Applied Energy 86 (2009) 23172326

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Applied Energy
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/apenergy

Performance evaluation of a tri-generation system with simulation and experiment

Y.T. Ge a,*, S.A. Tassou a, I. Chaer b, N. Suguartha a
a
b

Mechanical Engineering, School of Engineering and Design, Brunel University, Uxbridge, Middlesex UB8 3PH, UK
Faculty of Engineering, Science and the Built Environment, London South Bank University (T617), Borough Road, London SE1 0AA, UK

a r t i c l e

i n f o

Article history:
Received 24 November 2008
Received in revised form 12 March 2009
Accepted 13 March 2009
Available online 28 April 2009
Keywords:
Tri-generation
Microturbine
Absorption chiller
Experiment
Simulation

a b s t r a c t
A test rig for a tri-generation system was set up in the laboratory to investigate the system performance
and application feasibility. The rig was composed of three modules, a power component containing a
microturbine, a refrigeration unit consisting of an absorption chiller with gas pipe connection, and a
supermarket section containing a display cabinet. This system was supposed to be effectively applied into
a supermarket energy control system where cooling, heating and electricity power are simultaneously
required and subsequently, valuable test results have been produced. In the mean time, a simulation
model for the particular tri-generation system has been established by integrating the component models
of the system in accordance with the components actual ow paths and energy streams. These component models, which include a compressor, recuperator, combustion chamber, gas turbine, electric generator, gas pipes, generator (desorber), rectier, absorbers, condenser and evaporator etc., were developed
based upon the balance of heat and mass. The calculations of heat transfer and phase equilibrium were
included in the component models and chemical reaction balances were considered in the model of the
combustion chamber. The system model has been validated with the test results and has consequently
been used to predict the system performance at different operating and design conditions, such as varied
ambient temperature, fuel ow rate and pressure ratio etc. The ultimate results of the performance analysis formulated by the system model can contribute signicantly to the optimal component and system
designs in various practical applications.
Crown Copyright 2009 Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
A modern supermarket energy control system has a concurrent
need for electricity, heating and refrigeration. The power supply to
the supermarket is primarily from the national grid, which can be
less efcient due to the processes of energy conversions. A major
opportunity to reduce energy consumption in a retail supermarket
is the application of local combined heating and power (CHP) generation. The use of CHP can increase primary energy utilisation efciency to over 60%, depending on the electrical efciency,
availability and utilisation of the plant [1]. The usage of high temperature gas from the turbine exhaust in the CHP plant to drive a
low temperature absorption chiller will greatly improve the overall
efciency of a tri-generation system to above 75% [2]. Therefore
the combined cooling, heating and power, i.e. tri-generation or
CCHP system [3,4] can lead to substantial energy saving and ultimately a signicant contribution to the reduction of CO2 emissions
in the atmosphere.
A typical tri-generation system consists of ve main components: the prime mover, electricity generator, heat recovery system, thermally activated equipment and the management and
* Corresponding author. Tel.: +44 1895 266722; fax: +44 1895 256392.
E-mail address: Yunting.Ge@brunel.ac.uk (Y.T. Ge).

control system [5]. Currently, the prime mover can be a steam turbine, reciprocating internal combustion engine, combustion turbine, microturbine, Stirling engine or fuel cell. The feasibility of
the combined CHP with a combustion engine and absorption cooling system (CCHP) in the application of supermarket was investigated by Maidment et al. [6,7]. Their results demonstrated that
whilst the cooling, heating and electricity generated by the CCHP
system could be fully utilised, the primary energy consumption
was 20% less than that of the traditional system, thereby authenticating a notable payback period for the supermarket should the
CCHP system be applied. The potential of thermoeconomics for
the analysis of CCHP systems with reciprocating engines in the
applications of buildings was explored by Cardona and Piacentino
[8] and principal procedures addressing to the application problems have also been described. The energy efciency and economic
feasibility of a tri-generation system driven by the Stirling engine
was discussed by Kong et al. [9] with calculations and comparisons
between the tri-generation system and the conventional one in
terms of energy conservation and efciency; ultimately ascertaining that the tri-generation system had, to some extent, greater energy savings. Energy optimization models for a tri-generation
system using gas turbines were exhibited by Kong et al. [10], using
a simple liner programming model to determine the optimal control strategies in order to minimise the overall energy cost of the

0306-2619/$ - see front matter Crown Copyright 2009 Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.apenergy.2009.03.018

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Y.T. Ge et al. / Applied Energy 86 (2009) 23172326

