Trigeneration system and method

Abstract

A trigeneration system comprising a cooling loop and a heat/power loop connected by a heat exchanger. Energy available at the high side of the cooling loop is transferred from cooling loop to the heat/power loop by the heat exchanger. This energy is put to use by the heat/power loop to efficient produce heat and power. The system can be run transcritical and use environmentally friendly working fluid, such as carbon dioxide.

1 . A method for producing cooling, heat, and power, comprising:
 producing cooling by:
 compressing cooling working fluid to produce high pressure/high enthalpy cooling working fluid; 
 rejecting heat from the high pressure/high enthalpy cooling working fluid to produce high pressure/low enthalpy cooling working fluid; 
 expanding the high pressure/low enthalpy cooling working fluid to produce low pressure/low enthalpy cooling working fluid; and 
 absorbing heat from ambient air into the low pressure/low enthalpy cooling working fluid to cool the ambient air; 
 and 
   producing heat and power by:
 increasing pressure of a heat/power working fluid to produce a high pressure/low enthalpy heat/power working fluid; 
 adding the heat rejected from the high pressure/high enthalpy cooling working fluid to the heat/power working fluid to produce a high pressure/high enthalpy heat/power working fluid; 
 using energy from the high pressure/high enthalpy heat/power working fluid to produce power; 
 using additional energy from the heat/power working fluid to heat water to produce heat. 
   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising adding additional energy to the heat/power working fluid from an external system. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 2  wherein the external system comprises at least one solar collector. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 2  wherein the additional energy comprises waste heat generated by the external system.