From CHPDH to Anaconda technology

In a previous article, we have explained what a Combined Heat and Power (CHP) system and a District Heating network(DH) are, their core components and intrinsic efficiency.

The possibility to add a DH network connected to a CHP system and create then a Combined Heat and Power District Heating (CHPDH) system increases the quantity of recovered heat and enlarges the size of the system up to include a community or generally speaking a multi-user system.

A CHP system connected to a DH network (CHPDH system) is one of the most cost effective ways of generating heat and it has a proven track record in many countries (M. F. Demirbas 2009).

The DH scheme as such does not produce an increase in the heat demand as this comes in reality from the demand of heat of the end users attached to the DH network (to be more precise transporting the heat generates some network losses but, even if they have to be considered when quantifying the heat to be produced to satisfy a certain heat demand, these losses do not contribute to the heat demand).

A DH network is in fact a binary set of insulated pipelines that connects the CHP system to the end user, which commonly is any facility that can make use of the generated heat (i.e. a block of flats, a dwelling, a swimming pool etc.). Two pipes are necessary in the scheme because the former represents the high temperature flow while the latter the low temperature return. Certainly, the heat distributed through the network is proportional to the quantity of fluid (usually water) that circulates in the pipeline and the difference in temperature between flow and return.

DH technology generations

District heating technologies have been divided into four technological generations (Landolina 2012)

• The 1st generation of DH systems used steam as the heat carrier. Almost all DH systems established before 1930 used this technology.
• Later, the 2nd generation of DH systems with high temperature water, typically about 120ºC, was introduced. The water is called at this temperature overheated. Even if they had less heat losses than the 1st generation, they appeared only in large scale DH system.
• The 3rd generation of DH system that is the current generation used by Cogenpower PLC (CGP.L) began in the 1970s and was perfected only a decade ago. The heat carrier is pressurised water at a temperature of 90ºC. Pressure of water is usually above 5 bar.
• The 4th generation of DH systems, currently under development and part of the Research and Development of Cogenpower PLC (CGP.L), uses a low supply temperature of 55-60ºC, similar to that of domestic hot water systems. At this reduced temperatures the quantity of heat and its efficiency will be dramatically increased (P.Olsen 2008).

In addition, quite differently from what occurs with electricity, current technologies allow to store economically and efficiently the heat by means of a heat storage facility. This additional element provides the key to increase the overall efficiency of the integrated system that is now made up of a CHP system, a DH scheme and a heat storage facility.

This full system, that is a CHPDH system, is what has been designed and developed by Cogenpower PLC (CGP.L) and goes under the name of Anaconda technology.

In the next article we will delve into the CHPDH technology and will provide a progressive understanding of the Anaconda technology of Cogenpower PLC (CGP.L) that rely heavily on Artificial Intelligence and Big Data manipulation.

References

M. F. Demirbas, M. Balat and H. Balat. “Potential contribution of biomass to the sustainable energy development.” Energy Conversion and Management 50, no. 7 (July 2009): 1746–1760.

Landolina, S. “Strategic research priorities for cross-cutting technology.” European Technology Platform on Renewable Heating and Cooling , 2012: 12-15.

P.Olsen, H.Lambertsen, R.Hummelshøj, B.Bøhm, C.Christiansen, S.Svendsen, C.Larsen, J.Worm. “A new low temperature district heating system for low energy buildings.” The 11th International Symposium on District Heating and Cooling, August 31 to September 2. Reykjavik, Iceland, 2008. 1-8.