Nomenclature
Cp
f
h
LMTD
_
m
max
min
Q
q
R
T
UA
W
D
n

specic heat (J/kg k)

ratio of cycle
enthalpy (J/kg)
logarithmic mean temperature difference (K)
mass ow rate (kg/s)
maximum
minimum
heat transfer rate (W)
heat transfer effect (J/kg)
ration of return ow
temperature (C, K)
overall conductance (W/K)
power (W)
difference
concentration (% by mass)
efciency

system. Moreover, a specic evaluation method for the efciency

of such a system was presented and supported by both Sadrameli
and Goswami [11] and Giaccone et al. [3] with the usage of combined systems. However, the mathematical analysis of cooling,
heating and power systems based upon site energy consumption
was provided by Fumo et al. [12], which demonstrated that CHP
systems could potentially increase the site energy consumption.
Thermal activated equipment, normally referred to as the
absorption chiller, desiccant dehumidier or adsorption chiller,
can be driven by the by-product heat of the prime mover, and integrated with CHP system to provide cooling at the same time. An
absorption water chiller using heat pipe technologies was introduced by Wang [13], wherein the chiller, initially designed to be
energised by either solar rays or hot water, was later integrated
into a CHP system with expectations of a higher performance.
One ideal option in the prime mover would be a microturbine,
when the power generation in a tri-generation system is liable to
be at a smaller scale. These microturbine based units have been
developing into major competitors with engine-based ones contributing to the small-scale tri-generation market. However, to
the authors knowledge, very few researches have been done so
far in the development of the microturbine based tri-generation
systems and thus further research efforts require implementation.
Several issues can affect the overall efciency of a tri-generation
system, including ambient temperatures, fuel ow rates, pressure
ratios, recuperation rates, backpressures and heat resource temperatures for the thermal activated equipments. The inuence of
ambient temperature on the performance of combined heat and
power plant was studied by Arrieta and Lora [14], which concluded
that a higher ambient temperature would decrease the net power
generated and thus reduce the thermal efciency. The intake or
ambient air conditions can be modied by the ingestion air cooling
using spray coolers [15] or absorption chillers [16], with both efciently reducing the intake air temperature and ultimately improving the efciency of the system. It was established that an exhaust
heat recovery recuperator can help to achieve a 30% higher thermal
efciency for microturbines [17]. However, temperature limitation
impact on the recuperator and turbine requires consideration [18].
Owing to the pressure drops for exhaust gas owing through gas
pipes and the recuperator, the backpressure would inevitably be
higher than the atmospheric pressure. Higher backpressure would
negatively impact the system thermal efciency [19] and eventually limit the amount of exhaust gas reaching the thermally activated equipment. The above effect factors were predominantly
investigated in CHP systems but their effects upon tri-generation

effectiveness

Subscripts
a
air
c
cooling
comp
compressor
fuel
fuel
g
gas, generator
h
heating
in
inlet
is
isentropic
me
mechanical
net
net
out
outlet
r
rectier
turb
turbine

systems, especially with microturbines still require further

exploration.
In this paper, a tri-generation system using a microturbine as
the prime mover and an ammoniawater absorption unit as the
thermally activated equipment has been investigated with both
an experiment and mathematic model simulation. The internal
parameters such as temperatures between each component in
the system were measured and simulated. The initial design of
the tri-generation system with microturbines in the application
of supermarket is outlined. Some affecting issues on the performance of the tri-generation system such as fuel ow rates, pressure ratios, ambient temperatures, and recuperation rates have
been studied and some signicant results presented. The performance evaluation and analyses of the system will provide signicant as operation resources and can potentially result in optimal
designs for the system and its components.

2. Experimental setup
The design and assembly of a tri-generation test facility to provide electric power, heating and refrigeration were implemented in
the laboratory with contributions from all partners [20]. The overall tri-generation test facility design incorporates three main modules: a power and heat module, a heat diversion and refrigeration
system module, and a supermarket module. A schematic layout of
the overall tri-generation system is shown in Fig. 1.
The power and heat module is an 80 kWe recuperated microturbine generation package (MTG 80RC-G) with a built-in hot water
heat exchanger, as shown in Fig. 2. This module comprises of three
main compartments, a control and power electronics bay, an engine
and recuperation bay and a secondary heat recovery bay. The control and power electronics bay contains a local operator interface
(control panel), electrical interfaces for the 3-phase power output,
auxiliary power input and a remote control. The engine and recuperation bay holds the prime movers including a single stage radial
compressor and a single radial turbine within an annular combustor and a permanent magnet rotor (alternator), all of which are on
the same rotor shaft. Other equipments in this bay include a fuel
management device and a lubrication/cooling (oil) mechanism.
The heat recovery bay comprises of the components that provide
the secondary CHP heat transfer facility. This consists of a uegas/water heat exchanger to enable waste heat recovery.
The MTG unit was instrumented with temperature sensors at
the inlets and outlets of the main components with accuracy of

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Y.T. Ge et al. / Applied Energy 86 (2009) 23172326

Stack

Gas Vent
Exhaust Gas
Outlet

Expansion
Tank

Diverter

VD Fan

Flow meter

Oil Cooler
Absorption
Chiller

Glycol
Pump

Dry Blast Unit

Hot Water Supply

Silencer
Cooling Air
Outlet

Cooling Air
Inlet

Gas Supply

Combustion Air
Inlet

Display Flow meter

cabinet

Gas
Flow meter

Microturbine TG80 CG

Gas Safety
Train

Gas
Flow meter
Gas Boost
Compressor

Fig. 1. Schematic diagram of the tri-generation test facility.

