Theoretical study on a novel ammonia-water cogeneration system with adjustable cooling to power ratios

A novel ammonia-water cogeneration system with adjustable cooling to power ratios is proposed and investigated. In the combined system, a modified Kalina subcycle and an ammonia absorption cooling subcycle are interconnected by mixers, splitters, absorbers and heat exchangers. The proposed system can adjust its cooling to power ratios from the separate mode without splitting/mixing processes in the two subcycles to the combined operation modes which can produce different ratios of cooling and power. Simulation analysis is conducted to investigate the effects of operation parameter on system performance. The results indicate that the combined system efficiency can reach the maximum values of 37.79% as SR1 (split ratio 1) is equal to 1. Compared with the separate system, the combined efficiency and COP values of the proposed system can increase by 6.6% and 100% with the same heat input, respectively. In addition, the cooling to power ratios of the proposed system can be adjusted in the range of 1.8-3.6 under the given operating conditions.