Preliminary tests on a combined heat and power unit fed with gas fuels

This paper presents a model unit demonstrating the possibility of using a PBCHP10VB CHP unit driven by a piston combustion engine fed with gas fuels for heat and power cogeneration. A mobile unit available in the Department enables heat and power cogeneration at any place with available gas fuel, e.g. compressed in a pressure tank or from a production and transmission system. A radiator is connected to the unit’s heat connection for demonstrative purposes – this is the simplest model of a network using the heat generated by the unit, with the possibility of easy connection to another network for heating rooms and/or tap water instead of this radiator. Any three-phase load (e.g. a single phase converter) can be connected to the unit’s power connection. A constructed mobile power generator fed with alternative gas fuels (e.g. biogas) is described which can be used in the field in a biogas system for power generation with simultaneous heat recovery. The results of the first preliminary tests on the effect of the type of gas fuel used on the obtained electrical and thermal power and on the composition of exhaust gas from the driving combustion engine are presented. A plan for further tests is also outlined.