🛠️ Chapter 5: External Class Development

Extend Thermoptim’s Capabilities

Want to go beyond core Thermoptim features? This chapter shows you how!

  • Why External Classes?

    • Create custom components (solar collectors, cooling towers).
    • Model specialized substances (Dowtherm A, LiBr-H₂O mixtures).
    • Implement external controllers for optimization.

  • Practical Examples:

    • Thermodynamic property servers for custom substances.
    • Solar collectors with effectiveness-based models.
    • Cooling towers with coupled heat/mass transfer.

  • Open-Source Flexibility:

    • Design GUI elements, save/load parameters, and integrate with Thermoptim’s engine.
    • Moist mixture calculations using external nodes.

Power Up: This mechanism expands Thermoptim’s applicability while keeping it consistent with core thermodynamics!

Abstract

This chapter presents the extension mechanisms that allow Thermoptim to address modeling problems beyond its core capabilities through external classes. External classes enable users to create custom components, substances, and control mechanisms using Java code. The chapter demonstrates how external classes can be developed for three main purposes: introducing custom substances (simple fluids like Dowtherm A and complex mixtures like LiBr-H₂O), creating specialized components (flat plate solar collectors, cooling towers), and implementing external controllers for optimization and off-design calculations. Detailed examples illustrate the practical implementation of external substances using thermodynamic property servers, solar collectors with effectiveness-based models, and direct contact cooling towers involving coupled heat and mass transfer. The methodology includes graphical user interface design, parameter saving/loading, and integration with Thermoptim’s calculation engine. Special attention is given to moist mixture calculations, demonstrating how humidity-dependent processes can be modeled using external nodes synchronized through mixer-divider combinations. This extension mechanism, distributed following open-source principles, significantly expands Thermoptim’s applicability while maintaining consistency with its core thermodynamic framework.