Building air conditioning system using fuel cell: Case study for Kuwait (original) (raw)
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A Preliminary Feasibility Study Of A Fuel Cell Based Combined Cooling Heating and Power System
Combined cooling, heating and power (CCHP) systems, provide an alternative for the world to meet and solve energy – related problems, such as energy shortages, supply security, emissions, the economy, and conservation of energy, etc. CCHP systems do not just provide electricity and heating but also cooling for space air conditioning or processes. Recent studies points out that the overall efficiencies of CCHP systems that exploit an advanced thermally activated technology are superior to conventional systems. This study is a preliminary feasibility of a fuel cell based combined heat and power (CHP) system coupled with an open cycle desiccant cooling. The technology is based on the principle of outside air dehumidification by an adsorbent. The study shows that the payback time is around 13 years. With governmental and European Union incentives, possible increases in power prices and decreases in costs by mass production the payback time is expected to decrease in the future
2014
A fuel cell is a device that produces an electric and heat from the oxidation of a fuel, usually uses hydrogen by oxygen. The main purpose of this paper is to estimate primary energy savings and CO2 reduction potentials applied to the installation of fuel cell systems. Based on the measured data of electricity and heating demand required for the liquid desiccant and evaporative cooling-assisted-100% outdoor air system (LD-IDECOAS), applicability of fuel cell system which provides electric power and hot water simultaneously is evaluated by detailed simulation. Using the measured load profile of the pilot system, the required electric capacity of the fuel cell system was designed at 10 kW. The performance of the previous systems using conventional gas-fired boiler and purchased electricity are compared with that of the proposed system to evaluate energy saving potential. The results show that the designed fuel cell provides electricity and heating energy recovered from stack at 34.4% ...
Fuel Cell Solutions for the Energy Supply of Buildings
This paper proposes a new solution for the energy supply of buildings using electrochemical power sources. The paper shows experimental results in using PEM fuel cell for electricity supply of a gas condensing device. The paper also presents all the components and monitoring measurements of the electrical and thermal values for fuel cell. The experimental testing of the influence of power quality produced by the fuel cell and inverter in boiler operation, leads to use of inverters with sine wave profile on the electricity supply of building. Cheap inverters with rectangular wave or rectangular wave modified by the harmonics content produced, leads to blocking the microprocessor, removing the boiler operation. The experimental system has 0.72 kilowatt electrical power of the fuel cell, while the total thermal output power of the condensing heating device 25 kilowatts. The experimental power quality results obtained with this supply system are presented in the end of the paper.
The development of a small PEMFC combined heat and power system
Journal of Power Sources, 2008
A proton exchange membrane fuel cell combined heat and power system has been chosen as a platform on which key components and system integration technologies have been developed to advance the applications of fuel-cell technology. The prototype system consists mainly of a fuel-cell stack, a natural gas reformer to supply hydrogen-rich reformate gas to the stack, a power conditioner to convert and invert the electricity generated by the stack, and a water and heat management network to provide the oxidizer (air) to and necessary cooling and humidification for the stack. The design of the stack and its components, catalysts development, design and testing of the natural gas reformer, were studied. In addition, the durability of a CO tolerant membrane-electrode-assembly has been studied with the assistance of air bleeding. Preliminary testing of the prototype combined heat and power system was carried out. It was found that the maintenance of a uniform output voltage across all single cells was more difficult with reformatted gas rather than using pure hydrogen. It was also found that the design of water and heat management network played an important role in the overall efficiency of the system.
In this paper, a parametric study of a PEM fuel cell integrated with a double effect absorption system is carried out in order to study the effect of different operating conditions on the efficiency of the PEM fuel cell, utilization factor of the over all system, COPs of the double effect cooling and heating system, and power and heat output of the PEM fuel cell. It is found that the efficiency of the cell decreases, ranging from 46.2% to 24.4% with increase in membrane thickness and current density, and at the same time the COP increases ranging from 0.65 to 1.52. The heat and power output of the fuel cell decreases from 10.54 kW to 5.12 kW, and 9.12 kW to 6.99 kW, respectively for the increase in membrane thickness. However, when the temperature of the cell is increased the heat and power output increases from 5.12 kW to 10.54 kW, and 6.9 kW to 7.02 kW, respectively. The COP is found to be decreasing ranging from 1.53 to 0.33 with the increase in temperature of the cell and heat i...