0.2 C and pressure sensors at accuracy of 3 Pa before and after

the recuperator. Voltage, current and frequency sensors were also
tted on the unit to allow the monitoring of the electrical power
output. All of the sensors were connected to a data logging system
incorporated inside the MTG unit which could be remotely monitored via a modbus system.
In the diversion and refrigeration system module, a Robur (ACF60LB) ammoniawater absorption chiller which was originally designed to be driven directly by gas red burner was redesigned and
connected with the MTG unit, as shown in Fig. 3. The nominal cooling capacity for the unit is 12 kW. The refrigeration circuit comprises of a tube-in-tube evaporator, a refrigerant heat exchanger,
a liquid cooled absorber (absorber_1), an air-cooled absorber (absorber_2), a hydraulic pump, a upright generator, a rectier, an
air-cooled condenser and three xed tube restrictors between the
high and low pressure sides. The unit was tted with high and

low side pressure transducers with accuracy of 3 Pa. A number

of temperature sensors with accuracy of 0.2 C each were also
xed in the system.
To utilise the heat resource of the exhaust gas from the microturbine, the gas burner and ignition system was removed from the
unit whilst the insulation shroud was kept, allowing the ue gases
from the MTG to be diverted around the generator, as shown in
Fig. 4.
The supermarket module is simplied as a multi-deck display
cabinet which is cooled by the lower temperature chilled water
(33% by volume propylene glycol/water mixture) from the refrigeration module. The cabinet was mounted inside an environmental
chamber in which the space air temperature, humidity and velocity were all modulated by an external air handling unit.

3. Application of tri-generation systems in supermarket

ExhaustGases
Feed Water
Hot Water
Boiler

Recuperator
3-way
Valve

Hot Water

3ph
Output

Combustor
InletAir

Alternator
Compressor
Power Electronics
& Controls
Fig. 2. Bowman MTG 80RC-G-R microturbine.

Turbine

Based on the preliminary layout of the test rig as shown in

Fig. 1, the application of such a tri-generation system in supermarket energy control systems can be outlined depending on the size
and demand of designed supermarket. For a typical supermarket in
the UK, the cooling loads required by the medium temperature
chilled food are around 260 kW, with low temperature frozen food
requiring around 55 kW. The electricity needed for lighting and
auxiliary equipments is in an order of 183 kWe and the hot water
required is approximately 108 kW. To meet these energy demands,
the three MTG systems above and a number of absorption chillers
will be installed. Since one MTG system is capable of generating
80 kWe electricity, an overall of 240 kWe electricity will be produced. Of the total electricity, 55 kWe can be used for low temperature refrigeration to produce 55 kW cooling capacity with COP at
1.0, 46 kWe can be used in medium temperature refrigeration to
acquire a 116 kW cooling capacity with COP at 2.5, and 139 kWe
for lighting and auxiliary equipment. Additionally, an extra
44 kWe imported electricity from main grid will be required to
meet the prerequisite for the lighting and auxiliary equipment.
For the meantime, around 528 kW exhaust gas at a temperature

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Y.T. Ge et al. / Applied Energy 86 (2009) 23172326

Heat exchanger

10

(HX
1)

14

11

13

Restrictor

Chilled water in

Evaporator
12

Chilled water out

Refrigerant
vapor out
8

Rectifier

Condenser

1
Rect
i

Air in

Gas in

Gas out 6

Generator

Solution
pump

Absorber_2

Absorber_1

Fig. 3. Schematic diagram of the Robur ACF60-LB absorption system.

of roughly 278 C from the MTG systems can be produced. With a

heat recovery heat exchanger at an efciency of 85%, 463 kW exhaust gas at 253 C and 55 kW hot water can be generated. The
463 kW exhaust gas can be utilised as the heat source for the
absorption chillers to generate a 144 kW cooling capacity for medium temperature refrigeration with COP at 0.35; with the exhaust
gas from the absorption generator exploited to make around
53 kW hot water.
Although the above initial design for the tri-generation systems
can meet the basic requirement of the supermarket, the system
performance can still be largely improved by a detailed simulation
and experimental investigation.

