Using Simulink Simulation to Evaluate Load Following Characteristics of SOFC Generator with Heat Exchanger Considering Heat Balance

Abstract

That ever increasing electricity consumption, progress in power deregulation, and rising public awareness for environment have created more interest in fuel cell distributed generation. Among different types of fuel cells, solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) manifest themselves as great potential applications due to many advantages such as low emission, high efficiency, and high power rating. On the other hand, SOFC systems are beneficial because they can convert fuel such as natural gas (almost CH₄) which is supplied by widespread systems in many countries into electricity efficiently using internal reforming. In facts, the load demand changes flexibly and fuel cell life time decreases by rapid thermal change. Its lifetime may be extended by maintaining in appropriate temperature. Therefore, it is important to acquire the load following performance as well as control of operation temperature. This paper addresses components of the simple SOFC power unit model with heat exchanger (HX) included. Typical dynamical submodels are used to follow the variation of load demand at a local location that considers temperature characteristics using the Matlab-SIMULINK program.