A new combined cooling, heating and power system driven by solar energy

A new combined cooling, heating and power (CCHP) system is proposed. This system is driven by solar energy, which is different from the current CCHP systems with gas turbine or engine as prime movers. This system combines a Rankine cycle and an ejector refrigeration cycle, which could produce cooling output, heating output and power output simultaneously. The effects of hour angle and the slope angle of the aperture plane for the solar collectors on the system performance are examined. Parametric optimization is conducted by means of genetic algorithm (GA) to find the maximum exergy efficiency. It is shown that the optimal slope angle of the aperture plane for the solar collectors is 60 degrees at 10 a.m. on June 12, and the CCHP system can reach its optimal performance with the slope angle of 45 degrees for the aperture plane at midday. It is also shown that the system can reach the maximum exergy efficiency of 60.33% under the conditions of the optimal slope angle and hour angle. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.