A gas engine-driven heat pump (GHP) uses a natural gas-or LPG-powered engine to drive the compressor in a vapor-compression refrigeration cycle. The GHP has the benefits of being able to use the fuel energy effectively by recovering waste heat from the engine jacket coolant and exhaust gas and also to keep high efficiency even at part-load operation by varying the engine speed with relative ease. Hence, energy-efficient heat source systems for air-conditioning and hot water supply may be constructed with GHP chillers in place of conventional electrical-driven heat pump chillers. GHPs will necessarily contribute to the peak shaving of electrical demand in summer.
In this study, the performance characteristics of a 457kW GHP chiller have been investigated by a simulation model analysis, for both cooling and heating modes. From the results of the analysis, it has been found that the part-load characteristics of the GHP chiller are fairly well. The evaluation of the heat source systems using GHP chillers will be described in Part 2.