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MODELING/SIMULATION OF COMBINED
PEM FUEL CELL AND MICROTURBINE
DISTRIBUTED GENERATION PLANT
Rekha .T. Jagaduri

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Tennessee Technological University
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OUTLINE
Overview of Distributed Generation Plant.
Micro turbine as a DG.
PEM Fuel Cell as a DG.
Modeling of micro turbine.
Modeling of fuel cell.
Control Systems of micro turbine and fuel cell.
Grid connected micro turbine and fuel cell.
Simulation results.
Conclusion.
Future work.

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OVERVIEW OF A DISTRIBUTED GENERATION
Distributed Generation (DG) is the use of small-scale power generation
technologies located close to the load being served.
It includes, for example, photovoltaic systems, fuel cells, natural gas
engines, industrial turbines, micro turbines, energy-storage devices, wind
turbines, and concentrating solar power collectors.
These technologies can meet a variety of consumer energy needs including
continuous power, backup power, remote power, and peak shaving.
They can be installed directly on the consumers premise or located nearby
in district energy systems, power parks, and mini-grids.

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ECONOMIC ADVANTAGES OF DG
Economic advantages include one or more of the following:
Load management
Reliability
Power quality
Fuel flexibility
Cogeneration
Deferred or reduced T&D investment or charge
Increased distribution grid reliability/stability
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MICRO TURBINE AS A DG

Micro turbine made its commercial debut in 1998.
Micro turbines belongs to an emerging class of small-scale distributed
power generation
Basic components: compressor, combustor, turbine, and generator.
Typically in the 30-400 kW size.

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MICRO TURBINE

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MODELING OF MICRO TURBINE



Mechanical Equations:


Electrical Equations:

Electrical
Equations
Mechanical
Equations
Pm
Vf
e
Pe
m e
o
P P D
dt
d
f
H
= + + e
e
t
q q d d
d d q q
I X rI V
I X rI V E
+ =
+ =
0
' '
fd d d d do
E I X X E
dt
dE
T = + ) ' ( '
'
'
0
e e
o
=
dt
d
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TWO AXIS MODEL OF A MICRO TURBINE






Phasor diagram of Micro turbine
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MICRO TURBINE CONTROLS




Overall block diagram of Micro turbine control










EXCITER EXCITER
AVR
GOVERNOR
TURBINE
Pref
Vref
Vt
e
GENERATOR
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FREQUENCY CONTROL OF MICRO TURBINE
GOVERNOR
TURBINE
1
R
ref m
P
,
A
e A
m
P A
m
P
mo
P A
-
+
+
+
Frequency control block
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VOLTAGE CONTROL OF MICRO TURBINE
refo
V
tref
V A
AMPLIFIER EXCITER
t
V
e
V
ref
V +
+
+
-
F
V
Voltage control block
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FUEL CELL AS A DG

First fuel cell was developed in 1839 by Sir William Grove.
Practical use started in 1960s when NASA installed this technology to
generate electricity on Gemini and Apollo spacecraft.
Types of fuel cells: phosphoric acid, proton exchange membrane, molten
carbonate, solid oxide, alkaline, and direct methanol.
Typically 5-1000+ kW in size,
A number of companies are close to commercializing proton exchange
membrane fuel cells, with marketplace introductions expected soon.
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BASIC PRINCIPLE OF A FUEL CELL
A fuel cell consists of two electrodes separated by an electrolyte.
Hydrogen fuel is fed into the anode of the fuel cell. Oxygen (or air) enters
the fuel cell through the cathode.
With the aid of a catalyst, the hydrogen atom splits into a proton (H+) and
an electron. The proton passes through the electrolyte to the cathode and
the electrons travel in an external circuit.
As the electrons flow through an external circuit connected as a load they
create a DC current. At the cathode, protons combine with hydrogen and
oxygen, producing water and heat.
Fuel cells have very low levels of NO
x
and CO emissions because the
power conversion is an electrochemical process.
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PEM FUEL CELL







Anode side reaction: H
2
2H
+
+ 2e
-

Cathode side reaction: 0.5O
2
+2H
+
+2e
-
H
2
0 +Heat
------------------------------------
Overall reaction: H
2
+ 0.5O
2
H
2
0 +Heat
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OVERALL CHEMICAL REACTION OF PEMFC
Component balance Equation



Energy balance Equation



Nernst Equation
i
Out
i
in
i
i
S
R W W
dt
dx
T
RT
PV
=
losses generated
s
s s
s
s s
Q Q
dt
dC
T M
dt
dT
C M = +
losses
O H
O H S o
cell FC
E
x
x x
F
RT
E N V + = ] ln
4
[
2
2
2
2
2
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POWER CONDITIONING UNIT
AC Voltage of the fuel cell: V
ac
= m . V
FC
Zo
where m is the modulation index, o is the firing angle








Block diagram of fuel cell with PCU
INVERTER
GRID
BATTERY
INTERFACE
BATTERY
GRID
BATTERY
INTERFACE
PCU
FUEL
CELL
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FUEL CELL CONTROLS



Power Control scheme







ref fc
P
,
o A
o
o
o
-
+
+
+
PI
CONTROLLER
actual fc
P
,
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FUEL CELL CONTROLS





Voltage Control Scheme
PI
CONTROLLER
ref fc
V
, m A m
o
m
-
+
+
+
actual fc
V
,
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INTERFACING DG WITH POWER GRID

(

=
(

im
re
d
q
V
V
V
V
o
o
o
o
cos
sin
sin
cos

The machine side characteristics of micro turbine are transformed to the
system side frame of reference using the transformation matrix




The current injected into the system

I = Y. V

Which could be further written as

I
re
+ jI
im
= (G + jB). V
re
+ jV
im

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NUMERICAL ANALYSIS






Test System
FUEL
CELL
jX
gt
jX
fc
jX
LN
MICRO
TURBINE
POWER
SYSTEM
S
LD
=P
LD
+jQ
LD
Z
LD
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CASE STUDY
Case 1: Assuming 10% increase in input power of the micro turbine

Case 2: Assuming 20% increase in input power of the fuel cell

Case 3: Assuming a 10% increase in micro turbine power (with and
without governor)

Case 4: Assuming a 1% increase in micro turbine voltage reference ( with
and without voltage regulator)
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SIMULATION RESULTS CASE 1

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SIMULATION RESULTS CASE 2

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SIMULATION RESULTS CASE 3

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SIMULATION RESULTS CASE 4

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CONCLUSION
A combined micro turbine and PEM fuel cell plant connected to a power
system was modeled and simulated.
Both the fuel cell and micro-turbine were assumed to be equipped with
power and voltage control loops.
The micro-turbine was modeled using the d-q frame of reference and it
was interfaced with the power system using transformation between this
frame of reference and the system frame of reference.
A test system with typical numerical values was used to determine the
accuracy of the model.
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FUTURE WORK
The same procedure may be extended to the case of several DGs
connected to a power system.

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THANK YOU