Study on the performance comparison of three configurations of aviation fuel cell gas turbine hybrid power generation system

Abstract

Developing aviation power generation methods with high efficiency is one of the important issues that need to be solved in aviation field, especially for More/All Electric aircraft. In this paper, the advanced solid oxide fuel cell gas turbine hybrid power generation system based on aviation kerosene is studied. And the performance of three configurations of hybrid system without/with SOFC exhaust recirculation are compared and evaluated, which are a basic hybrid system without exhaust recirculation (BHS), an anode exhaust recirculation hybrid system (ARHS), and an anode and cathode exhaust recirculation hybrid system (ACRHS). The results show that the power generation efficiency of the BHS is 59.3%, while the two hybrid systems with exhaust recirculation increase to around 70%: the efficiency of ARHS is 70.9%, and ACRHS is 69.7%. But the ACRHS shows greater potential in increasing the SOFC cathode inlet temperature. And the specific work of the hybrid system with exhaust recirculation can reach more than 760 kW (kg air)−1. In addition, the parameters such as pressure ratio, temperature ratio and fuel utilization have important influence on the performance. Due to the advantages of high power generation efficiency and specific work, hybrid system is a competitive power generation system in aviation field.