Distributed Energy Systems

DISTRIBUTED ENERGY SYSTEMS
No part of this digital document may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or
by any means. The publisher has taken reasonable care in the preparation of this digital document, but makes no
expressed or implied warranty of any kind and assumes no responsibility for any errors or omissions. No
liability is assumed for incidental or consequential damages in connection with or arising out of information
contained herein. This digital document is sold with the clear understanding that the publisher is not engaged in
rendering legal, medical or any other professional services.
DISTRIBUTED ENERGY SYSTEMS
SHINYA OBARA
Nova Science Publishers, Inc.

New York
Copyright 2009 by Nova Science Publishers, Inc.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system
or transmitted in any form or by any means: electronic, electrostatic, magnetic, tape,
mechanical photocopying, recording or otherwise without the written permission of the
Publisher.
For permission to use material from this book please contact us:
Telephone 631-231-7269; Fax 631-231-8175
Web Site: http://www.novapublishers.com
NOTICE TO THE READER
The Publisher has taken reasonable care in the preparation of this book, but makes no
expressed or implied warranty of any kind and assumes no responsibility for any errors or
omissions. No liability is assumed for incidental or consequential damages in connection
with or arising out of information contained in this book. The Publisher shall not be liable
for any special, consequential, or exemplary damages resulting, in whole or in part, from
the readers use of, or reliance upon, this material.
Independent verification should be sought for any data, advice or recommendations
contained in this book. In addition, no responsibility is assumed by the publisher for any
injury and/or damage to persons or property arising from any methods, products,
instructions, ideas or otherwise contained in this publication.
This publication is designed to provide accurate and authoritative information with regard
to the subject matter covered herein. It is sold with the clear understanding that the
Publisher is not engaged in rendering legal or any other professional services. If legal or
any other expert assistance is required, the services of a competent person should be
sought. FROM A DECLARATION OF PARTICIPANTS JOINTLY ADOPTED BY A
COMMITTEE OF THE AMERICAN BAR ASSOCIATION AND A COMMITTEE OF
PUBLISHERS.
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA
ISBN: 978-1-60741-217-5 (E-Book)
Available upon request
Published by Nova Science Publishers, Inc.

New York
CONTENTS
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Index
Operation Plan of a Combined Fuel Cell Cogeneration

Using Genetic Algorithm
Route Planning of Heat Supply Piping in a Fuel Cell

Energy Network
21
Load Leveling of Fuel Cell System by Oxygen

Concentration Control of Cathode Gas
41
65
Chapter 1
OPERATION PLAN OF A COMBINED FUEL CELL

COGENERATION USING GENETIC ALGORITHM
INTRODUCTION
From deregulation of energy business, and an environmental problem, the
installation spread of the small-scale distribution power due to a fuel cell and a
heat engine is expected. Under the objective function set up by the designer or the
user, optimization planning that controls small-scale distribution power is
required. In dynamic operation planning of the energy plant, the analysis method
using mixed integer linear programming is developed [1, 2]. For the compound
energy systems of solar modules and fuel cell cogeneration, there have been no
reports of the optimization of operation planning. Therefore, there are no results
showing the relationship between the objective function given to the combined
system and operation planning. Such as a solar modules or wind power, greenenergy equipment is accompanied by the fluctuation of an output in many cases.
Almost all green energy equipment requires backup by commercial power, fuel
cells, heat engines, etc. Operation planning of the system that utilizes renewable
energy differs by the objective function and power and heat load pattern. Thus,
this chapter investigates the operation planning of the compound energy system
composed of proton exchange membrane fuel cell cogeneration with methanol
steam-reforming equipment, a solar module, geo-thermal heat pump, heat storage,
water electrolysis equipment, commercial power, and a kerosene boiler. In such a
complex energy system, facility cost is expensive. However, in this chapter, it
investigates as a case of the independent power source for backlands with
renewable energy. This chapter considers the operation planning of a system, and
Shin'ya Obara
the optimization of equipment capacity. The Genetic Algorithm (hereafter

described as GA) applicable to a nonlinear problem with many variables is
installed into the optimization calculation of the operation planning of the system
[3]. In the operation analysis of a complex energy system, Mixed Integer
Programming (MIP) other than GA can be used. Because the nonlinear analysis
using MIP is made to approximate using a linear expression of relations, it is
considered that an error is large. On the other hand, GA is applicable to the
analysis of the nonlinear problem of many variables. The range of the analysis
accuracy obtained by calculation with GA is understood that it can use
industrially. In GA, the design variable of energy equipment is shown with many
gene models. In this chapter, the objective functions given to the system were set
up as (1) Minimization of error in demand-and-supply balance, (2) Minimization
of the operation cost (fuel consumption) of energy equipment, (3) Minimization of
the carbon dioxide gas emission accompanying operation, and (4) Minimization
of the three objective functions described above. The load pattern in winter
(February) and summer (August) of the average individual house in Sapporo,
Japan, is used for the energy demand model shown with a case study [4]. This
chapter described the operation plan of the independence energy system when
installing a methanol steam-reforming type fuel cell and renewable energy into a
cold region house. Such complex operation optimization of the energy system did
not have a report until now. Consequently, the method of installing and analyzing
the GA apply to the nonlinear problem of many variables was proposed. In points
of equipment cost, it is difficult for a proposed system to spread generally.
However, the installation to the area where the commercial power is not fixed is
possible.
FUEL CELL, SOLAR MODULES, AND GEO-THERMAL HEAT

