Bond graph modeling,design and experimental validation of a photovoltaic/fuel cell/ electrolyzer/battery hybrid power system

This work presents a complete bond graph modeling of a hybrid photovoltaic-fuel cell-electrolyzer-battery system. These are multi-physics models that will take into account the influence of temperature on the electrochemical parameters. A bond graph modeling of the electrical dynamics of each source will be introduced. The bond graph models were developed to highlight the multi-physics aspect describing the interaction between hydraulic, thermal, electrochemical, thermodynamic, and electrical fields. This will involve using the most generic modeling approach possible for managing the energy flows of the system while taking into account the viability of the system. Another point treated in this work is to propose. In this work, a new strategy for the power flow management of the studied system has been proposed. This strategy aims to improve the overall efficiency of the studied system by optimizing the decisions made when starting and stopping the fuel cell and the electrolyzer. It was verified that the simulation results of the proposed system, when compared to simulation results presented in the literature, that the hydrogen demand is increased by an average of 8%. The developed management algorithm allows reducing the fuel cell degradation by 87% and the electrolyzer degradation by 65%. As for the operating time of the electrolyzer, an increment of 65% was achieved, thus improving the quality of the produced hydrogen. The Fuel Cell's running time has been decreased by 59%. With the ambition to validate the models proposed and the associated commands, the development of this study gave rise to the creation of an experimental platform. Using this high-performance experimental platform, experimental tests were carried out and the results obtained are compared with those obtained by simulation under the same metrological conditions.     

Enrichment of slightly concentrated tritiated water by electrolysis using a palladium cathode coated on ionic solid polymer membrane—Design and results

In nuclear installations, tritiated water is generally produced in the process of detritiation of air circulating in the glove boxes. The goal of this work concerns enrichment of this tritiated water at low concentration by electrolysis. The choice of this electrolyzer was dictated by the passivity of selected materials to the radiolysis in low-level tritiated water and the selectivity of the method avoiding further elimination of tritiated water and moisture before release in environment. According to the results, it is feasible to treat non-negligible volume of low-level tritiated water using a cathodic palladium membrane coated on an ionic solid polymer membrane. Presence of a palladium black deposit on the palladium membrane improves effectiveness. Enrichment in tritiated water depends on the isotopic separation factor, thereby the current and the permeability values.     

Modelization of hybrid systems with hydrogen and renewable energy oriented to electric propulsion in sailboats

This paper presents a conceptual model of a hybrid electric sailboat in which energy from electric grid is stored in batteries and energy from renewable energies (eolic, solar and hydro) is stored as hydrogen. The main objective of this model is to study the viability of electrifying traditional sailboats with internal combustion engines into hybrid systems with batteries and fuel cell. The most important advantage of this design is the possibility to reduce up to zero emissions of traditional sailboat. Conversion of renewable energy to hydrogen is performed through an electrolyzer and post conversion to energy is carried out by a fuel cell. The fuel cell with the batteries forms the hybrid system (batteries-fuel cell) for propulsion electrical energy supply. In order to model the boat dynamic and energy systems, modular mathematical models were developed under Matlab^®-Simulink^®, using a fixed-step solver for the simulation of global model. A simulated logic controller manages the global model. In this paper, many models have been used: some of them are based in literature models and others were developed from experimental data. A control strategy has also been developed to manage energy flows and then it has been embedded to Matlab^® language. The global model permits test the performance of the sailboat.     

Dynamics and control of a thermally self-sustaining energy storage system using integrated solid oxide cells for an islanded building

A solid oxide cell-based energy system is proposed for a solar-powered stand-alone building. The system is comprised of a 5 kW_el solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC), a 9.5 kW_el solid oxide electrolysis cell (SOEC), and the required balance of plant. The SOFC supplies: 1- building demand in the absence of sufficient solar power, 2- heat for SOEC in endothermic and standby modes. Thermal integration of SOFC and SOEC is implemented through a network of heat exchangers, combined with set of control algorithms. Two control strategies were implemented to actuate the SOFC in response to endothermic heat demands of SOEC by manipulating: 1- electric power, 2- fuel utilization. The results of dynamic simulation of system for two scenarios (sunny day and cloudy day) showed successful compliance of temperature constraints with both methods. Manipulation of fuel utilization, however, resulted in better system performance in terms of efficiency and H₂ balance.     

Energy management optimization of a hybrid power production unit based renewable energies

Hybrid power production units seem to be an interesting alternative for supplying isolated sites. This study proposes a new supervision strategy in order to ensure an optimized energy management of the hybrid system. The considered hybrid unit includes a wind generator (WG), a fuel cell (FC), an electrolyzer (EL) and a supercapacitor (SC). An overall power supervision approach was designed to guarantee the power flow management between the energy sources and the storage elements. The aim of the control system is to provide a permanent supply to the isolated site by adapting production to consumption according to the storage level. A mathematical analysis of the hybrid system using models implemented in Matlab/Simulink software was developed. Simulation results illustrate the performance of the control strategy for an optimal management of the hybrid power production unit under different scenarios of power generation and load demand.     

