variavel0=<b>Alexandre Marcial da Silva</b> - marcial@feg.unesp.br UNESP/Faculdade de Engenharia de Guaratinguetá
<b>Marcelo Rodrigues de Holanda</b> - holanda@feg.unesp.br UNESP/Faculdade de Engenharia de Guaratinguetá
<b>José Antônio Perrella Balestieri</b> - perrella@feg.unesp.br UNESP/Faculdade de Engenharia de Guaratinguetá
<b>Paulo Magalhães Filho</b> - pfilho@feg.unesp.br UNESP/Faculdade de Engenharia de Guaratinguetá
<b>Abstract.</b> The analysis of cogeneration system operational behavior has been traditionally done by means of commercial simulators that permit expedite evaluations of decision variables, both by the technical and economic criteria. However, not only because their costs, these computational codes demand a relatively large time to be spent for acquiring knowledge for using them on an efficient condition. Another way for using simulators - generally associated to academic studies - has been based on the mathematical optimization and exergoeconomic models. This paper presents an evaluation of the simulators use for the cogeneration system analysis to illustrate the characteristics that distinguish some of the commercial products and to present opportunities for inserting new modeling options for simulating thermal cycles.
<b>Keywords.</b> Methodologies, optimization models, exergoeconomics, commercial simulators.