4. Mathematical model
According to the system layout shown in Fig. 1, to facilitate the
modelling, the whole system is classied into two subsystems: the
microturbine and absorption chiller. The supermarket module is
not included in the simulation at this time. The two subsystems
are physically connected by an exhaust gas pipe from the recuperator outlet to the generator inlet. The whole system model is an

integration of its main component models according to the actual

owing streams in the system. The component models in the
microturbine subsystem include the compressor, combustion
chamber, gas turbine, electricity generator and recuperator. The
component models in the absorption chiller consist of the refrigerant generator, rectier, air-cooled condenser, tube-in-tube evaporator, heat exchanger, solution-cooled absorber, air-cooled
absorber and solution pump. A gas pipe model is also included to
calculate the heat loss of the exhaust gas. These component models
are described as below:
4.1. Component models in the microturbine subsystem
The compressor and gas turbine models are similar. Each model
calculates the outlet conditions from the inlet states by using an
isentropic efciency, which can be specied by the user. The main
difference between these two models is that work is required by
the compressor whilst work is produced by the gas turbine.
For the compressor,

Dhcomp

hout;is  hin

gis

hout hin Dhcomp

_ a  Dhcomp
m
W comp

gme

1
2
3

For the turbine,

Dhturb
Generator

Shroud

Flue gas
direction
Fig. 4. Frontal view of the modied absorption chiller.

hin  hout;is

gis

hout hin  Dhturb

_ g  Dhturb  gme
W turb m

4
5
6

For the model of the combustion chamber, this suits for an adiabatic combustion chamber with different liquid or gaseous fuels.
To describe the fuel used in the model, two important fuel parameters are needed: the lower heating value and the mass ratios of
the fuel elements given in the organic analysis. These parameters
will be used to set up the possible chemical reaction equations in
the chamber in order that the mass ratios of reactants and products
can be calculated. Presuming the natural gas fuel is composed of
CH4, C2H6, C3H8, C4H10, N2 and CO2, the following chemical reactions will exist during the combustion process in the chamber:

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Y.T. Ge et al. / Applied Energy 86 (2009) 23172326

CH4 2O2 ! CO2 2H2 O

Conservation of mass for ammonia : f n1 f  1n2 n8

13

2C2 H6 7O2 ! 4CO2 6H2 O

Conservation of energy : qg h8  h2 qr f h2  h1

14

C3 H8 5O2 ! 3CO2 4H2 O

C4 H10 9O2 ! 4CO2 10H2 O

10

From the mass balance of each chemical reaction equation, the

mass ratios of the required reactant O2 and the CO2 and H2O products can be calculated and are listed in Table 1.
In this case, the minimum air required is calculated as
3.8067 kg/kg fuel. The model allows two different operating
modes: (1) the required ue mass ow for a given outlet temperature; (2) the temperature results attained from the fuel. At any
operating mode, the outlet gas composition can be determined.
A NTU-e method is used to develop the recuperator model.
With different correlations of the effectiveness, the model can simulate the heat exchangers with different structures.
The model of electricity generator is relatively simple in which
the net power generation is calculated out from the difference of
gas turbine power output and compressor power input. The efciency of the generator is also considered in the model.

In Eqs. (13) and (14), f

_1
m
_8
m

_ g  Cpg  tg;in  t g;out

Heat transfer : qg eg  m

15

4.2.3. Solution cooled absorber

To simplify the simulation, the solution-cooled absorber is divided into two control volumes, CV1 and CV2, as shown in Fig. 5.
For the control volume one (CV1),

_3m
_ 3a
Conservation of mass for solution : m
_ 3a n3a
_ 3 n3 m
Conservation of mass for ammonia : m
_ 7 h1  h7 m
_ 3 h3  h3a
Conservation of energy : Q_ a m
Heat transfer : Q_ a UA  LMTD

16
17
18
19

where

LMTD

DT a;max  DT a;min


ln DDTTa;max
a;min

DT a;max maxT 3  T 1 ; T 3a  T 7
DT a;min minT 3  T 1 ; T 3a  T 7

4.2. Component models in absorption subsystem

The model of each component in the absorption chiller has been
developed individually based upon the balances of mass (solution
and species) and heat, and the calculations of heat transfer, adiabatic equilibrium of saturated solution and thermodynamic properties. The black box modelling methods are employed in
establishing the component models in the absorption system. A
component in the system is assumed as one or two control volumes with some inputs and outputs of ow or energy. Typically,
the models of the refrigerant generator, rectier and absorbers of
both solution-cooled and air-cooled are described in this paper.
4.2.1. Rectier
As shown in Fig. 3, the rectier is assumed as one control volume. Some assumptions are needed for the model: (1) pure saturated vapour state for the refrigerant outlet of rectier at 8; (2)
saturated vapour state for the solution at the top of the generator,
at 100 ; (3) saturated liquid state for the solution from the rectier
to the generator, at 10 ; (4) no heat loss in the rectier.

Conservation of mass for ammonia : 1 Rn100 n8 Rn10

11

Conservation of energy : 1 Rh100 h8 Rh10 qr

12

_ 10 =m
_ 8.
In Eqs. (11) and (12), R m
4.2.2. Generator and rectier
The solution-cooled rectier has strong structure integration
with the generator. It is therefore reasonable to assume the generator and rectier as one control volume. Some other rational
assumptions for the model are: (1) saturated liquid state for the
weak solution of the generator outlet at 2; (2) no heat losses in
the generator and the rectier.

