TY - CHAP A1 - Tischbein, Franziska A1 - Kean, Kilian A1 - Vertgewall, Chris Martin A1 - Ulbig, Andreas A1 - Altherr, Lena T1 - Determination of the topology of low-voltage distribution grids using cluster methods T2 - 27th International Conference on Electricity Distribution (CIRED 2023) N2 - Due to the decarbonization of the energy sector, the electric distribution grids are undergoing a major transformation, which is expected to increase the load on the operating resources due to new electrical loads and distributed energy resources. Therefore, grid operators need to gradually move to active grid management in order to ensure safe and reliable grid operation. However, this requires knowledge of key grid variables, such as node voltages, which is why the mass integration of measurement technology (smart meters) is necessary. Another problem is the fact that a large part of the topology of the distribution grids is not sufficiently digitized and models are partly faulty, which means that active grid operation management today has to be carried out largely blindly. It is therefore part of current research to develop methods for determining unknown grid topologies based on measurement data. In this paper, different clustering algorithms are presented and their performance of topology detection of low voltage grids is compared. Furthermore, the influence of measurement uncertainties is investigated in the form of a sensitivity analysis. Y1 - 2023 SN - 978-1-83953-855-1 U6 - http://dx.doi.org/10.1049/icp.2023.0478 N1 - 27th International Conference on Electricity Distribution (CIRED 2023), 12-15 June 2023, Rome, Italy. SP - 1 EP - 5 PB - IEEE ER - TY - CHAP A1 - Schänzle, Christian A1 - Altherr, Lena A1 - Ederer, Thorsten A1 - Pelz, Peter T1 - TOR – Towards the energetically optimal ventilation system KW - Energy KW - Efficiency KW - Ventilation System KW - Discrete Optimisation KW - TGA Y1 - 2015 N1 - EST 2015, Karlsruhe, 19-21 Mai 2015 ER - TY - CHAP A1 - Schänzle, Christian A1 - Altherr, Lena A1 - Ederer, Thorsten A1 - Lorenz, Ulf A1 - Pelz, Peter F. T1 - As good as it can be: Ventilation system design by a combined scaling and discrete optimization method T2 - Proceedings of FAN 2015 N2 - The understanding that optimized components do not automatically lead to energy-efficient systems sets the attention from the single component on the entire technical system. At TU Darmstadt, a new field of research named Technical Operations Research (TOR) has its origin. It combines mathematical and technical know-how for the optimal design of technical systems. We illustrate our optimization approach in a case study for the design of a ventilation system with the ambition to minimize the energy consumption for a temporal distribution of diverse load demands. By combining scaling laws with our optimization methods we find the optimal combination of fans and show the advantage of the use of multiple fans. Y1 - 2015 N1 - Proceedings of FAN 2015, Lyon (France), 15 – 17 April 2015 SP - 1 EP - 11 ER - TY - CHAP A1 - Rausch, Lea A1 - Leise, Philipp A1 - Ederer, Thorsten A1 - Altherr, Lena A1 - Pelz, Peter F. ED - Papadrakakis, M. ED - Ppadopoulos, V. ED - Stefanou, G. ED - Plevris, V. T1 - A comparison of MILP and MINLP solver performance on the example of a drinking water supply system design problem T2 - ECCOMAS Congress 2016 VII European Congress on Computational Methods in Applied Sciences and Engineering N2 - Finding a good system topology with more than a handful of components is a highly non-trivial task. The system needs to be able to fulfil all expected load cases, but at the same time the components should interact in an energy-efficient way. An example for a system design problem is the layout of the drinking water supply of a residential building. It may be reasonable to choose a design of spatially distributed pumps which are connected by pipes in at least two dimensions. This leads to a large variety of possible system topologies. To solve such problems in a reasonable time frame, the nonlinear technical characteristics must be modelled as simple as possible, while still achieving a sufficiently good representation of reality. The aim of this paper is to compare the speed and reliability of a selection of leading mathematical programming solvers on a set of varying model formulations. This gives us empirical evidence on what combinations of model formulations and solver packages are the means of choice with the current state of the art. KW - Technical Operations Research KW - Mixed-Integer Nonlinear