Scope Oriented Thermoeconomic analysis of energy systems. Part II: Formation structure of optimality for robust design

This paper represents the Part II of a paper in two parts. In Part I the fundamentals of Scope OrientedThermoeconomics have been introduced, showing a scarce potential for the cost accounting of existingplants; in this Part II the same concepts are applied to the optimization of a small set of design variablesfor a vapour compression chiller. The method overcomes the limit of most conventional optimizationtechniques, which are usually based on hermetic algorithms not enabling the energy analyst to recognizeall the margins for improvement. The Scope Oriented Thermoeconomic optimization allows us to disassemblethe optimization process, thus recognizing the Formation Structure of Optimality, i.e. the specificinfluence of any thermodynamic and economic parameter in the path toward the optimal design. Finally,the potential applications of such an in-depth understanding of the inner driving forces of the optimizationare discussed in the paper, with a particular focus on the sensitivity analysis to the variation ofenergy and capital costs and on the actual operation-oriented design.