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The hybrid solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) and gas turbine (GT)
systems steady state modeling
Penyarat Chinda a,*, Pascal Brault b
a
Department of Mechanical Engineering Technology, College of Industrial Technology, King Mongkuts University of Technology North
Bangkok, 1518, Piboonsongkram Road, Wong Sawang, Bangsue, Bangkok 10800, Thailand
b
Groupe de Recherches sur lEnergetique des Milieux Ionises (GREMI), UMR 6606 CNRS-Universite dOrleans, BP6744,
45067 Orleans Cedex 2, France
article info
abstract
Article history:
Solid Oxide Fuel Cells (SOFCs) are of great interest nowadays. The feature of SOFCs makes
them suitable for hybrid systems because they work high operating temperature and when
combined with conventional turbine power plants offer high cycle efficiencies. In this work
11 February 2012
a hybrid solid oxide fuel cell and gas turbine power system model is developed. Two
models have been developed based on simple thermodynamic expressions. The simple
models are used in the preliminary part of the study and a more realistic based on the
performance maps. A comparative study of the simulated configurations, based on an
Keywords:
energy analysis is used to perform a parametric study of the overall hybrid system effi-
Cycle
ciency. Some important observations are made by means of a sensitivity study of the
Efficiency
whole cycle for the selected configuration. The results of the selected model were
Gas turbine
Hybrid
Copyright 2012, Hydrogen Energy Publications, LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights
1.
Introduction
reserved.
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2.
Mathematical modeling of SOFC e gas
turbine hybrid system
A gas turbine cycle is based on the Brayton cycle, which is
a simple series of compression, combustion, and expansion
processes. The main components of the cycle are
a compressor, a combustor, and a gas turbine. The number of
components is not limited to three as the cycle may consist of
several compressors and turbines (expanders).
Fig. 1 illustrates the basic schematic of a gas turbine
engine. The ambient air is compressed and sent to the
combustor. The constant pressure combustion takes place
and the exhaust is sent to the turbine where power is
extracted to drive the compressor and the generator. Heat
exchangers can also be used to preheat the stream entering
the combustion chamber. Gas turbine engines are generally
used for power production falling in the range of few kilowatts
to several megawatts and offer an electrical efficiency of
30e40%. This can be further improved by adding a topping
cycle to achieve efficiencies of up to 60%. A gas turbine can be
directly or indirectly connected to the SOFC. In an indirect
integration, the combustor of the gas turbine is replaced with
a heat exchanger in which air from the compressor is heated
by the fuel cell exhaust and the SOFC can operate under
atmospheric conditions. Although, it reduces the sealant
requirement in the SOFC stack, the heat exchanger has to
operate at very high temperatures and pressure differences.
The material requirements in the indirect integration are
really an issue and hence, it is not generally used.
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2.1.
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Vbus
Vcell
(1)
~ max
W
Vbus
!,
icell
(2)
2.2.
Component models
2.2.1.
Compressor model
(3)
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Ra =Cpa
Pe
1
Pi
(4)
(5)
qair DhC
hC htrans
Turbine model
(7)
Rg =Cpg
pe
1
pi
(8)
gg 1
gg
1 pe =pi
hTG
(9)
(10)
2.2.3.
DTlm
DT2 DT1
DT2
ln
DT1
(15)
(6)
Where qair is the airflow rate in kg s1 and htrans is the transmission efficiency from turbine to compressor.
2.2.2.
(14)
q UADTlm
2.2.4.
Combustor model
The streams coming out of the fuel cell are burned with
additional fuel and air in the combustor and the high
temperature exhaust is sent to turbine. Following equation
models the flow in the combustor.
Enthalpy of Fuel Cell Streams Enthalpy of additional
fuel Net Enthalpy of the mixture.
dH Cp TdT
(16)
R=Cpa
pe
1
pi
(17)
3.
Hybrid solid oxide fuel cell and gas turbine
system configurations and cycle analysis
Deciding upon the optimum configuration is one of the key
steps in modeling a gas turbine hybrid system. In this work,
a few configurations of the hybrid system are simulated and
their performances are analyzed. Based upon the comparative
study, the better configuration is chosen and discussed in
detail. The basic parameters that are focused, in choosing the
optimum configuration, are the cycle efficiency and the fuel
cell power.
