Thermo-economic assessment and application of CCHP system with dehumidification and hybrid refrigeration

Combined cooling, heating and power (CCHP) systems have widely theoretical researched and practical applied to solve the energy and environment problems. The schemes of CCHP systems are important to select, which can best satisfy users demand with high thermal economy and low pollutant emission. In this paper, a novel scheme of CCHP system with dehumidification and hybrid refrigeration is proposed, where an internal combustion engine (ICE) is utilized as a prime mover. The absorption dehumidifier is driven by jacket water of ICE to provide dehumidification, and hybrid refrigeration system is consisted of absorption chiller and electric compression refrigerator. A thermo-economic model of the CCHP system is established, and a comprehensive evaluation criteria is proposed as objective function. The analytic hierarchy process and the constrained nonlinear programming solution are employed to optimize design and operation strategy of the ICE-CCHP system. This research discuss its application in a case: the CCHP system apply to following the electric load (FEL), and the optimum equipment capacity of the CCHP system is obtained. Furthermore, the sensitivity analysis is carried out to assess effects on performance of the CCHP system.