PUMP COMBINED SYSTEM
Scheme of Combined System
Figure 1 shows the energy system scheme examined in this chapter. A
combined system consists of a solar module (18), PEMFC-CGS (PEMFC: proton
exchange membrane, fuel cell CGS: co-generation, the fuel cell is (1), the
reforming equipment is (2)-(5) and (12), geo-thermal heat pump, (17), boiler, (8),
commercial electric power, heat storage tank (10), and the water electrolysis
equipment is (13)-(15)). Water electrolysis equipment is used to store electrical
power with hydrogen and oxygen. The arrowhead in this figure shows the
substance or direction of energy flux. Each system of solar module, commercial
electrical power, and PEMFC-CGS is changed with a changeover switch (6), and
electrical power is supplied to the consumer. However, electrical power is not at
once supplied to the demand side from two or more power systems.
An electric heater (9) is installed inside the heat storage tank, and electric
power is changed into heat and can be stored. Hydrogen and oxygen can be
produced if electric power is supplied to an electrolysis tank (13). Hydrogen and
oxygen are stored in tanks (14) and (15), respectively, and these are supplied to
PEMFC and can be generated at an arbitrary time. When the heat produced by the
geo-thermal heat pump exceeds the quantity demanded, surplus heat is stored in
the heat storage tank. Although the exhaust heat of PEMFC and the methanol
steam-reforming equipment is also supplied to the heat storage tank, when the
total amount of heat exceeds the heat storage capacity, heat is radiated with a
radiator (7). Tap water has heat exchanged for the heat transfer medium inside the
heat storage tank, and moreover controls the temperature of this tap water by the
boiler, and supplies hot water to the consumer.
HEX : Heat ex changer
Commercial power network
Electric po wer s upply
6
18
11
16
5
14
15
13
To 10
1
To 10
Tap water
7
9
10
HEX
3
2
12
Exhaust
8
Hot water supply

19
P
HEX
17
G.L.
Methanol fuel
Methanol fuel
Kerosene
1. Fuel cell s tack, 2 . Vaporizer, 3. Reformer , 4. Shifter, 5. CO oxidation ,

6. Change over s witch, 7. Radiator , 8. Back-up boiler , 9. Electric heater ,
10. Heat Storage tank , 11. DC/AC converter, 12 . Catalytic combustor ,
13. Electrolysis tank , 14. H 2 tank, 1 5. O2 tank , 16. Chan ge o ver switch ,
17. Geothermal heat pump system , 18. Solar mo dules , 19. Compress or
Figure 1. PEMFC-CGS, Heat-pump and solar module combined system for houses.
Shin'ya Obara
Heat dem and ( kW)
4
20
February
15
10
5
August
Power demand [kW]
0
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
0
12
16
20
24
Time (Hour)
Energy output (kW)
Figure 2. Energy demand of Sapporo-city (Narita et al, 1996).
Thermal power
Electric power
10
0
0
0.01
0.02
0.03
0.04
M ethanol supply (mol/s)
Figure 3. Characteristics of fuel cell stack with methanol steam reforming (Obara et al.,
2003).
Methanol fuel is supplied to the reformed gas system of the methanol steamreforming equipment, and the catalytic-combustion equipment (12) installed in the
evaporator (2). Kerosene fuel is supplied to the boiler (8). The energy demand
pattern used for analysis is a model in February (winter) and August (summer) in
the average individual house in Sapporo in Japan, and shows this in Figure 2. For
Sapporo, a cold, snowy area, the annual average temperature is 288 K, and the
mean temperature in February and August is 269 K and 294 K, respectively. The
operating period of a system is made into 23:00 from 0:00 of a representation day,
and sampling time is expressed by t k (k = 0 , 1, 2, ....., 23) . The initial values of the
capacity of each energy device set up the value used for the usual individual
house. The specifications of each energy device are shown in Table 1.
Table 1. Energy device specifications
Solar module
Area
Electric energy output
Fuel cell
Type
Fuel
Reforming type
Electric energy output
Thermal energy output
Commercial power
Heat pump
Type
Energy source
p-h diagram
COP
Electrolysis device [8]
Electrolysis efficient
Accumulation of electricity
Backed boiler
Fuel
Efficincy
Thermal storage tank
Thermal storage capacity
Heat medium temperature
Thermal storage efficiency
6.0 m2
3kW (Maximum)
Proton-exchange membrane fuel
cell
Water/Methanol=1.4/1.0
(mole ratio)
Methanol steam reforming
Maximum 3kW
9kW (Maximum)
5kW (Maximum)
Geothermal heat source
Electricity
See Fig.4
5kW (Maximum)
3.0
0.85 (Constant)
180MJ
Kerosene
0.85 (Constant)
40kW (Maximum)
180MJ
353K (Maximum)
0.95
Compared with the condition of the steady operation of the methanol

reformer, the characteristics of a startup and a shutdown differ greatly. Cold start
operation and shutdown operation require about 20 minutes, respectively. In the
analysis of this section, it is assumed that the startup of the methanol reformer is
always a hot start.
Shin'ya Obara
Relational Expression
(1) Energy Output of PEMFC-CGS
3kW methanol steam reforming type PEMFC shown in Figure 3 is used for
the output characteristic of the fuel cell introduced into analysis [5]. The
horizontal axis of Figure 3 is divided into two or more zones, and the output
characteristics are given by the analysis program by using the secondary leastsquares method approximation for each range. The electric power output at the
time of supplying and generating hydrogen and oxygen stored by water
electrolysis to a fuel cell is expressed by Equation (1).
EFS,tk = Ic,tk EV ,tk WFS,tk =
Qf , tk Fd
EV ,tk WFS,tk
Ec
(1)
Here, Ic,tk , EV ,tk , WFS,tk , Q f , tk , Fd and Ec express current, voltage, power

loss of a cell stack, hydrogen amount of supply, Faraday constant and chemical
equivalent, respectively.
(2) Heat Output of Geo-thermal Heat Pump

