Solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) are considered a promising technology to be adopted as future possible solution for decentralised combined heat and power (CHP) production due to their high electrical efficiency, the high temperature of generated heat and relative environmental advantages compared to traditional power generators. To operate a SOFC stack in an effective way, the control of some system operation parameters such as anode and cathode feeds, temperature or power output is mandatory. A deep knowledge of transient behaviour is a key requirement to get fuel cell plants ready for an industrial development. In this paper, a 1 kWe SOFC stack is modelled and a possible control strategy is proposed to provide rapid system response to perturbations. Fuel cell stack model has been designed for an eventual implementation of a control system and verified with experimental results from FCLab - University of Perugia. The model has been implemented using the commercial software package MATLAB/Simulink. As a result of an external perturbation of steady state conditions, the fuel cell stack control system has to regulate temperature, partial pressure and utilization of flows to avoid degradation of the stack performances
Oriented-Control Lumped Model of a SOFC Stack: Thermal and Electrochemical Response to External Perturbations
DESIDERI, UMBERTO;
2007-01-01
Abstract
Solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) are considered a promising technology to be adopted as future possible solution for decentralised combined heat and power (CHP) production due to their high electrical efficiency, the high temperature of generated heat and relative environmental advantages compared to traditional power generators. To operate a SOFC stack in an effective way, the control of some system operation parameters such as anode and cathode feeds, temperature or power output is mandatory. A deep knowledge of transient behaviour is a key requirement to get fuel cell plants ready for an industrial development. In this paper, a 1 kWe SOFC stack is modelled and a possible control strategy is proposed to provide rapid system response to perturbations. Fuel cell stack model has been designed for an eventual implementation of a control system and verified with experimental results from FCLab - University of Perugia. The model has been implemented using the commercial software package MATLAB/Simulink. As a result of an external perturbation of steady state conditions, the fuel cell stack control system has to regulate temperature, partial pressure and utilization of flows to avoid degradation of the stack performancesI documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
