Comparing life cycle cost and environmental impact optimizations of a low voltage dry type distribution transformer

Abstract

PurposeLife cycle analysis (LCA) is more and more used in the context of electromagnetic product design. But it is often used to check a design solution regarding environmental impacts after technical and economical choices. This paper aims to investigate life cycle impact optimization (LCIO) and compare it with the classical life cycle cost optimization (LCCO). Design/methodology/approachFirst, a model of a dry-type transformer using different materials for windings and the magnetic core is presented. LCCO, which is a mixed continuous-discrete, multi-objective technico-economic optimization, is done using both deterministic and genetic algorithms. LCCO results and optimization performances are analyzed, and an LCA is presented for a set of optimal solutions. The final part is dedicated to LCIO, where the paper shows that these optimal solutions are close to those obtained with LCCO. FindingsThis paper investigated LCIO using an environmental impacts model that has been introduced in the optimization framework Component Architecture for the Design of Engineering Systems. The paper shows how a mixed continuous-discrete, multi-objective technico-economic optimization can be done using an efficient deterministic optimization algorithm such as Sequential Quadratic Programming. Thanks to the technico-economic-environmental model and the efficient optimization algorithm, both LCCO and LCIO were performed separately and together. It has been shown that optimal solutions are similar, leading to the conclusion that only one modeling is required (economic or environmental) but on the life cycle. Originality/valueThe classical sequential methodology of design is improved here by the use of a model of calculation of the environmental impacts allowing the optimization. This original optimization allowed the authors to show that an analysis of the life cycle from an economic point of view or from an environmental point of view led to quasi-equivalent technical solutions. The key is to take into account the life cycle of the product.

Do life-cycle costing and assessment integration support decision-making towards sustainable development?

“…The results of previous literature show that LCC (Animah et al, 2018;Heralova, 2014;Khandelwal et al, 2019) and LCA (Albuquerque et al, 2019, Kamble et al, 2018Shah and Unnikrishnan, 2018) measure the cost and environmental performance of the activity (Delinchant et al, 2018;Nippala and Vainio, 2019). However, none of these studies discussed the possibility of integrating LCC and LCA on a common basis, except Bierer et al (2015), which used material flow cost accounting to link LCC and LCA with only a theoretical presentation.…”

Economic analysis of aluminium conductor composite core and conventional aluminium conductor steel reinforced conductors in overhead ultra‐high voltage transmission lines

“…LCC assessment aims to select the scheme with the lowest cost over the long term from among many schemes (13). The discount rate i is introduced to construct the transmission line LCC model of the capital investment return rate over time [24, 25]. $$$$\begin{equation}LCC = IC + \sum_{i = 1}^n {(O{C_t} + M{C_t} + F{C_t})} \frac{1}{{{{(1 + t)}^t}}} + DC\end{equation}$$$$where IC is the initial investment cost that includes the cost in the design stage, the cost of equipment procurement, and the cost of construction and installation during the construction stage.…”