Optimisation KW - Solver Per- formance KW - Drinking Water Supply KW - System Design Problem Y1 - 2016 SN - 978-618-82844-0-1 N1 - ECCOMAS Congress 2016 VII European Congress on Computational Methods in Applied Sciences and Engineering, 5–10 June 2016.Crete Island, Greece SP - 8509 EP - 8527 ER - TY - CHAP A1 - Rausch, Lea A1 - Friesen, John A1 - Altherr, Lena A1 - Pelz, Peter F. ED - Kliewer, Natalia ED - Ehmke, Jan Fabian ED - Borndörfer, Ralf T1 - Using mixed-integer programming for the optimal design of water supply networks for slums T2 - Operations Research Proceedings 2017 N2 - The UN sets the goal to ensure access to water and sanitation for all people by 2030. To address this goal, we present a multidisciplinary approach for designing water supply networks for slums in large cities by applying mathematical optimization. The problem is modeled as a mixed-integer linear problem (MILP) aiming to find a network describing the optimal supply infrastructure. To illustrate the approach, we apply it on a small slum cluster in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Y1 - 2018 SN - 978-3-319-89919-0 (Print) SN - 978-3-319-89920-6 (Online) U6 - http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-89920-6_68 N1 - International Conference of the German Operations Research Society (GOR), Freie Universiät Berlin, Germany, September 6-8, 2017. SP - 509 EP - 516 PB - Springer CY - Cham ER - TY - CHAP A1 - Müller, Tim M. A1 - Schmitt, Andreas A1 - Leise, Philipp A1 - Meck, Tobias A1 - Altherr, Lena A1 - Pelz, Peter F. A1 - Pfetsch, Marc E. T1 - Validation of an optimized resilient water supply system T2 - Uncertainty in Mechanical Engineering N2 - Component failures within water supply systems can lead to significant performance losses. One way to address these losses is the explicit anticipation of failures within the design process. We consider a water supply system for high-rise buildings, where pump failures are the most likely failure scenarios. We explicitly consider these failures within an early design stage which leads to a more resilient system, i.e., a system which is able to operate under a predefined number of arbitrary pump failures. We use a mathematical optimization approach to compute such a resilient design. This is based on a multi-stage model for topology optimization, which can be described by a system of nonlinear inequalities and integrality constraints. Such a model has to be both computationally tractable and to represent the real-world system accurately. We therefore validate the algorithmic solutions using experiments on a scaled test rig for high-rise buildings. The test rig allows for an arbitrary connection of pumps to reproduce scaled versions of booster station designs for high-rise buildings. We experimentally verify the applicability of the presented optimization model and that the proposed resilience properties are also fulfilled in real systems. KW - Optimization KW - Mixed-integer nonlinear programming KW - Water distribution system KW - Resilience KW - Validation Y1 - 2021 SN - 978-3-030-77255-0 SN - 978-3-030-77256-7 U6 - http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-77256-7_7 N1 - Proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Uncertainty in Mechanical Engineering (ICUME 2021), June 7–8, 2021 SP - 70 EP - 80 PB - Springer CY - Cham ER - TY - CHAP A1 - Müller, Tim M. A1 - Altherr, Lena A1 - Leise, Philipp A1 - Pelz, Peter F. T1 - Optimization of pumping systems for buildings: Experimental validation of different degrees of model detail on a modular test rig T2 - Operations Research Proceedings 2019 N2 - Successful optimization requires an appropriate model of the system under consideration. When selecting a suitable level of detail, one has to consider solution quality as well as the computational and implementation effort. In this paper, we present a MINLP for a pumping system for the drinking water supply of high-rise buildings. We investigate the influence of the granularity of the underlying physical models on the solution quality. Therefore, we model the system with a varying level of detail regarding the friction losses, and conduct an experimental validation of our model on a modular test rig. Furthermore, we investigate the computational effort and show that it can be reduced by the integration of domain-specific knowledge. KW - Experimental validation KW - MINLP KW - Engineering optimization KW - Water supply system KW - Network design Y1 - 2020 SN - 978-3-030-48438-5 U6 - http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-48439-2_58 