Energy exergy and economic evaluation of a CCHP configuration powered by CPVT collectors dynamically

This study presents a dynamic simulation of a combined cooling, heating, and power (CCHP) configuration powered by concentrating photovoltaic thermal (CPVT) collectors. The desired configuration comprises CPVT collectors, a phase change material (PCM) storage tank, an organic Rankine cycle (ORC), an absorption chiller, and heat exchangers. The evaluation has been carried out for a residential building using EES, MATLAB, and TRNSYS software. Moreover, an auxiliary heater has been used to provide the thermal energy of the desired configuration in case of low or no solar irradiation. The desired configuration has been evaluated from energy, exergy, and economic points of view during the warm months of the year (May to September). Also, the influences of key parameters of the desired system such as the CPVT area, CPVT flow rate, and PCM melting temperature on the performance of the desired configuration have been examined. The results indicate that the solar fraction enhances by about 161 % when the CPVT area changes from 100 m2 to 400 m2. Also, CPVT has found to be the main contributor to exergy destruction, accounting for 49% of the total. The maximum energy and exergy efficiencies of the desired configuration are obtained at the CPVT area of 400 m2 with values of 72.26 % and 79.03 % respectively. On the other hand, the lowest payback period occurs at 100 m2 with value of 11 years.& COPY; 2023 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

Automated summary

This study presents a dynamic simulation of a combined cooling, heating, and power (CCHP) configuration powered by concentrating photovoltaic thermal (CPVT) collectors. The system components include CPVT collectors, a phase change material (PCM) storage tank, an organic Rankine cycle (ORC), an absorption chiller, and heat exchangers. The study evaluates the energy, exergy, and economic performance of the system during warm months and examines the influence of key parameters. The results show that increasing the CPVT area enhances the solar fraction and CPVT is the main contributor to exergy destruction.