Testing Residential Combined Heat and Power Systems at the Canadian Centre for Housing Technology

Mike Swinton, Walter Kalbfleisch, and Roger Marchand, National Research Council Canada
Frank Szadkowski, Evgueniy Entchev, John Gusdorf, and Mike Bell, Natural Resources Canada

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Abstract

A natural gas fired combined heat and power (CHP) system was tested under typical residential conditions at the Canadian Centre for Housing Technology (CCHT). This report describes the upgrades to the house for CHP testing, and the results for a particular Stirling engine CHP system. The upgrades include a thermal utilization module (TUM) that stores heat from the CHP and delivers it to space heat and domestic hot water on demand, and a grid connection that meets utility codes and supplies excess electricity to the grid. The TUM is fully instrumented, and records heat from the CHP, and to space heat and hot water, every minute. Control of the CHP and TUM are programmable. Electrical power to and from the CHP is monitored, and power quality is measured between the CHP, the house and the grid.

The CHP – which can deliver 6.5 kW of thermal power – easily met all house demands for space heating and hot water from late winter through summer. Although thermally driven, and with an electrical output of only 750 W, it supplied a significant percentage of the house electrical demand, and frequently supplied some electricity to the grid. The TUM is designed to work with any CHP that can supply heat as hot water, and the CCHT has a contract to test a solid oxide fuel cell in the near future.