The modeling assumptions, operating conditions and cycle
configurations are shown below.
3.1.
(11)
(12)
(13)
Due to the solid oxide fuel cell and gas turbine hybrid system
usually use as an auxiliary aerospace power. The models in
this work aim for the aircraft applications. Sea level full power
is taken as the design condition of the system. For aircraft
applications, this choice is based upon the fact that the
exhaust pressure at sea level is higher than the one at cruise
altitude. In this way, the power extracted from the turbine will
be less and to meet the power requirements the stack power
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3.2.
The configurations
3.3.
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9.62
400
944
1136
359
104
463
58
617
9.62
400
832
1166
319
108
427
53.5
605
4.
Improved configuration 1
4.1.
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Table 3 e Data for configuration 1 for different heat transfer coefficients and air mass flow rates.
Air flow (kg s1)
Heat
0.4
0.45
0.5
0.55
0.6
0.65
Heat
0.4
0.45
0.5
0.55
0.6
0.65
0.7
Heat
0.4
0.45
0.5
0.55
0.6
0.65
0.7
Heat
0.4
0.45
0.5
0.55
0.6
0.65
0.7
Heat
0.4
0.45
0.5
0.55
0.6
0.65
0.7
Heat
0.4
0.45
0.5
0.55
0.6
0.65
0.7
Heat
0.4
0.45
0.5
0.55
0.6
0.65
0.7
0.71
0.75
Stack
temp. (K)
Cycle efficiency
Turbine inlet
temp (K)
Exhaust
temp (K)
Heat exchanger
effectiveness %
1651
1489
1359
819.5
759
714
78.5
75
71.6
1959 (forbidden)
1764 (forbidden)
1599
1462
1348
1253
1173
851
777
720
677
643
617
598
92
90
87.4
85
82.6
80.5
78.5
2000 W K1
60
61.2
60.7
56.2
47
35
14
3000 W K1
1247
1129
1030
948
exchanger overall heat transfer coefficient (UA)
Forbidden
62.5
60
53.2
43.5
4000 W K1
1601
1473
1365
1272
684
645.4
615
591.5
92
90
88.2
86.5
1230
1124
1033
exchanger overall heat transfer coefficient (UA)
63.2
60.5
54.2
5000 W K1
1560
1445
1346
650
617
590
94
92.5
91
1297
1190
1096
exchanger overall heat transfer coefficient (UA)
Forbidden
64.4
63.3
59.8
6000 W K1
1618
1503
1401
654.4
619.5
591.5
96.3
95.2
93.9
1342
1237
1142
exchanger overall heat transfer coefficient (UA)
Forbidden
65
64.5
62.4
7000 W K1
1657
1544
1441
658
622
593
97.6
96.7
95.8
65
63.8
63.3
60
1572
1471
1452
1380
624
594
588
570
97.8
97
96.9
96.2
1269
1176
1159
1092
Operation under any other condition is referred to as offdesign operation. Experimental results from off-design operation are often summarized in performance maps, in which
the number of free variables is reduced by use of non-
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ratio (p, Eq. (19)) on the y-axis. In Eqs. (18)e(20) the subscripts
01 and 02 relate to the stagnation values at the entry and exit,
respectively. T and P are the reference temperature and
pressure. The performance map for the modeled radial
compressor, based on [29], is shown in Fig. 11.
The line in the bottom map of Fig. 11, connects all the
constant rpm lines and is called the surge line. Operation
above this line may cause the compressor to surge and
performance will breakdown, when increase the air flow, the
pressure at the start of the compressor will thus decrease.
However, the pressure upstream in the compressor hasnt
noticed the change yet. There is thus a higher pressure
upstream than downstream. This can cause flow reversal in
the compressor. Flow reversal itself is already bad. However, it
doesnt stop here. The flow reversal causes the pressure
upstream in the compressor to drop. This causes the
N
Ncorr p
T01 =Ta
p
P02
P01
~ corr
m
(18)
(19)
p
~ T01 =Ta
m
P01 =Pa
(20)
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v
2
u
u
u 1 Pe
u
~
m
Pi
Pi
u
2
~ DP Pe u
m
t
Pe
1
DP
Pi
(21)
4.2.
