Applied Sciences (Apr 2023)
Water Heating and Circulating Heating System with Energy-Saving Optimization Control
Abstract
Over the past few years, due to an aging population and a longer life expectancy, traditional high-oil, high-calorie, and high-temperature culinary concepts have been widely replaced by healthier, low-temperature heating methods. However, while the key device of the Sous-Vide heating system ordinarily operates at full power to achieve the target temperature, pump speed control is not currently considered within the water heating and circulating system framework. This study develops a model for a water heating and circulating system and examines the characteristics of the lowest power point and pump speed. Building upon these results, we present the LPPT control method as a means of optimizing input power for heating. The effectiveness of this method is supported by simulations and experiments, which demonstrate a significant reduction in energy consumption. The control concept calculates the real-time input power based on the input voltage and current, and it can achieve the most efficient input power by perturbing the pump speed. It is demonstrated that applying LPPT to daily pot capacity reduces the Sous-Vide Cooker’s input power by up to 17% and achieves efficiency optimization control by removing the need to calculate the foods and other parameters of the water heating and circulating system environment.
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