Abstract
In this study, the performance and safe operation of the fuel cell (FC) system and battery-based energy storage system (ESS) included in an FC/ESS/renewable hybrid power system (HPS) is fully analyzed under dynamic load and variable power from renewable sources. Power-following control (PFC) is used for either the air regulator or the fuel regulator of the FC system, or it is switched to the inputs of the air and hydrogen regulators based on a threshold of load demand; these strategies are referred to as air-PFC, fuel-PFC, and air/fuel-PFC, respectively. The performance and safe operation of the FC system and battery-based ESS under these strategies is compared to the static feed-forward (sFF) control used by most commercial strategies implemented in FC systems, FC/renewable HPSs, and FC vehicles. This study highlights the benefits of using a PFC-based strategy to establish FC-system fueling flows, in addition to an optimal control of the boost power converter to maximize fuel economy. For example, the fuel economy for a 6 kW FC system using the air/fuel-PFC strategy compared to the strategies air-PFC, fuel-PFC, and the sFF benchmark is 6.60%, 7.53%, and 12.60% of the total hydrogen consumed by these strategies under a load profile of up and down the stairs using 1 kW/2 s per step. For an FC/ESS/renewable system, the fuel economy of an air/fuel-PFC strategy compared to same strategies is 7.28%, 8.23%, and 13.43%, which is better by about 0.7% because an FC system operates at lower power due to the renewable energy available in this case study.
Highlights
A report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) noted that so far the global temperature has risen by 1 ◦ C due to warming by 0.2 ◦ C per decade and may reach a critical value of 2 ◦ C by the 2060s if the proposed environmental policies will not be implemented urgently worldwide [1].Appl
This paper performed a systematic evaluation of the strategies referred to as air/fuel-power-following control (PFC), air-PFC, fuel-PFC, and static feed-forward (sFF), with the latter being a commercial benchmark used in the analysis of the obtained results
The four strategies mentioned above were analyzed as the performance and safe operation of the fuel cell (FC) system and battery pack using indicators such as fuel economy and oxygen excess ratio (OER)
Summary
A report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) noted that so far the global temperature has risen by 1 ◦ C due to warming by 0.2 ◦ C per decade and may reach a critical value of 2 ◦ C by the 2060s if the proposed environmental policies will not be implemented urgently worldwide [1].Appl. This global warming has caused the warmest 18 years to date as well as several meteorological events that fall into the extreme intensity class, and for some time it has been increasingly recognized and accepted that greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are responsible for most of these climate changes [1,2] As it is well known, the largest source of GHG emissions from human activities (formed mostly by carbon dioxide, accounting for 80% of the emissions) is represented by the energy-producing industry and by transportation, both of which are responsible together for more than a half of the total emission [3]. It becomes obvious there is the need to increase research and technology development efforts to make the transition to a low-carbon, secure, and competitive economy [4]
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