Difficulties understanding converter with multiple inputs and outputs

Q&A
1

Hello,

I am having difficulties in understanding how Oemof is handling a converter component with multiple inputs and multiple outputs.

I have cleared for myself, that when I have a component with multiple inputs and one output I set the efficiency of the conversion via multiple input efficiencies, defining how much of each input I need per unit of output. Vice verca, when I have a single input component and multiple output components I define multiple output efficiencies and receive the output flows per unit of input.

How does it work if I have two streams in and two streams out? The formula from the documentation did not help me, because I could not understand the concept.

Thank you for your time in beforehand!

Best regards,

@karombo

2

Hi @karombo,

I see that the documentation could be improved. Actually, we changed the formulation to something equivalent at some point. The original formulation was self-explanatory but we forgot to add an explanation in the process. So:

In principle, every inflow is divided by the corresponding conversion factor. Internally, you would have a “utilisation” variable ∈ [0:1]. Now, instead of dividing, we multiply to have the option to give conversion factors of zero. Plus, some of the constraints are redundant, so we save the variable without some additional logic.

Regards,
Patrik