Figure 4 is a p-h diagram of Refrigerant HC-12a [6], used by the geo-thermal
heat pump [7, 8]. This refrigerant is a mixed refrigerant of propane, butane, and
isobutene. Although the output characteristics of the heat pump were the analysis
of soil temperature TL and condensation temperature TH exactly, coefficient of
performance COP t k was set to 3.0 in this section.
2000
340K
Pressu re [kPa]
1400
T H=323K
320K
1000
300K
600
280K
400
300
273.15K
TL=277K
260K
200
100
30 0
500
En thalpy [kJ/kg]
700
Figure 4. p-h diagram of Refrigerant AHC-12a (HC-TECH Inc., 1997).
(3) Characteristic Equation of Water Electrolysis Tank

From sampling time t k to t , the electric power supplied to an electrolysis
tank is expressed by E EL,tk , and the efficiency of the electrolysis tank is
expressed by EL . In this case, hydrogen quantity QH 2 ,tk to be produced is
calculated by Equation (2). Moreover, the amount of production of oxygen is
similarly calculated. The efficiency of water electrolyzer refers to the results of a
study [9] that used the proton exchange membrane, and EL is set as 0.85.
Q H 2 ,t k =
E EL,tk E c
EL
Fd EV
(2)
In calculations for this case study, the hydrogen and oxygen are pressurized to
1.0 MPa, respectively. The work of the compressor is assumed to be compression
work for an ideal gas. The whole compressor efficiency including an inverter
controller loss and the power consumption in an electric motor, transfer loss of
power, loss with insufficient air leak and cooling, and other machine losses is set
up to 50%.
(4) Characteristic Equation of Heat Storage Tank and Boiler

The conditional expression showing heat storage characteristics is given by
Equation (3) and Equation (4) using the amount of maximum heat storage S St , max ,
and maximum temperature TSt ,max of the heat medium. The capacity and the
specific heat of the heat storage medium are expressed by V and C p , and outside
air temperature is expressed by T (The heat medium is assumed to be calcium
chloride). Moreover, the heat storage temperature at time t k is calculated by
TSt ,t k = S St ,t k /( C p V ) . Here, express density of heat storage medium.
0 S St ,tk S St , max
(3)
T,tk TSt ,t k TSt , max
(4)
The characteristic equation of heat storage tank between time t k and t is

given by Equation (5).
S St ,t k S St ,t k 1 = {H St ,in ,t k H St ,out ,t k St C p V ( TSt ,t k T,t k )} t (5)
Shin'ya Obara
Thermal energy output [kW]
20
15
10
5
0
0
0.00025
0.00050
0.00075
0.0010
Fuel consumption [kg/s]
Figure 5. Thermal energy output of boiler.
Solar module area 6m2
Quantity of solar isolation [MJ]
5.0
4.0
August
3.0
2.0
February
1.0
0
5:00
9:00
13:00
17:00
Time [O clock]
Figure 6. Time change of solar module output (Nagano et al., 2002).
H St ,in,tk and H St ,out,tk express the heat input and heat output of the heat
storage tank, respectively. The third term in the right-hand bracket of Equation (5)
includes outside air temperature T,tk supposing heat storage loss is dependent on
outside air temperature. However, in the analysis in this section, the efficiency of
heat storage St is set to 0.95, and change in outside air temperature is not taken
into consideration. Figure 5 shows the relationship between the fuel consumption
of a boiler and hot-water-supply output. It is expressed with the calorific value of
the fuel being Boiler , the boiler efficiency being Boiler , and the fuel-supply
quantity of flow being FBoiler ,t k , and the characteristic equation of a boiler is

given by the following equation.
H Boiler,tk = Boiler FBoiler,tk Boiler
(6)
E .S : E le ctr ic energy supply
T .S : T herma l energy supply
Devices output
Sa mpling time tk
Electr ic ener gy
stor age
System output
k 1 M
S E, D , t
EN eed ,t k )
E.S
SE , D , t
< E Need , t k )
E.B
( S St,Di ,tk H Need, tk )
T.S
k =0 i = 1
k 1 M
SE ,Di ,t k
k =0 i =1
S E,D ,t
i k
E Need,tk )
(b)
( c)
k =0 i=1
Sst ,Di ,tk
k 1 M
( SS t , Di , tk < H Need, t k )
T.T
(ED i ,t k ENeed, t k )
i k
E.S
( S E,Di ,tk E Need,tk S E,max )
E.B
k=0 i=1
k M
( S E , D i ,t k E Need, t k > SE ,max )