N1 - Annual International Conference of the German Operations Research Society (GOR), Dresden, Germany, September 4-6, 2019 SP - 481 EP - 488 PB - Springer CY - Cham ER - TY - CHAP A1 - Müller, Tim M. A1 - Altherr, Lena A1 - Ahola, Marja A1 - Schabel, Samuel A1 - Pelz, Peter F. ED - Rodrigues, H. C. T1 - Multi-Criteria optimization of pressure screen systems in paper recycling – balancing quality, yield, energy consumption and system complexity T2 - EngOpt 2018 Proceedings of the 6th International Conference on Engineering Optimization N2 - The paper industry is the industry with the third highest energy consumption in the European Union. Using recycled paper instead of fresh fibers for papermaking is less energy consuming and saves resources. However, adhesive contaminants in recycled paper are particularly problematic since they reduce the quality of the resulting paper-product. To remove as many contaminants and at the same time obtain as many valuable fibres as possible, fine screening systems, consisting of multiple interconnected pressure screens, are used. Choosing the best configuration is a non-trivial task: The screens can be interconnected in several ways, and suitable screen designs as well as operational parameters have to be selected. Additionally, one has to face conflicting objectives. In this paper, we present an approach for the multi-criteria optimization of pressure screen systems based on Mixed-Integer Nonlinear Programming. We specifically focus on a clear representation of the trade-off between different objectives. Y1 - 2019 SN - 978-3-319-97773-7 U6 - http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-97773-7_105 N1 - EngOpt 2018 Proceedings of the 6th International Conference on Engineering Optimization. 17-19 September 2018. Lisboa, Portugal PB - Springer International Publishing CY - Basel ER - TY - CHAP A1 - Meck, Marvin M. A1 - Müller, Tim M. A1 - Altherr, Lena A1 - Pelz, Peter F. T1 - Improving an industrial cooling system using MINLP, considering capital and operating costs T2 - Operations Research Proceedings 2019 N2 - The chemical industry is one of the most important industrial sectors in Germany in terms of manufacturing revenue. While thermodynamic boundary conditions often restrict the scope for reducing the energy consumption of core processes, secondary processes such as cooling offer scope for energy optimisation. In this contribution, we therefore model and optimise an existing cooling system. The technical boundary conditions of the model are provided by the operators, the German chemical company BASF SE. In order to systematically evaluate different degrees of freedom in topology and operation, we formulate and solve a Mixed-Integer Nonlinear Program (MINLP), and compare our optimisation results with the existing system. KW - Engineering optimisation KW - Mixed-integer programming KW - Industrial optimisation KW - Cooling system KW - Process engineering Y1 - 2020 SN - 978-3-030-48438-5 (Print) SN - 978-3-030-48439-2 (Online) U6 - http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-48439-2_61 N1 - Annual International Conference of the German Operations Research Society (GOR), Dresden, Germany, September 4-6, 2019. SP - 505 EP - 512 PB - Springer CY - Cham ER - TY - CHAP A1 - Lorenz, Imke-Sophie B. A1 - Altherr, Lena A1 - Pelz, Peter F. T1 - Graph-theoretic resilience analysis of a water distribution system's topology T2 - World Congress on Resilience, Reliability and Asset Management 2019 N2 - Water suppliers are faced with the great challenge of achieving high-quality and, at the same time, low-cost water supply. In practice, the focus is set on the most beneficial maintenance measures and/or capacity adaptations of existing water distribution systems (WDS). Since climatic and demographic influences will pose further challenges in the future, the resilience enhancement of WDS, i.e. the enhancement of their capability to withstand and recover from disturbances, has been in particular focus recently. To assess the resilience of WDS, metrics based on graph theory have been proposed. In this study, a promising approach is applied to assess the resilience of the WDS for a district in a major German City. The conducted analysis provides insight into the process of actively influencing the resilience of WDS KW - Resilience Assessment KW - Graph Theory KW - Water Supply System KW - Case Study Y1 - 2019 N1 - World Congress on Resilience, Reliability and Asset Management, 28-31 July 2019. Furama Riverfront Hotel, Singapore SP - 106 EP - 109 ER -