For control volume two (CV2),

_ 3a n3a m
_ 14 m
_ 4 n4
Conservation of mass for ammonia : m
_ 14 h14 m
_ 4 h4
_ 3a h3a m
Conservation of energy : m

20
21

4.2.4. Air-cooled absorber

The conservation equations for the air-cooled absorber are similar to those of equations in CV2 of the solution-cooled absorber
excluding the different end points of these two heat exchangers.
For the air-cooled absorber, the hot side is the weak solution and
the cold side is the air. The model also assumes a saturated liquid
state for the solution outlet.
4.3. System model
The system model is developed by the integration of the component models in the system according to the actual ow and energy streams along the components. The component models are
integrated under the software environment of TRNSYS [21], as
shown in Fig. 6. TRNSYS is a transient systems simulation programme with a modular structure, which recognizes a system
description language whereby the user species the components
that constitute the system and the manner in which they are connected. The outputs of each component model can be inputs to another component according to the actual component layout in the
system. The accuracy of the system simulation is dependent upon
the correctness of the component models and their integration.
In Fig. 6, each named box represents a component model. There
are three distinct types of information associated with each component model: parameters, inputs and outputs. The parameters

Table 1
Chemical reaction results.
Fuel mass ratio

O2 required (kg/kg fuel)

CO2 produced (kg/kg fuel)

H2O produced (kg/kg fuel)

CH4 (86.2%)
C2H6 (6.28%)
C3H8 (2.05%)
C4H10 (1.01%)
N2 (4.23%)
CO2 (0.256%)
Total

3.448
0.234
0.0745
0.0502

3.8067

2.3705
0.184
0.0615
0.0306

0.0256
2.6722

1.724
0.113
0.0335
0.0313

1.902

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Y.T. Ge et al. / Applied Energy 86 (2009) 23172326

4.4. PER value

Strong
Solution
3
Cooling
Solution to
Generator

The conventional efciency evaluation method in term of Coefcient of Performance (COP) which is used for heating and cooling
productions is not suitable for the proposed tri-generation system.
The decisive value for the energy efciency evaluation of such a
system is the Primary Energy Rate (PER) [10]. The PER is dened
as the ratio of the primary energy demand to the required output,
and consequently, the system with the lowest value of PER is considered the best with regards to energy consumption.
The PER value for the discussed tri-generation system can be
expressed as:

CV1

Refrigerant
7

14
3

Cooling
Solution From

Absorber

CV2

PER

Weak
Solution

Fig. 5. Two control volumes of solution-cooled absorber.

Micro-turbine
Exhaust gas
Gas pipe

Recuperator
Fuel
Combustion chamber

Generator

Compressor

Gas turbine

Pump
Rectifier

Heat
exchanger

Absorber
_01

22

In the above equation, the net fuel heat input Qfuel can be calculated from the product of fuel mass ow rate and the lower heating
value of the fuel, whilst the cooling capacity Qc and net power generation Wnet can be obtained from the system model. Although a
hot water heat exchanger was designed and connected after the
recuperator as shown in Fig. 2, there was actually no water ow
circulating through it during the test. The utilisation of the hot
water heating capacity Qhw can be set to zero. In addition, part of
the exhaust gas from the recuperator was used as heating source
of the refrigeration system and the rest was available for heating
but exhausted directly into ambient through the stack in the test
period. Therefore, the utilisation of the heating capacity Qh can also
be excluded from the above equation. Consequently, the PER can
be calculated as:

PER

Q fuel
Q c W net

23

Condenser

5. Model validation

Evaporator

Generator

Q fuel
Q c W net Q hw Q h

Absorber
_02
Absorption chiller

Fig. 6. Integration of simulation model for the tri-generation system under TRNSYS
environment.

are design specications of the component which are unaltered

during the simulation. The inputs to a component are the characteristics of the uid streams owing into that component, represented by intake arrows in the diagram. For the microturbine
subsystem, each stream has a maximum of six characteristics:
temperature, pressure, mass ratio of gas composition, enthalpy,
ow rate and power (for the electricity generator only). For the
absorption chiller, each stream also has a maximum of six characteristics: temperature, pressure, overall composition, enthalpy,
quality and ow rate. The outputs of a component are the characteristics of the outlet streams, represented as outgoing arrows.
In the TRNSYS simulation environment, the iteration solution
proceeds in the following way, with each component subroutine
designed to calculate the outputs of the component using the supplied parameters and inputs. The outputs of one component can be
inputs to other components in the system assuming they are connected to each other. When all the component subroutines are executed at each iteration, the input/output values are improved. The
iteration proceeds until the outputs (and thus the inputs) of all
routines converge. Therefore, the nal solution is established by
successive substitution.