M
Thermal energy
output
T.T
k = 0 i =1
( H Di ,tk H Need,tk )
( H D i , t k +
i =1
S St, D , t
k = 0 i =1
T.T
(g)
k=0 i =1
(h)
M
H N eed , t k H S t, max )
( f)
( H Di ,tk +
i=1
k M
SSt,D ,t
k=0 i =1
i k
H Need ,tk )
(i)
k M
( H Di ,tk + SSt,Di , tk H Need ,tk > H St,max )

i=1
( SE ,Di ,tk E Need, tk S E,max )
T.S
i=1
( e)
k M
( S E,Di ,tk ENeed ,tk )
k =0 i=1
k
(d)
k = 0 i =1
k M
( E D ,t < EN eed ,t )
( S St , Di ,t k H Need, t k )
k = 0 i =1
Electr ic ener gy
output
H Di ,tk
P ath
( a)
k=0 i=1
k1 M
T her mal e ner gy

stor age
ED i , t k
E.B : Electric energy storage

T.T : Thermal energy stor age
Branch path
k=0 i=1
T.T and release

(release )
(j)
M
k M
H St,max ( H D ,t + SSt,D ,t H Need,t )
i k
i k
k
i=1
k=0 i =1
Figure 7. Energy supply path.
(5) Characteristic Equation of Solar Module

Figure 6 shows the results of measurement of the production of electricity of
the solar module in February and August in Sapporo [10]. However, the panel was
vertically installed so that this solar module would not be covered in snow in
winter. Therefore, the production of electricity decreases as shown in the results
of Figure 6 at 13:00.
Energy Supply Path

The energy equipment is expressed by
Di , and let subscript i
( i = 1 , 2 , 3 ,..., M , M are the number of pieces of equipment) be the equipment

number. The electric power and heat that are outputted by energy device Di
10
Shin'ya Obara
follow one path (a) to (j) as shown in Figure 7. When electric energy E D i , t k
generated by the system exceeds power demand E Need
,t k
, hydrogen and oxygen
are produced and stored by water electrolysis. Moreover, it is also possible to

change electric power into heat with a heater, to shift time, and to supply the
demand side.
ENERGY BALANCE AND OBJECTIVE FUNCTION

Objective Function of System
The objective function given to the system is given by (1) Minimization of
error in demand-and-supply balance, (2) Minimization of the operation cost (fuel
consumption) of the energy equipment, (3) Minimization of the carbon dioxide
gas emission accompanying operation, and (4) Minimization of the three objective
functions described above. Equation (7) and Equation (8) are energy balance
equations of electric power and heat, respectively.
E FS ,tk + EUtility,tk + E Stp,tk = E System,tk + E EL,tk + E HP,tk +E CPH,tk +E CPO,tk + E H ,tk
(7)
FS FFS,tk FS + Boiler FBoiler,tk Boiler + HHP,tk + HSt,tk = HSystem,tk + HRad,tk + HSt,tk

(8)
The left-hand side in Equation (7) and Equation (8) is the amount of energy
inputted into the system, and the right-hand side expresses the amount of energy
outputted from the system. Here, E FS ,tk , EUtility,tk , E Stp,tk and E System,tk express
electric power of fuel cell stack, commercial power and power storage,
respectively. E EL,tk , E HP,tk , E CPH ,tk , E CPO,tk and E H ,tk express power
consumption of electrolyzer, heat pump, hydrogen compressor, oxygen
compressor and heater, respectively. FS and Boiler express calorific value of
fuel of fuel cell stack and boiler. FS and Boiler express efficiency of fuel cell
stack and boiler. FFS,tk and FBoiler,tk express fuel quantity of flow of fuel cell
stack and boiler. HHP,tk , H St,tk , H System,t k , HRad,tk and HSt,tk express heat of
heat pump, heat storage tank, system, radiator and heat storage loss, respectively.
11
Objective function (1) described in Introduction is an operating pattern when the

difference in input-output of energy balance Equation (7) and Equation (8) serves
as the minimum. Objective function (2) is an operating pattern when fuel cost and
commercial power cost serve as the minimum. The operation cost of equipment
Di between time t k and t is calculated from fuel flow rate FDi ,t k and unit fuel
price C fuel , Di that are supplied to the equipment. Therefore, the operation cost of
the whole system is calculated by Equation (9). Here, CUtility,tk
express
commercial power cost.

M
CSystem,t k = (C fuel, Di FDi ,t k t ) + CUtility,tk
(9)
i =1
Objective function (3) expresses the operation pattern whose amount of

greenhouse gas discharge calculated from the fuel consumption is the minimum.
Amount of emission WSystem,t k of greenhouse gases is calculated by Equation
(10). However, the number of gas compositions that contribute to greenhouse gas
discharged by equipment Di is expressed by S .
WSystem,tk = (GDi , EX j Di , EX j ,tk FDi ,tk t )

