JAUE2020-062: A new method of network design considering network topology planning and pipe diameter in district energy systems

Abstract

With the development of district energy systems, network topology planning is becoming important and necessary. But the fact that pipelines are generally installed along roads is little considered in previous studies. This paper proposes a new design method to cover this issue. By using the method of network topology design, road nodes, energy stations, and load centers are all laid at their reasonable locations to make sure the pipes would be distributed along the road. And in order to compare adaptability and efficiency for different models, two network topology models, Point-to-Point (PTP) and Energy Station-to-Load Point (ESLP), are introduced. The traditional graph theory and Prim's Minimum Spanning Tree (MST) are used to simplify the map and minimize the length of the pipeline under the condition of distribution along the road. At last, the theory of Pipe Diameter Grading (PDG) is proposed to select the reasonable pipe diameter for different load demands. A case study showed that the proposed method is an efficient and adaptable approach to network design, and the ESLP model is more suitable and efficient compared with the PTP grid topology.