A new technique for optimising of a PEMFC based CCHP system

Abstract

A multi-criteria assessment of a hybrid proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) based combined cooling, heating, and power (CCHP) system has been analysed. The assessment has been performed in terms of environment, thermodynamics, and economics point of view. The system includes an absorption chiller, a heat recovery system, a humidifier, a gas compressor, and a 5 kW PEMFC stack. To achieve optimal efficiency for the studied system, a developed model of the rhino herd (RH) optimisation algorithm has been proposed. Simulation results are applied to analyse the system in terms of annual cost, pollutant emission reduction, and energy and exergy efficiencies. The results demonstrated that using the proposed method gives lower annual GHG emission reduction. In addition, the method gives high energy and exergy efficiency, the pressure of inlet gases, and relative humidity. The final results are compared with the standard RH algorithm and NSGA-II to show the method of superiority.

KEYWORDS:

• Proton exchange membrane
• combined cooling
• heating
• and power system
• multi-criteria assessment
• rhino herd optimisation algorithm

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).