Performance analysis
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Fig. 11 e Performance maps of the modeled compressor, based on the DLR radial compressor map. (a) The relation between
the corrected mass flow rate and efficiency (b) The relation between the corrected mass flow rate and pressure ratio.
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Fig. 12 e Performance map of the modeled turbine, based on the radial turbine map NASA-CR-174646 (a) The relation
between the pressure ratio and efficiency (b) The relation between the pressure ratio and corrected mass flow rate.
Fig. 13 e ASPEN model of SOFC-GT hybrid system by NASA Glenn Research Center (an earlier cycle model [28]).
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Parameters used
Stack pressure
Stack temperature
Compressor inlet pressure
Compressor pressure ratio
Compressor efficiency
Turbine outlet pressure
Turbine Pressure ratio
Turbine efficiency
Performance results
SOFC net power
Turbine power
Total power
Cycle efficiency
Configuration 1
Earlier hybrid
model [28]
2.9 bar
1123 K
14.7 psia
2.88
83%
17.1 psia
2.37
84%
2.9 bar
1123 K
14.7 psia
2.88
83%
17.1 psia
2.37
84%
342 kW
139 kW
481 kW
45.1%
429 kW
19 kW
448 kW
42%
5.
Conclusion
In this work a hybrid solid oxide fuel cell and gas turbine
power system models are developed and analyzed by evaluating the sea level full power operating points for a 300
passenger commercial aircraft electrical power unit. Each
component within the system is sized to meet the 440 kW
input electrical load at sea level full power. Two types of
models have been developed for which the individual
components of the system (compressor, turbine, heat
exchanger and combustor) are modeled using simple thermodynamic relations. Simple models are used in the
preliminary step of the study and a more realistic one based
on the performance maps is developed after. Some important observations are made during the configuration study.
They are built by means of a sensitivity study of the whole
cycle for the selected configuration. The fuel cell performance is found to be a strong function of operating
temperature (which depends upon the preheating of the
input streams) and hence when the heat exchanger properties are varied with the air mass flow rate, the cycle performance shifts toward favorable conditions. The parameters
that limit the cycle performance are the SOFC temperature,
the turbine inlet temperature, and the exhaust temperature.
Though at high SOFC temperatures, the cycle efficiency is
high, the cycle operation under these conditions is not
feasible after a certain point. The important fact found was
that the selected configuration (or the configuration 1), at sea
level conditions, a hybrid solid oxide fuel cell and gas turbine
power system can achieve cycle system efficiency better than
the earlier model from an available literature. At the present,
this model is not included the dynamic analysis but once the
current design is more completed then the dynamic analysis
of each of the components and the cycle as a whole will be
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references
9248
[19]
[20]
[21]
[22]
[23]
[24]
[25]
[26]
[27]
[28]
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Nomenclature
A: total heat transfer area, m2
Cc: heat capacity of the cold stream, J s1 K1
Ch: heat capacity of the hot stream, J s1 K1
Cpa: specific heat at constant pressure of air, J kg1 K1
Cpg: specific heat at constant pressure of combustion gases,
J kg1 K1
Cva: specific heat at constant volume of air, J kg1 K1
Cvg: specific heat at constant volume of combustion gases,
J kg1 K1
icell: single cell current density, A cm2
ncells: the number of single cells required
P: pressure, atm
PC: mechanical power consumed by the compressor, Watt
PMG: mechanical power delivered to the generators, Watt
PTG: mechanical power delivered by the gas turbines, Watt
qair: air flow rate in, kg s1
T: temperature, K
UA: the overall heat transfer coefficient, W K1
Vbus: bus voltage, Volt
Vcell: single cell voltage, Volt
ga: ratio of specific heat of air
gg: ratio of specific heats of combustion gases
hC: efficiency of the compressor, %
hTG: efficiency of the turbine, %
htrans: transmission efficiency from turbine to compressor, %
hN: polytropic efficiency of the turbine, %
hNC: polytropic efficiency of the compressor, %
DhC: change in isentropic enthalpy of compressor, J mol1
DhTG: change in isentropic enthalpy of turbine, J mol1
DTlm: Log-Mean Temperature Difference (LMTD), K
Subscripts
DP: design point
e: exit
i: inlet