DACHS micro-cogeneration unit is considered integrated in a heating and domestic hot water installation, meeting the electric and thermal loads of a residential building. A six minute-based exergy analysis has been implemented in the TRNSYS v.16 thermal simulation software, while the Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) has been developed to determine the cumulative exergy consumption of the different components of the plant. The thermoeconomic analysis of the micro-CHP installation is performed for its annual operation which includes the analysis of the entire system, considering the costs and exergy content of both flows and components. The relationship between the annual contribution to the costs of the components and the energy consumption has resulted equal to 34.2%. A combined production cost value has been defined and has been compared with the micro-CHP unit and the conventional production system, being 34.6 and 45.42 c€/kWhex respectively, underlying the opportunity that micro-CHP units provide in residential installations. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]