M
i =1 j =1
Table 2. Energy cost and greenhouse-warming coefficient

(Japanese Environment Agency, 2000)
Kerosene fuel
Methanol fuel
Commercial power
0.01097 Dollar/J
3.099 kg?CO2 /kg
2.026 kg/Dollar
0.01772 Dollar/J
1.379 kg?CO2 /kg
0.0647 Dollar/J (9:00-21:00)
0.01515 Dollar/J (22:00-8:00)
0.000099167 kg?CO2 /kJ
(10)
12
Shin'ya Obara
Table 3. Calculation result of each purposes of February (Kerosene (kg))
operation
cos t
Minimization of
Minimization of operation cost
14.72
(15.36)
the error of
demand-and
-supply balance
0 .439
greenh ouse
g as
13.76
(13.35)
Minimization of the error of

demand-and-s upply balance
22.40
0.0170
18.82
Minimization of the amount

of green -ho use gas discharge
15.66
0 .426
13.16
Table 4. Calculation result of each purposes of August (Kerosene (kg))

the error of
operation
greenhouse
demand-and
cost
gas
discharge
-supply balance
Minimization of
operation cost
3.61
(4.28)
0.795
3.42
(2.60)
Minimization of
the error of
demand-and
-supply balance
6.85
0.0247
4.174
Minimization of
the amount
of green-house
gas discharge
5.27
0.199
2.55
Here, GDi , EX j expresses a global-warming factor per unit weight of fuel,
Di , EX j ,t k being the weight concentration of EX j , and FDi ,t k being the amount

of fuel supply to equipment Di . Table 2 shows fuel cost and a global-warming
factor [11], and is analyzed using these values in an analysis case.
Multi-objective Optimization
As shown in Equation (11), the operation pattern that minimizes the sum that
multiplies each objective function by weight is a multiple-objective optimal
solution.
Period N p
minimize w j f j ( xt k )
t =1 j =1
k
13
(11)
In order for the same level to compare the amount of energy loss, operation
cost, and amount of greenhouse gas emission, each value was replaced to the
amount of kerosene and evaluated. w j in Equation (11) is given beforehand and
the value of this equation searches for the minimum solution using GA. Here,
w j , f j ( x t k ) and N p express weight of an objective function, objective
function and number of objective functions, respectively.
ANALYSIS RESULTS
Results of Optimization
Tables 3 and 4 are the calculation results when optimizing under each
objective function using the energy demand pattern of a representative day in
February and August, and are converting all values into a kerosene weight. The
number in ( ) of the table is the value of the conventional energy system (using
commercial power and a kerosene boiler). If this system is optimized by operation
cost minimization, compared with the cost of the conventional system, there will
be a maximum of 4% and 16% reduction in February and August, respectively.
Reduction rates differ every month because the energy demanded and the solar
module output are different.
Equipment Capacity
The analysis results of the ratio of maximum output to equipment capacity at
the time of planning operation with each objective function (this value is
described as RMC below) are shown in Table 5 and Table 6. If the value of RMC
is lower than 1, a decrease in the initialized equipment capacity (Table 1) is
possible. On the other hand, equipment with a larger value of RMC than 1 has
insufficient capacity. The analysis results of RMC of heat storage and power
storage (storage of hydrogen and oxygen by water electrolysis) when operating
the system under each objective function are shown in Figure 8. From the results
of Figure 8, the capacity reduction ratio of a heat storage tank and power storage
14
Shin'ya Obara
equipment can be seen. From the method described above, the optimization of the
capacity of each piece of equipment that composes a system can be designed.
RMC [ % ]
80
40
RMC [ % ]
(a) February
80
Thermal storage
Accumulation of
electricity
Maximum
Average
40
0
Mu
lt i ob j
ec t
io
Mi
Mi
n
theimiza
op eni mi z
t
e
d
r at a ti o
i
e
r
o
- su ma r or n o
io n n
p pl nd - of f
c os of
y b a nd
t
a la
nce
Min
i
gr eth e am izat
en h mou ion
discouse nt o of
har -ga s f
g e es
(b) August
Figure 8. Energy storage result.
Objective Function and Characteristics of Operation Plan

Figures 9 and 10 show the balance results of electric power and heat when
optimizing an operation plan under each objective function using the energy
demand pattern of representative February and August days. "System energy
output" in these figures is the characteristic of electric power and heat outputted
by the system configuration equipment. However, power storage output and heat
storage output are not included in this characteristic, but are separately shown as
"Storage". Moreover, the energy demanded is shown as "Demand".
In Figure 9 and Figure 10, although the characteristic of "Demand" is flat,
there ate times when the characteristic of "System energy output" is extremely
15
large. The reason for this is that it stores energy for a short period in the system,
when the stored energy is released in large quantities. Figure 11 shows the ratio of
energy outputted by each piece of equipment. The operation plan when optimizing
the energy system of Figure 1 under different objective functions from the
analysis results described above has the characteristics described below.
Table 5. RMC of February (RMC=Maximum output/Cevice capacity)
Commercial Fuel
power
cell
Solar
Heat
module
pump Boiler
Electricity Heat
use
use
0.338 0.662 0.980 0.964
Minimization of the error of

demand-and-supply balance
0.90
0.906
Operation cost minimization
0.57
0.361
0.639 0.982 0.990
Greenhouse gas minimization
0.82
0.899
0.207
0.793 1.00
1.00
Table 6. RMC of August
Commercial Fuel
power
cell
0.87
Solar
Heat
module
pump Boiler
Electricity Heat
use
use
0.714 0.159
0.841 0.604 0.255
Operation cost minimization
0.81
0.631 0.566
0.434 0.614 0.564
Greenhouse gas minimization
0.48
0.503 0.444
0.556 0.890 0.139
(1) Operation Plan of the Minimization of Error in Demand-and-Supply

