Sizing Curve for the Design of Thermal Stabilizer of a Diesel Engine Powered Trigeneration System

Integrating absorption chillers with diesel engine generators makes possible the use of its rejected energy for meeting cooling energy demand. The performance of such an absorption chiller is sensitive to the temperature at its desorber section. In hot water driven double effect absorption system, the temperature of hot water is to be maintained between 170 ̊C and 165 ̊C. A hot water storage tank is therefore proposed to be integrated so as to maintain the water temperature within allowable limits. Sizing of such a hot water storage referred to as a thermal stabilizer is therefore an important objective. One such technique proposed is a sizing curve method based on thermal stability time. A generalized methodology for generating a sizing curve for a cooling load is presented in this paper. The method offers a simplified approach for sizing of thermal stabilizer for a given diesel generator catering to combined power and thermal demands. This sizing methodology is illustrated for a 180kW diesel engine based trigeneration system catering to fluctuating cooling and power loads.