Ni/Fe electrodes prepared by electrodeposition method over different substrates for oxygen evolution reaction in alkaline medium

A series of Ni/Fe electrodes have been prepared by electrodeposition of metal salt precursors on different substrates. The surface morphology, chemical composition and electrochemical characteristics of these electrodes were studied by various physico-chemical techniques such as X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS) and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM). The electrochemical properties of the electrodes were examined by steady-state polarization curves. First, the influence of features such as Ni/Fe composition and type of substrate for the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) were determined by electrochemical techniques in a conventional 3-electrodes cell. The overpotential for the OER is lower for the electrodes with the higher concentrations of Ni. The electrodes with a Ni/Fe composition of 75/25 wt.% electrodeposited on steel mesh and/or 75/25 and 50/50 wt.% on nickel foam result in the most active configurations for the OER. These electrodes were further tested as anodes for alkaline water electrolysis during at least 70 h. In order to understand their activity and stability, the used electrodes were also characterized by SEM and compared to the fresh electrodes. Among the compositions and substrates examined, the Ni50Fe50-Nf electrode exhibited the lowest overpotential (2.1 V) for the OER and the higher stability as anode in an alkaline water electrolysis cell.     

PV output power fluctuations smoothing: The MYRTE platform experience

The MYRTE platform is one of the PEPITE project applications included in the PAN-H program of the French Research National Agency, under the reference ANR-07-PANH-012. This platform consists of a photovoltaic array, a fuel cell, an electrolyzer, tanks (H₂, O₂ and H₂O), a thermal management system and electricity converters associated to various sub-systems.     

Composite Cathode Based on Redox‐Reversible NbTi0.5Ni0.5O4 Decorated with In Situ Grown Ni Particles for Direct Carbon Dioxide Electrolysis

In this work, ceramic NbTi_0.5Ni_0.5O₄ is reversibly transformed to nickel‐anchored electronic‐conducting Nb_1.33Ti_0.67O₄ composite for the use of direct carbon dioxide electrolysis at intermediate temperatures. The reduced composites Nb_1.33Ti_0.67O₄ + Ni demonstrate excellent electrical properties, which have been accordingly correlated to electrochemical performance of the composite cathode. The direct electrolysis of 100% CO₂ is then performed and the maximum Faraday current efficiency reaches as high as 65%. It is found that adding 3% H₂O to CO₂ remarkably improves the electrolysis performances and the current efficiency is accordingly enhanced by approximately 20%. The reversible transformation between NbTi_0.5Ni_0.5O₄ and Nb_1.33Ti_0.67O₄ + Ni sample significantly contributes to the promising thermal and redox cycling performance while the anchored interface between Ni and Nb_1.33Ti_0.67O₄ improves cathode stability.     

Development of a dynamic regenerative fuel cell system

The development of a regenerative Integrated Renewable Energy Experiment (IRENE) is presented. IRENE is a laboratory-scale distributed energy system with a modular structure which can be re-configured to test newly developed components for generic regenerative systems integrating renewable energy, electrolysis, hydrogen and electricity storage and fuel cells. A special design feature of this test bed is the ability to accept transient inputs from and provide transient loads to real devices as well as from simulated energy sources/sinks. The findings of this study should be of interest to developers of small-scale renewable-regenerative systems intended to displace fossil fuel systems.     

Techno-economic analysis of hydrogen energy for renewable energy power smoothing

With the increasing proportion of renewable energy (mainly wind power and photovoltaic) connected to the grid, the fluctuation of renewable energy power brings great challenges to the safe and reliable operation of power grid. As a clean, low-carbon secondary energy, hydrogen energy is applied in renewable energy (mainly wind power and photovoltaic) grid-connected power smoothing, which opens up a new way of coupling hydrogen storage energy with renewable energy. This paper focuses on the optimization of capacity of electrolyzers and fuel cells and the analysis of system economy in the process of power output smoothing of wind/photovoltaic coupled hydrogen energy grid-connected system. Based on the complementary characteristics of particle swarm optimization (PSO) and chemical reaction optimization algorithm (CROA), a particle swarm optimization-chemical reaction optimization algorithm (PSO-CROA) are proposed. Aiming at maximizing system profit, the capacity of electrolyzers and fuel cells are constrained by wind power fluctuation, and considering environmental benefits, government subsidies and time value of funds, the objective function and its constraints are established. According to the simulation analysis, by comparing the calculated results with PSO and CROA, it shows that PSO-CROA effectively evaluates the economy of the system, and optimizes the optimal capacity of the electrolyzers and fuel cells. The conclusion of this paper is of great significance for the application of hydrogen energy storage in the evaluation of power smoothness and economy of renewable energy grid connection and the calculation of economic allocation of hydrogen energy storage capacity.