Balance
As Figure 9 (a) and Figure 10 (a) show, the stored electric power and heat is
mostly used up at 23:00. Moreover, as shown in Table 5 and Table 6, both months
are high-output months, and the operating point of a fuel cell is planned so that
partial-load operation is avoided. The operation of a fuel cell with a high value of
RMC (Maximum output / Cevice capacity) avoids low-efficiency, partial-load
operation.
16
Shin'ya Obara
Powe r
Storage
System e nergy output
20
10
20
Dema nd
10
0
0
Syste m en ergy output-De mand
- 20
11 14 17
Time [H our]
180
20
-20
23
11 14 17
Tim e [ Hour]
20
23
Hea t
Heat [MJ]
45
90
45
- 45
-45
2
11 14 17
Time [ Hour]
20 23
Power
30
20
20
Powe r [M J]
30
10
11 14 17
Tim e [Hour]
20
23
(b) Minimiza tion of opera tion cost
(a) M inim ization of the error of dem and-a nd-supply ba lance
P owe r [M J]
135
90
Power
10
0
0
-20
180
Hea t
135
Hea t [MJ]
Powe r
30
Power [MJ]
P ow er [M J]
30
11 14 17
Time [Hour]
20
-20
23
11 14 17
Tim e [ Hour]
20
23
180
He at
Hea t
180
135
90
He at [M J]
Hea t [MJ]
135
45
0
90
45
0
-45
2
11 14 17
Time [Hour]
20
23
-45
11 14 17
Tim e [Hour]
20 23
(d) M ultiple-pu rpo se operational p la nning result
Figure 9. Operational planning result of February.

Power
30
17
Powe r
30
Storage
10
De mand
Powe r [M J]
Power [M J]
20
System e nergy output
0.0
10
0
System e nergy output- Dem and
-20
11 14 17
Time [Hour]
20
-2 0
23
Heat
60
Heat [ MJ]
20
- 15
11 14 17
Time [Hour]
20 23
He at
40
20
-1 5
2
11 14 17
Time [Hour]
20
23
( a) Minimiz ation of the error of de mand- andsupply ba lance
Power [ MJ]
10
11 14 17
Time [Hour]
20
23
Powe r
30
20
0
-20
(b) M inimization of ope ration cost
Power
30
Powe r [M J]
20
10
0
11 14 17
Time [H our]
-20
20 23
Hea t
60
40
20
0
11 14 17
Time [H our]
20 23
Heat
60
Heat [ MJ]
Hea t [M J]
60
40
He at [ MJ ]
20
40
20
0
-15
-15
2
11 14 17
Time [Hour]
20
23
( c) M inim ization of the a mount of green-house

gas discharge
Figure 10. Operational planning result of August.
1 1 14 17
Tim e [Hour]
20
23
(d) M ultiple-purpose opera tiona l planning result
18
Shin'ya Obara
100
Ratio [ % ]
80
Solar module
128.7kWh
124.3kWh
16 8.5kWh
122.2kWh
60
40
20
0
13.9kWh
14.0kWh
22.5kWh
7.9kWh
5.7kWh
13.0kWh
20.6kWh
11.5 kWh
1 2.9kWh
5.4kWh
11.6kWh
(a) February repres entative day

Solar modu le
100
8 .5kWh
8.9kWh
Boiler
Ratio [ % ]
80
23.7kWh
20
1.8kWh
1 0.3kWh
5.6kWh
3.0kWh
Heat pump
4.5kWh
22.6kWh
60
40
8.1kWh
7.9k Wh
Fuel cell
7.3kWh
9.6kWh
4.7kWh
Commercial
power
9.6kWh
10.6 kWh
8.1kWh
8.7kWh
8.9kWh
0
M
M in
i
opin
i
m
erami za tio
Mu
t he i zat
t io n n o
l ti p
d
io
e
r
e
-su m a ro r n o f
l e-p u
c o st f
pp ly n d- a o f
rp o s
bal nd
es
anc e
Mi n
t im
g reeh e a miza ti o
n
n o
d ishcou s eu-nt of o f
h arg g ase
e s
(b) August representative day
Figure 11. Result of Energy output component.
(2) Operation Plan of the Minimization of Equipment Operation Cost (Fuel

Consumption)
From the results of Table 5 and Table 6, the electric power generated by the
solar module is supplied to the demand side with electric power rather than heat
compared with other objective functions. This is because the cost of this method
of producing is high compared with the amount of heat. As the results of Table 5
show, the output of commercial power lowers and there is no fuel cell operation.
In optimization with this objective function, operation that suspends operation,
converts power into heat, stores power is planned.
19
(3) Operation Plan of the Minimization of the Greenhouse Gas Emission

From the results of Table 5, operation of a heat pump and boiler is planned
with a maximum-output point on representative February days with great heat
demand. Moreover, application is planned with a value with a high supply rate by
the heat of the solar module, and high RMC of the fuel cell. On the other hand,
heat supply, rather than the boiler, is mainly concerned with the heat pump
according to the results of representative August days with little heat demanded as
shown in Table 6 and Figure 11 (b).
(4) Operation Plan of the Minimization of Multi-Objective Functions
When operating the system under a multi-objective function, the result of
Figure 8 to RMC is a value near the average value adding each objective function.
As shown in Figure 9 (d) and Figure 10 (d), the operation plan under this
objective function includes the characteristic of the operation plan of other
objective functions.
CONCLUSIONS
How the operation optimization of the combined system of PEMFC-CGS, a
solar module, a geo-thermal heat pump, heat storage and power storage
equipment, a commercial electric power, and a boiler using GA should be
analyzed was described. The capacity optimization of equipment that composes a
system was considered from the analysis results. If the capacity of each energy
device changes with the objective functions given to the system and examination
of equipment cost is added to the results in this section, it can be utilized in real
design. Moreover, the characteristics when planning the operation of a system
under each objective function were investigated. As a result, for example, the
minimization objective of operation cost, operation that suspends operation and
converts power into heat, power storage operation is planned. If the objective
function concerning minimization of greenhouse gas discharge is given to the
system, there will be many opportunities to use the electric power of a solar
module as heat; moreover, heat supply mainly concerned with the heat pump
rather than the boiler is planned. In the design and operation plan of a combined
system containing renewable energy equipment, care should be taken concerning
the composition and operating method that change greatly according to objectives
given to the system.
Chapter 2
ROUTE PLANNING OF HEAT SUPPLY PIPING