Journal of Fuel Cell Science and Technology, 2012
In this paper, a Polymer Electrolyte Membrane (PEM) fuel cell power system including burner, steam reformer, heat exchanger, and water heater has been considered. A PEM fuel cell system is designed to meet the electrical, domestic hot water, heating, and cooling loads of a residential building located in Tehran. Operating conditions of the system with consideration of the electricity cost has been studied. The cost includes social cost of the environmental pollutants (e.g. CO2, CO and NO). The results show that the maximum energy needs of the building can be met by 12 fuel cell stacks with nominal capacity of 8.5 kW. Annual average electricity cost of thissystem is equal to 0.39 US$/kWh and entropy generation of this system through a year is equal to 1004.54 GJ/K1. It is also concluded that increase in ambient temperature from 1 °C to 40 °C increases the entropy generation by 5.73%, carbon monoxide by 14.56%, and nitrogen monoxide by 8.9%, but decreases carbon dioxide by 0.47%.
Evaluation of a low temperature fuel cell system for residential CHP
International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, 2011
CHP (combined heat and power) is a technology that allows to provide electrical and thermal energy. CHP is normally used in systems that produce wasted heat at high temperature to recover energy and increase overall system efficiency. The aim of this work is to investigate the possibility to recover heat produced by a 5 kW PEFC system for residential applications (hot water and building heating). As known, PEFCs work at low temperature (60e90 C) and the experiments have been carried out in order to improve the overall system efficiency by reusing heat that is normally wasted. The work was developed during an Italian National project PNR-FISR "Polymeric and Ceramic Fuel Cell" coordinated by CNR-ITAE. A 5 kW PEFC system, developed with NUVERA Fuel Cells in the framework of the project, was tested in cogeneration configuration recovering wasted heat with a heat exchanger directly connected to cathode out. Tests on PEFC system were carried out in the range 2.5e5 kW, maintaining the working stack temperature at 71 C. Heat, produced at different power levels, was removed from the system by using a regulated water flow in the heat exchanger. A peculiar feature of the system is the so-called "direct water injection" at the cathode, that allows simultaneous cooling and humidification of the stack. This characteristic permitted the recovery of most of the waste heat produced by the fuel cell. The performance of the PEFC unit was analyzed in terms of electrical, thermal and total efficiency. Tests showed that it is possible to obtain water at about 68 C under different power levels. Moreover, experimental data showed that heat recovered was maximum when heat exchanger worked at nominal power and, under these conditions, the overall system efficiency increased up to 85%.
Current Status of Fuel Cell Based Combined Heat and Power Systems for Residential Sector
Combined Heat and Power (CHP) is the sequential or simultaneous generation of multiple forms of useful energy, usually electrical and thermal, in a single and integrated system. Implementing CHP systems in the current energy sector may solve energy shortages, climate change and energy conservation issues. This review paper is divided into six sections: the first part defines and classifies the types of fuel cell used in CHP systems; the second part discusses the current status of fuel cell CHP (FC-CHP) around the world and highlights the benefits and drawbacks of CHP systems; the third part focuses on techniques for modelling CHP systems. The fourth section gives a thorough comparison and discussion of the two main fuel cell technologies used in FC-CHP (PEMFC and SOFC), characterising their technical performance and recent developments from the major manufacturers. The fifth section describes all the main components of FC-CHP systems and explains the issues connected with their practical application. The last part summarises the above, and reflects on micro FC-CHP system technology and its future prospects.
INTEGRATION OF NEW SMALL SCALE SORPTION CHILLERS WITH A PEM FUEL CELL OF 5 kW
The waste heat recovered from small PEMFC (a few kW) could be recovered to produce chilled water for air conditioning during the summer period. Recently small scale sorption chillers have been developed that are able to produce chilled water at these small capacities suitable to integrate these chillers with PEMFC for low capacity trigeneration systems. The main advantage of these trigeneration systems is the production of cooling using waste heat at very low temperature (60-70 ºC) instead of electricity, a high quality and economic cost energy. The objective of this paper is to evaluate the performance of a PEMFC of 5 kW tested in the laboratories of INTA (Huelva) integrated with an adsorption thermally driven chiller of 5 kW of cooling capacity. The results show a good match of capacities and temperatures between available and required thermal energy. To demonstrate the viability of these trigeneration systems it is presented a case study to cover the electricity, heating and cool...