Tri-Generation System Configuration Selection Based on Energy and Exergy Analyses

Tuananh Bui, Young-Sang Kim (), Dong-Keun Lee, Kook-Young Ahn and Sang-Min Lee
Additional contact information
Tuananh Bui: Department of Zero-Carbo Fuel & Power Generation, Korea Institute of Machinery & Materials (KIMM), 156 Gajeongbuk-ro, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon 34103, Korea
Young-Sang Kim: Department of Zero-Carbo Fuel & Power Generation, Korea Institute of Machinery & Materials (KIMM), 156 Gajeongbuk-ro, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon 34103, Korea
Dong-Keun Lee: Department of Zero-Carbo Fuel & Power Generation, Korea Institute of Machinery & Materials (KIMM), 156 Gajeongbuk-ro, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon 34103, Korea
Kook-Young Ahn: Department of Zero-Carbo Fuel & Power Generation, Korea Institute of Machinery & Materials (KIMM), 156 Gajeongbuk-ro, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon 34103, Korea
Sang-Min Lee: Department of Zero-Carbo Fuel & Power Generation, Korea Institute of Machinery & Materials (KIMM), 156 Gajeongbuk-ro, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon 34103, Korea

Energies, 2022, vol. 15, issue 21, 1-16

Abstract: A tri-generation system combining cooling, heating, and power generation can contribute to increased system efficiency and thereby reduce greenhouse gas emissions. This study proposed a novel concept using 100-kW polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) as the basis for a tri-generation system with an integrated heat pump and adsorption chiller for greenhouse use. Three configurations of heat pump loop were designed to recover the waste heat from PEMFCs and used either for direct heating or cooling power generation in adsorption cooling. Analyses were carried out in terms of primary energy rate (PER) and exergy efficiencies. Of those investigated, the layout with a heat pump and internal heat exchanger demonstrated the best performance, with PERs of the cooling and heating modes at 0.94 and 0.78, respectively. Additionally, the exergy analysis revealed that the exergies are mostly destroyed at the expansion valve and evaporator due to differences in pressure and temperature. These differences are minimized when the system layout contains a cascade heat pump loop or an internal heat exchanger, thus resolving the problem of exergy destruction. As a result, the total exergy destruction in the system was decreased from 61.11% to 49.18% and 46.60%, respectively. Furthermore, the proposed configurations showed 36.1% and 31.4% lower values in terms of energy consumption compared with relevant works in the heating mode and cooling mode, respectively.

Keywords: tri-generation; polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell; PEMFCs; exergy; greenhouse (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/15/21/7958/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/15/21/7958/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jeners:v:15:y:2022:i:21:p:7958-:d:954310

Access Statistics for this article

Energies is currently edited by Ms. Agatha Cao

More articles in Energies from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().