Abstract
An optimal load-tracking operation strategy for a grid-connected tubular solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) is studied based on the steady-state analysis of the system thermodynamics and electrochemistry. Control of the SOFC is achieved by a two-level hierarchical control system. In the upper level, optimal setpoints of output voltage and the current corresponding to unit load demand is obtained through a nonlinear optimization by minimizing the SOFC’s internal power waste. In the lower level, a combined L1-MPC control strategy is designed to achieve fast set point tracking under system nonlinearities, while maintaining a constant fuel utilization factor. To prevent fuel starvation during the transient state resulting from the output power surging, a fuel flow constraint is imposed on the MPC with direct electron balance calculation. The proposed control schemes are testified on the grid-connected SOFC model.
Highlights
The globally exploding capacity of renewable energy during the past decade makes a remarkable contribution to the conservation of fossil-fuel energy resources and an increasing number of distributed generations (DGs)
This paper proposes a procedure to design a hierarchical control strategy for optimal power tracking operation of grid-connected solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC)
The control strategy consists of a set point scheduler in the upper level and a SOFC controller working together with voltage source invertors (VSI) devices in the lower level
Summary
The globally exploding capacity of renewable energy during the past decade makes a remarkable contribution to the conservation of fossil-fuel energy resources and an increasing number of distributed generations (DGs). For grid-connected SOFCs, its output power should track the unit load demand from the dispatching system. With this operation mode, the control problem considered for a grid-connected SOFC lies in: 2. Set points of output voltage and current corresponding to unit load demand are obtained through solving a nonlinear optimization problem for the maximum efficiency of SOFC in steady-state operation. A L1-MPC tracking controller with a combination of MIMO output feedback L1AC and MPC is put forward to steer the output variables to their optimal set points, handling all of the nonlinearities and constraints.
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