The microturbine subsystem model has been validated with

test results in the laboratory. At different fuel mass ow rates,
the air and gas temperatures at various locations have been simulated and compared with those of test data, as shown in Fig. 7.
These temperatures are air temperatures of the compressor exit
(Taexcp), gas temperature of the recuperator exit (Tgexre), air
temperature of the recuperator exit (Taexre), and gas temperature of the gas turbine exit (Tgextu). It can be recognized that
the temperatures at any above location increases with a higher fuel
ow rate and the simulated temperatures correspond well to the
experimented results.
The variation of power output with the fuel mass ow rate has
been simulated and compared with the test results, as shown in
Fig. 8. It can be seen that the power output is strongly affected
by the fuel ow rate and the higher fuel ow rate can generate
more power. Once more, the simulation can match well with the
experiment results.

Fig. 7. Comparison of simulated air/gas temperatures with test results.

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Y.T. Ge et al. / Applied Energy 86 (2009) 23172326

Pressure (bar)

5
4
3
2
1
0
-12

20
Pressure (bar)

18
16

Test with Tamb=16 0.5C

Simulation with Tamb=16 0.5C
Test with Tamb=17 0.5 C
Simulation with Tamb=17 0.5 C

14
12
10
8
6
-12

-10

-8
-6
-4
Chilled water outlet temperature (C)

-2

Fig. 9. Comparison between experimental and simulation results for pressure at

the high pressure side of the system.

-8
-6
-4
Chilled water outlet temperature (C)

-2

16
Cooling capacity (kW)

For the absorption subsystem, the experiments were carried out

over a range of ambient temperatures between 16 0.5 C and
17 0.5 C and chilled water ow temperatures between 2 C
and 12 C at a constant secondary uid ow rate of 0.67 kg/s.
The red gas generator was installed for the tested absorption
chillers such that the heat input to the generator was constant of
25.0 kW.
Parameters used for the model validation were pressures in the
high and low pressure sides of the system, cooling capacity, and
cooling COP. Fig. 9 shows a comparison between the experimental
and simulation results for the pressure in the high pressure (generator) side of the system in a range of ambient and chilled secondary uid outlet temperatures. It can be observed that the pressure
in the generator side of the system increases with a rising chilled
uid outlet temperature. Higher ambient temperatures also lead
to slightly higher pressures on the high pressure side of the system
and the simulation accuracy for the high pressure side is satised.
Similar characteristics were obtained for the pressure in the low
pressure side. As seen from Fig. 10, higher chilled uid outlet temperatures lead to higher low side pressures. It can also be seen that
the ambient temperature has less effect upon the low side pressure
of the system. At lower secondary uid ow temperatures below
5 oC, the simulation accuracy proves to be reliable. At higher uid
ow temperatures, however, experimental and simulation results
begin to diverge. This may be due to the xed UA values used in
the simulation.
Figs. 11 and 12 show the comparisons between the experiment
and simulation for the cooling capacity and the cooling COP,
respectively, over a range of chilled uid outlet temperatures and
ambient temperatures. The scattered diagrams observed in the
experimental results are mainly due to the variation in ambient
temperatures during the tests and the slow response of the system
to variations in both the ambient temperatures and the chilled
uid temperatures. Despite the dispersion of the points, however,
there are apparent trends showing that both the cooling capacity
and the cooling COP of the system increase with the higher chilled
uid outlet temperature at specic ambient temperatures. This is
mainly because the increased evaporating temperatures will lead

-10

Fig. 10. Comparison between experimental and simulation results for pressure in
the low pressure side of the system.

14
12
10
8
6

Test with Tamb=16 0.5C

Simulation with Tamb=16 0.5C
Test with Tamb=17 0.5 C
Simulation with Tamb=17 0.5 C

4
2
0
-12

-10

-8
-6
-4
Chilled water outlet temperature (C)

-2

Fig. 11. Comparison between experimental and simulation results for cooling
capacity.

Cooling COP

Fig. 8. Comparison of simulated power output of CHP system with test results.

Test with Tamb=16 0.5C

Simulation with Tamb=16 0.5C
Test with Tamb=17 0.5 C
Simulation with Tamb=17 0.5 C

1
0.9
0.8
0.7
0.6
0.5
0.4
0.3
0.2
0.1
0
-12

Test with Tamb=16 0.5C

Simulation with Tamb=16 0.5C
Test with Tamb=17 0.5 C
Simulation with Tamb=17 0.5 C

-10

-8
-6
-4
Chilled water outlet temperature (C)

-2

Fig. 12. Comparison between experimental and simulation results for cooling COP.

to a elevated refrigerant density and thus a higher refrigerant ow

rate in the system.
For the simulation of the tri-generation system, when the above
two subsystems are integrated, two parameters are simulated and
compared with experiments: the exhaust gas temperature of the
absorption generator inlet and the cooling capacity. The experiments were under the conditions of varied recuperation rates
and fuel ow rates to maintain a constant power output.
As shown in Figs. 1 and 4, the cross area of the generator which
allows the exhaust gas to proceed through is too small compared to
the connected exhaust gas pipe. Such structures would not allow
excessive amounts of gas to ow into the generator otherwise
the higher gas ow pressure drop will elevate the backpressure
of the turbine outlet and thus greatly reduce the thermal efciency.
Consequently, only less than 10% of the exhaust gas from the gas
turbine outlet would bypass through the generator. The rest of
the high temperature gas from the gas turbine outlet although
can potentially be used for heating depleted out into atmosphere
instead. Though the thermal efciency can be guaranteed, the cooling capacity of the tri-generation system will be limited. The situation can be improved however, when a gasoil heat exchanger is
utilised and hot oil induced into the generator.
Recuperation rate is dened as the percentage of hot gas mass
ow rate proceeding through the recuperator and controlled by a
3-way valve as shown in Fig. 2. The gas out of the recuperator is

