Combined power and cooling, an analysis of the combined Diesel-absorption cycle

The future energy consumption of the developing economies is anticipated to be many times that of the current level, It is quite possible with the lack of infrastructure and the remoteness of some communities in these countries that the generation of electrical energy will take a different form from that adopted in the industrialized nations and that small community or district generating systems will become dominant. The exhaust gases from such installations represent a significant amount of thermal energy that traditionally has been used for combined heat and power applications. In regions of high ambient temperature it may be more appropriate to utilize the waste heat to facilitate indoor climate control or to improve the performance of the prime generation unit. The paper explores the theoretical performance of four different configurations of a turbocharged Diesel engine and absorption refrigeration unit combination when operating in a high ambient day temperature of 35 degrees C. The simulation is performed using SPICE, a well known Diesel engine simulation program. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd, All rights reserved.