Experimental and numerical analysis of a SOFC-CHP system with adsorption and hybrid chillers for telecommunication applications

This paper reports about the combined experimental and numerical investigation of a novel small size multi-generation system, for electric (i.e. <10 kW) and cooling (i.e. <20 kW) energy provision to Base Transceiver Stations and small data centers. The proposed concept is based on a high-efficiency natural gas driven SOFC-CHP coupled to commercially available thermally driven adsorption chillers. The main components of the system were experimentally characterized under relevant boundaries and the obtained performance maps were used to implement a TRNSYS model of the whole multi-generation system. The developed model was used to investigate the effect of the sizing of each component as well as the integration of two different commercial thermally driven chillers on the achievable global efficiency. This analysis demonstrated the possibility of getting global energy efficiency up to 0.63 and yearly primary energy savings up to 110 MWh. CO2 emissions avoided are up to 43 t/y.