Development of an exergy-electrical analogy for visualizing and modeling building integrated energy systems

•The exergy-electrical analogy is developed for energy systems used in buildings.•This analogy has been developed for a complete set of system arrangement options.•Different possibilities of inter-connections are illustrated using analog switches.•Adaptability and utility of the diagram over traditional ones are emphasized. An exergy-electrical analogy, similar to the heat transfer electrical one, is developed and applied to the case of integrated energy systems operating in buildings. Its construction is presented for the case of space heating with electric heaters, heat pumps and solar collectors. The proposed analogy has been applied to a set of system arrangement options proposed for satisfying the building heating demand (space heating, domestic hot water); different alternatives to connect the units have been presented with switches in a visualization scheme. The analogy for such situation has been performed and the study of a solar assisted heat pump using ice storage has been investigated. This diagram directly permits energy paths and their associated exergy destruction to be visualized; hence, sources of irreversibility are identifiable. It can be helpful for the comprehension of the global process and its operation as well as for identifying exergy losses. The method used to construct the diagram makes it easily adaptable to others units or structures or to others models depending on the complexity of the process. The use of switches could be very useful for optimization purposes.