Energy Supply Performance and Environmental Load-Reduction Effect of a Cogeneration System for an Apartment Building Using Distributed Heat Storage Technology(Thermal Engineering)

Abstract

In order to spread economically viable distributed generation systems for apartment buildings, it is essential to develop an efficient and low-cost heat supply system. We are developing a new cogeneration system (Neighboring CoGeneration system: NCG system). The key concept of this system is to install a heat storage unit in each house for hot water supply and room heating and to connect heat storage units by a single-loop hot water pipe. The system leads to time leveling of the total heat supply and reduction of installation cost. Furthermore, it is expected that the cogeneration can operate according to electricity demand because of the large heat capacity of accumulation of the system. In this study, a dynamic simulation model was developed to evaluate the performance of the heat supply system and the environmental load-reduction effect of the NCG system for 50 households. It showed that the NCG system can supply enough heat for peak demand in winter and decrease 23% in CO_2 emission on yearly average.