How can I create a virtual load to activate supply side of plant?
I need my plant loop pumps to circulate the working fluid during some hours with no actual load. I need this to charge the thermal storage tank during no-load conditions. Thermal storage is placed after the chillers mixer and chillers are controlled by cooling load based operation scheme. Also, my plant loop has no common pipe and has HeaderedPumps:ConstantSpeed in the supply inlet branch.
I considered LoadProfile:Plant but there are two problems with that. First, it affects the sizing of the pumps and chillers which is unfavorable. Second, I need chillers to operate based on load and PLR not based on flow requests. Do you have any suggestions to fix these issues (common pipe, ems, user-defined component etc)?
Update: Here is a visual perspective and an additional explanation about the virtual load [Ref]:
Have you tried an AvailabilityManager:Scheduled or AvailabilityManager:ScheduledOn?
@Julien Marrec, Where should I use it? I didn't get your point.
Actually, I got the idea of the virtual load from a paper. I add some screenshots if it helps.