Combined cooling, heating and power systems: A survey

The combined cooling, heating and power (CCHP) system – a typical representative of the decentralized energy system – has been increasingly attracting attention in academia and industries in recent years, thanks to its distinctive advantages of high system and economic efficiency, and less greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. In this paper, the state of the art of CCHP research is surveyed. First, the development and working scheme of the CCHP system will be presented. Some analyses of the advantages of this system and a brief introduction of the related components are then given in the first part. In the second part of this paper, we elaborately introduce the prime mover and thermally activated facilities. Recent research progress on the management, control, system optimization and sizing will be summarized in the third part. The development of the CCHP system in representative countries and the development barriers will be discussed in the last part.