Y.T. Ge et al. / Applied Energy 86 (2009) 23172326

10

Simulation
Test

9
8
7
6
5
4
3

30

50

60
70
80
Recuperation Rate (% )

90

100

Fig. 14. Comparison between experimental and simulation results for cooling
capacity varied with recuperation rate.

6. Model application

300

Compressor power
Net power

Power (kW)

250

10

Turbine power
Cooling capacity

200

150
4

100

50
0

10
15
20
25
Ambient air temperature (C)

30

35

Fig. 15. Variations of compressor power, turbine power, net power and cooling
capacity with ambient air temperature.

Gas temperature (C)

290
270
250
230
210
190

Tgsuge

170
150

Tgexre
0

10

15

20

25

30

35

Ambient air temperature (C)

Fig. 16. Variation of gas temperatures of recuperator outlet and generator inlet
with ambient air temperature.

5.0
4.5
PER value

The validated system model can be used to predict system performance at different operating states, such as a range of ambient
temperatures and pressure ratios.
At constant air volumetric ow rate (2988 m3/h), fuel mass ow
rate (20 kg/h), pressure ratio (3.8), 100% recuperation rate, and gas
mass ow rate to the generator (0.062 kg/s), the simulation is run
with ambient air temperatures varied from 0 C to 35 C. The variations of the compressor power, turbine power, net power and
cooling capacity with ambient temperatures are predicted and
shown in Fig. 15. It can be observed from the simulation results
that the power produced by the turbine increases slightly with
higher ambient air temperature; whilst the power needed by the
compressor increases more with the elevated ambient air temperature. As a result, the net power generated in the tri-generation
system decreases with higher ambient air temperature. The cooling capacity is lower with higher ambient temperature. But the increased ambient air temperature increase the exhaust gas
temperature at generator inlet (Tgsuge) as shown in Fig. 16,
which eventually can elevate a bit the cooling capacity.
The variations of gas temperatures at the recuperator outlet and
the generator inlet with the ambient temperature are shown in
Fig. 16. It is seen that both gas temperatures are higher with increased ambient temperature. The difference between these two
temperatures is due to the heat loss along the connected gas pipe
and also the small portion of gas ow rate passing to generator.
At the above operating states, the variation of the PER value
with ambient air temperatures is calculated and is shown in
Fig. 17. Fig. 1 demonstrates that only the cooling effect and power
generation are considered in acquiring the value of the PER in such
a tri-generation system. Since both the power generation and cooling capacity decreases with a higher ambient air temperature, the
PER value, as a result, increases with the rise in ambient air temperature. It is noted that if the exhaust gas from the recuperator
exit is used for heating purpose, the heating capacity Qh in Eq.
(22) will increase with higher ambient air temperature due to
the amplied exhaust gas temperature as shown in Fig. 16. However, the trend of PER value with different ambient air temperature

40

Cooling capacity (kW)

therefore a mixture of gas passing through the recuperator and gas

directly out of turbine. Consequently, the higher the recuperation
rate is, the lower the mixture temperature will be and vice versa.
The exhaust gas temperature at the generator inlet and cooling
capacity at different recuperation rates are predicted by the model
and compared with the experimental results, as shown in Figs. 13
and 14, respectively. The exhaust gas temperature at the generator
inlet is higher when the recuperation rate is decreased and the increase rate is higher for a smaller recuperation rate. A similar trend
is found for the cooling capacity that when the recuperation rate is
increased, the cooling capacity will be reduced. The simulation
matches well with the test results.

Cooling Capacity (kW)

2324

4.0
3.5
3.0
2.5
2.0

10
15
20
25
Ambient air temperature (C)

30

35

Fig. 17. Variation of PER with ambient air temperature.

