Fuel cell absorption chiller integrated system for commercial applications

Fuel cells received lately relevant technological developments. It is particularly appreciated their high (and not decreasing at partial loads) electrical efficiency. Major investment and research from industries and universities are directed to distributed cogeneration, besides automotive applications. The paper reports on the description, the analysis and the results of simulations of a fuel cell - absorption chiller/heat pump integrated system for commercial air conditioning. The analyzed fuel cell type is a liquid cooled proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC). The thermal levels of heat recovered from the fuel cells are extremely favourable to couple with a lithium bromide absorption chiller. The integrated system performances in department stores or shopping centres air conditioning are definitely interesting from both energetic and polluting emissions point of view. The present study investigates energy performance of this system in a commercial application by means of a transient numerical simulation model (Trnsys) and a MatLab-Simulink simulation model, comparing to a traditional system.