IN A FUEL CELL ENERGY NETWORK
INTRODUCTION
Small-scale fuel cells are distributed in houses, apartment houses, small-scale
stores, etc, and power and heat are supplied to them. High facility cost, efficiency
fall at the time of partial load, and mismatch of heat output to power generation
are issues of this technology. Therefore, in this section, a technology where power
and heat demand of tens of or buildings or less correspond by the centralization
system and by the distributed system of fuel cells is investigated. The fuel cell
centralization system supplies energy to each building from a fuel cell and
auxiliary machinery that have been prepared in one arbitrarily selected building.
On the other hand, the fuel cell distribution system supplies energy by placing a
fuel cell in each building. Until now, improvement in efficiency with cooperation
system control [12], peak cut of the power load using a water electrolyzer [13],
and estimation of the amount of heat radiation of the hot-water piping for exhaust
heat supply [14] are discussed regarding the fuel cell distribution system. When
supplying energy using the central system, a heat energy system (hot-water
piping) and a power system (power transmission line) are connected to each
house, composing an energy network. In the operation of the distributed system, a
fuel system (reformed gas piping) is added to these networks, and each network
follows an objective function in cooperation with other. Because the energy
network examined in this section has a short electric transmission distance, there
is little energy loss of power transmission compared with the heat transport.
However, it is more advantageous regarding energy cost to have improved power
22
Shin'ya Obara
transmission loss rather than heat transport, because energy unit prices differ. On
the other hand, in an energy network with large heat demand of buildings in a cold
region, such as houses and apartments, office buildings and hospitals, heat
transport loss has large effect on energy cost and system efficiency. Until now, the
distributed installation planning of cogeneration using a genetic algorithm has
been investigated [15]. Also in this report, the cost of heat transport and the
problem of efficiency are pointed out. It is considered that a lot of heat transport
using hot-water piping requires route planning of the piping taking heat loss into
account. Then, an exploratory program of the piping route that has the minimum
amount of heat radiation was developed concerning the hot-water piping of a fuel
cell network [14]. With this program, the optimum piping route of the central
system and distributed system can be sought. In the last report, it turned out that
the heat release of the hot-water piping route of the optimized distributed system
is greatly reduced compared with the central system. Therefore, this section
considers the route planning of hot-water piping that takes into consideration the
load fluctuation of each house connected to the fuel cell network as the next step.
Furthermore, this section also considers the influence of the route planning of hotwater piping when connecting solar module equipment to the output changes of
the fuel cell network. Moreover, a PEM (proton exchange membrane) fuel cell
network is installed into an urban area model in Sapporo, and the optimum hotwater piping route is analyzed. The optimum piping route in winter, summer and
mid-term is analyzed, and heat releases are also investigated.
FUEL CELL NETWORK AND ENERGY BALANCE

Fuel Cell Network
Figure 12 shows the equipment model of the distributed system that installs a
fuel cell in each building and supplies power and heat to each building through an
energy network. On the other hand, a fuel cell and common auxiliary machinery
are installed in a machinery room, and the method of supplying electric power and
heat through the energy network is described as the central system. In the case of
the central system, the heat energy system (hot-water piping) and power system
(power transmission line) of each building are connected. In the case of the
distributed system, in addition to these, the fuel system (reformed gas piping) of a
fuel cell is also connected. A heat transfer medium is flowed for the hot-water
network of both systems, and waste heat recovery of the fuel cells and heat supply
Route Planning of Heat Supply Piping
23
for each building are attained. Although the route setting of hot-water piping can
be arbitrarily planned in this section, the flow of the heat transfer medium is one
way. As shown in Figure 12 (b), a city gas reformer (7), a water separator
removing water from reformed gas (8), a reformed gas compressor (9), a cylinder
(10), a heat storage tank (11), and a back-up boiler (12) are installed in the
machinery room of the distributed system. The fuel cell exhaust heat of each
building is first supplied to the same building in the distributed system. When
there is excess or insufficient heat, it corresponds by operating a heat storage tank
and an auxiliary boiler through the network. On one side, the equipment installed
in the machinery room of the central system is a fuel cell other than a reformer, a
heat storage tank, and a back-up boiler. A header ((4) and (5)) is installed in each
building of the central system and the distributed system. Space heating and hot
water supply in a building are performed through a radiator and heat exchanger
(3) connected to the header.
E
l FE
Hydrogen cylinder (10) Reformer (7)
lDG
l EC
l AD
Compress or (9)
l GB
l BF
Water separator (8)
l AC
Thermal storage
tank (11)
(a) Fuel cell network model
Heat exchanger
Header (4)
Fuel cell
s tack (1)
Header (5)
Back-up
boiler (12)
(b) Auxiliary machine ins talled in u tility room
Hot water inlet

