Polygeneration system based on compression/absorption heat pump

In this paper a polygeneration system based oncompression/absorption heat pump (CAHP) isanalysed. A CAHP is similar to a traditionalabsorption heat pump, but it is characterised bya compression phase between the evaporatorand the absorber. This innovative heat pump iscontemporary activated by both thermal andelectric energy, therefore it ensures moreflexibility with respect to a traditional absorptionheat pump and it allows to optimize the mix ofenergy vectors that feeds the system. Moreoverthis kind of absorption system can overcomesome typical disadvantages of the traditionalabsorption heat pump, such as the limited rangein terms of operating temperatures, as well asthe quite low pressure and temperature liftachievable between evaporator and condenser.The integration of a CAHP with cogenerationsystems or renewable energy technologies,such as solar collectors, allows to increase theoverall energy performance of the system.The main advantage of this system is that it ispossible to optimize the energy performancevarying the compression ratio of thecompressor. In particular increasing thisparameter it is possible to reduce the generatortemperature and so to optimize the systemperformance that depends on the heat sourcetemperature, that in turn derives from therenewable energy availability (such as solarsource) or cogenerator system.Therefore, in this paper the performance of apolygeneration system based on a CAHP isanalysed. A microcogenerator, fuelled by naturalgas, provides both thermal and electric energyto the CAHP in order to produce cooling energy,besides heat and electricity.