Integrated Systems for Cogeneration and Absorption Chilling: Comparison for Varying Chiller COPs
Abstract The thermodynamic effects are demonstrated of integrating steam turbine-based cogeneration systems with absorption chillers. A wide range of realistic extraction steam pressures and coefficient of performance (COP) values of absorption chillers are considered. A simple model of a steam turbine-based cogeneration plant is used for the evaluation of the integrated system. The integrated systems are evaluated based on the ratio of fuel consumption between a base case (one-stage absorption chiller with a COP value of 0.6) and several alternative cases (multi-stage absorption chillers with COP values ranging from 0.6 to 1.5). Two categories of scenarios are considered: (i) cases where the cooling load is fixed; and (ii) cases where the cooling load is fixed and the electrical output for the integrated system is set equal to that for the base case.