Model Investigation of Natural Gas Engine Performance to Achieve Variable Heat/Electricity Ratios for a CCHP System by Varying Spark Ignition Timings

For electric reliability and to save energy, the distributed power generation combining cooling and heating supply called a CCHP system for architectures has many potential advantages and is widely adopted to provide electric power and to satisfy local heating and cooling loads by waste heat recovery with low carbon intensity. However, the current CCHP system usually has a fixed ratio of the power and heat due to the features of its power unit, which leads to difficulties in the load management. In this paper, based on the operation of an internal combustion engine fueled with natural gas, a novel method is proposed and studied to achieve a controllable rate of heat/power to meet different load requirements of the electricity and heat (cooling or heating loads). By varying the ignition timing of the spark ignition engine, the combustion process within the cylinder can be adjusted to occur at different crank angles so that the engine crank shaft output power (related to the generated electricity) and the heat from the exhaust gas are changed accordingly. To study the effects of ignition timing on engine power and exhaust heat energy, a two-zone model was established with a predictive combustion model. The changes in the combustion process, output power, exhaust gas temperature, and heat energy were mostly our concern. The results show that the heat/electricity ratio can be adjusted from normally 1.0 to 1.6, and they can be controlled independently under partial load operating conditions. To solve the potential thermal failure of the turbine, the extraordinarily high exhaust temperature will be adjusted by compressed air.

Automated summary

This study proposes a novel method based on the operation of an internal combustion engine to achieve a controllable heat/electricity ratio. The results show that this method allows for independent control of the heat and electricity ratio under different load conditions.