Gas temperature (C)

353
303
253
203
153
103

Simulation

53
3
30

Test
40

50

60
70
80
Recuperation Rate (% )

90

100

Fig. 13. Comparison between experimental and simulation results for gas temperature at generator inlet varied with recuperation rate.

can be maintained supposing more exhaust gas could be used for

the cooling to meet the higher cooling demand.
In addition, at a constant air volumetric ow rate (2988 m3/h),
fuel mass ow rate (20 kg/h), ambient air temperature (25 C),
100% recuperation rate, and gas mass ow rate to the generator
(0.062 kg/s) the simulation is run with a pressure ratio varying
from 1.5 to 7.0. The variations of compressor power, turbine power,
net power and cooling capacity with pressure ratios are predicted
and shown in Fig. 18. It can be identied from the simulation results that the power produced by the turbine increases with a
higher pressure ratio; whilst the power needed by the compressor

Y.T. Ge et al. / Applied Energy 86 (2009) 23172326

Power (kW)

10

Turbine power
Compressor power
Net power
Cooling capacity

250

200

150
4

100

50
0

0.0

1.0

2.0

3.0
4.0
5.0
Pressure ratio

6.0

7.0

8.0

7. Conclusions
Cooling Capacity
(kW)

300

Fig. 18. Variations of compressor power, turbine power, net power and cooling
capacity with pressure ratio.

Gas temperature (C)

450
400
350
300
250
Tgsuge

200
150
0.0

Tgexre

1.0

2.0

3.0
4.0
5.0
Pressure ratio

6.0

7.0

8.0

Fig. 19. Variation of gas temperatures of recuperator outlet and generator inlet
with pressure ratio.

14

PER value

12
10
8
6
4
2
0
0.0

1.0

2.0

3.0
4.0
5.0
Pressure ratio

6.0

7.0

2325

8.0

Fig. 20. Variation of PER value with pressure ratio.

also increases with the elevated pressure ratio. The effect of a higher pressure ratio upon the compressor power is nearly constantly
enhanced whereas for the turbine power it is progressively reduced. A maximum net power therefore exists, i.e. around 3.0 pressure ratio in this simulation. The cooling capacity begins to
decrease with the increase of the pressure ratio and gradually rises
with a higher pressure ratio due to the effects of the pressure ratios
upon the exhaust gas temperatures at the recuperator outlet and
generator inlet, as shown in Fig. 19. Again, the difference between
these two temperatures is because of the heat loss of gas along the
connection pipe and the small gas mass ow rate proceeding into
generator.
At the above operating conditions, the lowest PER value can be
expected when the pressure ratio increases as shown in Fig. 20.
Once again, the heating load of the tri-generation system is not
considered in the calculation of PER value. However, if the exhaust
gas is also utilised for heating purpose, the heating capacity will
have the similar change with the increased pressure ratio as to
the cooling capacity because of the variation of the exhaust gas
temperature shown in Fig. 19. The change of PER value with the
pressure ratio could be retained as shown in Fig. 20 supposing
the sum of cooling and heating capacities is not overwhelming
over the net power at a specic pressure ratio.

A test rig of a tri-generation system using a microturbine as

prime mover and an absorption chiller as thermally activated
equipment was set up and tested. A corresponding mathematic
model for such a system has been developed under the TRNSYS
simulation environment and validated against the test results.
Some important internal parameters in the system were measured
and simulated. An initial design for the application of the tri-generation system into a typical supermarket in the UK has been outlined. Furthermore, the validated system model has been applied
into the performance evaluation when operating conditions are
varied. Consequently, the following conclusions can be drawn:
 The temperatures of the compressor air outlet, recuperator gas
outlet, recuperator gas outlet and turbine gas outlet all increase
with a higher fuel mass ow rate. The results can be used to
evaluate and design of the fuel mass ow rate to meet the
demands of cooling and heating.
 The pressure in the condenser and generator increases with the
increasing ambient air temperature and chilled water outlet
temperature.
 The pressure in the evaporator and absorber increases with the
increasing chilled uid ow temperature but is not greatly inuenced by the ambient temperature.
 The cooling capacity decreases with a higher recuperation rate
due to the declivity of exhaust gas temperature at recuperator
exit. The recuperation rate can then be identied to meet the
designed cooling demand but the system efciency needs be
re-evaluated with the help of PER value calculation.
 With the increase of the ambient air temperature, power
required by the compressor and power produced by the gas turbine both increase but the net power generated decreases,
whilst in the mean time, the cooling capacity decreases although
the gas temperature proceeding to the generator increases and
consequently the PER value increases. If the exhaust gas from
the recuperator exit is also used for heating purpose, similar
trend for the variation of PER value can still be maintained supposing more exhaust gas could be utilised for cooling.
 With the rise of the pressure ratio, power needed by the compressor and power produced by the gas turbine both increase
whilst a maximum value of the net power generated can be
established, instantaneously the cooling capacity initially
decreases and subsequently increases because of the effect of
the pressure ratio upon the gas temperature advancing towards
the generator. A similar trend develops for the PER value varied
with the pressure ratio. The trend for PER value could be varied
when the exhaust gas is also used for heating.
 The PER value can be used to evaluate the efciency of the trigeneration system but the simultaneous requirements of electricity, cooling and heating demands need also be considered.

Acknowledgements
The authors wish to acknowledge the Food Technology Unit of
DEFRA for their nancial support for this project and the contribution of the industrial collaborators, Bond Retail Services Ltd, Apex
Air Conditioning, Doug Marriott Associates and Bowman Power.
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