A TRNSYS Model Library for Solar Thermal Electric Components (STEC) - A Reference Manual, Release 1.0

2 DISCLAIMER The STEC model library is freeware. With installing this software you accept that the use is at your own risk and no warranty is provided for the quality of the software or the results obtained while using this software. The third full new release of the TRNSYS model library STEC (solar thermal electric components) is available – with some delay! The versions of the TRNSYS simulation environment seem to change faster these days than users can follow. But a couple of big improvements justify the upgrade (especially the feature of drop-in-dlls is a great advantage for user-written model libraries). Therefore, the models of the STEC library were updated to TRNSYS16 standard with the great help of TRNSYS engineer Diego A. Arias. While the standard TRNSYS users seem to intensify their focus on building simulation and energy supply a growing group of engineers world wide are interested in solar thermal power systems. When the first release started more than eight (!) years ago as a SolarPACES activity the intention was to provide a rather simple simulation tool that allowed researchers to become familiar with solar thermal power system behaviour. Today, the STEC library is distributed to more than 30 persons or institutions world wide. The models are used in research and development as well as in commercial projects. One impulse of interest was the free distribution of the STEC library also to non-SolarPACES members in 2003. But lately, with numerous commercial solar thermal power projects emerging-mostly in Europe and the U.S.-the interest is even increasing and moving from public research to private business institutions. 4 The status of the STEC model library is freeware with full access to the source code. This open status shall be maintained. The models are developed, written and tested by STEC-users. The distribution of the STEC library is a non-budget activity, currently conducted by DLR. Therefore, the library's content and its quality is reliant on the contribution and collaboration of the single user. All recipients are again strongly invited to improve the STEC library by adding own components or projects, by validating models with other codes or measurements or by giving comments and suggestions to the developers. Thermal Electric Components (STEC). This document gives an overview on the intention of this library, its theoretical background, and on the structure of the library. It also presents some sample applications to demonstrate how the components can …