Theoretical study of a novel solar trigeneration system based on metal hydrides

In order to utilize the low grade heat energy efficiently, the preliminary scheme of a metal hydride based Combined Cooling, Heating and Power (CCHP) system driven by solar energy and industrial waste heat was proposed, in which both refrigeration and power generation are achieved. Following a step-by-step procedure recently developed by the authors, two pairs of metal hydrides were selected for the CCHP system. The working principle of the system was discussed in detail and further design of the configuration for CCHP was conducted. Based on the cycle mentioned above, the models of energy conversion and exergy analysis were set up. The multi-element valued method was used to assess the performance of the CCHP system in a whole sense, thus the analysis of influence factors on the system performance can be carried out. The typical climate conditions of Xi'an in 2005 were taken for discussion, and the results showed that the system performance is mainly affected by the quantity of solar radiation energy. The objective of the system's optimization is to increase the exergy efficiency of the metal hydride heat pump, based on the quantity of solar radiation energy. The comparison with two different traditional types of CCHP systems proved that the novel CCHP system is superior to the traditional CCHP systems concerning the integrated performance. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.