Author(s)

YONGJIAN GU

Abstract

A combined cooling, heating, and power (CCHP) plant is an advanced multi-generation system not only provides cooling, heating and qualified air as a traditional heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) system does, but also simultaneously generates electricity in the plant from a single energy source. Conventionally, electrical power is generated through a turbo-generator unit by burning fuel in an electrical power plant and the HVAC system is in turn driven by electricity. Using the separated conventional way as described, a large quantity of fuel and electrical energy need to be consumed. This paper proposes the advanced CCHP plants driven by the renewable thermal energy. The paper delves into the working principles and systems of the advanced CCHP plants using solar thermal energy, geothermal energy and ocean thermal energy. The paper also illustrates the configurations and operation principles of the highly efficient plate heat exchanger and the water lithium-bromide (H₂O-Libro) absorption chiller used in the proposed CCHP plants. Such advanced CCHP plants, using renewable thermal energy as the only single energy source, are cost effective and environment-friendly. They are attractive and applicable in engineering practice. In the paper, the thermal calculation of a proposed direct thermal CCHP plant driven by solar thermal energy as a case study is presented.

Keywords

HVAC, CCHP, absorption chiller, renewable thermal energy