Energy, exergy and exergoeconomic optimization of a proposed CCHP configuration under two different operating scenarios in a data center: Case study

Due to high demand for power and cooling in the data centers, employing combined cooling, heating and power (CCHP) systems could be an effective solution. The use of an operationally optimized CCHP system plays an important role in improvement of data center's performance. In this study, at first, based on energy, exergy and exergoeconomic analysis, an ICE-driven CCHP system following electrical load (FEL) is proposed to meet the power and cooling energy requirements of a data center as a case study. Then, the performance of CCHP system under two different operating scenarios are compared to introduce the optimal energy supply design. Finally, the optimal energy supply design is employed to optimize the performance of the selected CCHP system through a parametric study. In the first scenario, the water flow is applied for cooling of the ORC condenser while in the second scenario, the refrigerant of absorption chiller is considered as cooling source for the ORC condenser. Results of energetic and exergetic analysis show that using the second scenario, the cooling capacity, energy efficiency and exergy efficiency of the CCHP system are higher than the first scenario by 30.66%, 14.18% and 13.48%, respectively. In addition, exergoeconomic analysis results show that the total cost rate associated with fuel and product in the CCHP system under second operating scenario are lower than first one by 38.9% and 31.58%, respectively. •An ICE-driven CCHP system coupled with ORC and AC system is applied in a sample data center.•Performance of the proposed system is investigated under two operating scenarios.•The effects of different parameters based on energy-exergy-exergoeconomic viewpoints is evaluated.•The optimal operational points are obtained using Pareto front curve.