Hydrogen inlet
Oxygen inlet
Electric power inlet
Electric power outlet
Radiators
(3)
Town-gas
supply (6)
DC-AC converter (2)

Hot water outlet
(c) Fuel cell unit installed in each building
Figure 12. Distributed system of the fuel cell network.
24
Shin'ya Obara
Heat Release Model of Hot-Water Piping

Figure 13 shows the model of (a) the hot-water piping route, (b) capacity of
the fuel cell placed in each Building, (c) change of hot water temperature and (d)
piping heat release per unit length of both systems of the fuel cell network. In
these models, both systems install a machinery room in Building A, and a heat
transfer medium flows in the order of Building A, B, C, D, E, F, G and A as
shown in Figure 13 (a). As shown in Figure 13 (b), a fuel cell is installed in
Building A in the central system. In addition, a fuel cell of arbitrary capacity is
installed in Buildings A to G in the distributed system. As shown in Figure 13 (c),
in the central system, hot water is inputted into Building A with inlet temperature
T A,in,t . Because hot water has input from the fuel cell exhaust heat, heat storage
tank, and auxiliary boiler, it rises to temperature T A,out ,t and is released from
Building A. The hot water temperature of the central system drops to T A,in,t due
to the heat demand of Buildings B-G as well as the heat release of the piping.
Moreover, hot water returns to the machinery room in Building A. In the central
system, since the hot water temperature falls in the order of Buildings A to G, the
difference in the temperature of the outside air and the hot water becomes small.
Therefore, as shown in Figure 13 (d), the heat release per unit length of the piping
becomes small. Compared with this, in the distributed system, the outlet hot water
temperature of each building is decided by the balance of hot water, input quantity
of heat to each building, the amount of exhaust heat of the fuel cell installed in the
building, and the heat demand of the building. Therefore, the outlet hot water
temperature of each building fluctuates as shown in Figure 13 (c). As a result, the
heat release per unit length of piping also fluctuates as shown in Figure 13 (d).
Therefore, the sum of heat release changes with the building order that the hotwater piping passes.
Output Characteristics of the Fuel Cell

The model of the PEM fuel cell load factor, and the heat output and power
load are shown in Figure 14. However, the power output is a value of the AC-DC
converter outlet, and the heat output is a value of the fuel cell outlet. In the
analysis case described in after Section, the fuel cell capacity of the central system
and the distributed system is determined to be 1.2 times the maximum power load.
The load factor of the fuel cell at an arbitrary time is calculable from the power
generation capacity described above, and the power load. In addition, if the load
25
factor of the fuel cell is given to Figure 14, the heat output ( H f ,m,t of Equation
(13) in the following section) of the fuel cell is calculable.
Buildings
A
(a) Route of hot water supply

B
Capacity of each
fuel cell unit [W]
l AB
l BC
D
l CD
E
l DE
F
l EF
G
l FG
l GA
(b) Capacity of each fuel cell unit
Central sys tem

Distributed s ystem
(c) Hot water temperature
Heat loss per unit Hot water

l ength [W/m] t emperature
[K]
T A ,out,t
Central system
TB ,out, t
TB ,in ,t
Distributed s ystem
T A,i n ,t
(d) Heat loss of each hot water piping
Central system
Distributed s ystem
A
C
D
E
Location of buildings
Heat energy output

/ Power load [-]
Figure 13. Arrangement plan of fuel cell units.
12
8
y = 13.93x 0 .536
Figure 14. Cell performance.
20
40
60
Load factor [%]
80
100
26
Shin'ya Obara
Energy Balance Equation

The number of buildings connected to a network was set at N , and a total of
M f fuel cells generated electricity in sampling time t ( N M f and M f =1 in
the central system). At this time, the power balance is expressed with Equation
(12) and the heat balance is expressed with Equation (13).
Mf
m =1
n =1
v =1
E f ,m,t = Eneed ,n,t + Esub,v,t
(12)
Mf
m=1
n=1
n=1
H f ,m,t + H st,t + Hbo,t = H need,n,t + H hw,nn,t

Area3
AP4
F18
S10
D12 F17 F16
Area2
S7
F6 AP2
S6 F5
Area1
DH3
SO1
AP1
(13)
D1
S1
S2
D2
S3
F1
F2
DH5 D7
DH7 S9 AP3
F3
F7 D5
DH2
F15 F14 D11 F13
F8 S4
D3 DH1
F10 F9 S5
F4
F11 D10
DH6 D9 D8 D6 DH4 D4
F12 S8
CS1
F21 D14 F25
F19 F20 AP5
S12
F2
2
SO3
D13 S11
D15 DH10 D16
DH8 AP6
Area5
F23 F24 CS2
SO2 DH9
Area4
50m
S : Single-person household
D : Family household (2 persons)
F : Family household (3~ 4 persons)
DH : Two household house (5 or more persons)
SO : Small office
CS : Convenience store
AP : Apartment house
?AP(1) : AP2, AP4

6 houses (single person? 1, two persons? 2, three
persons?2, four persons?1)
?AP(2) : AP3, AP6
8 houses (single persons?3, two persons? 2, three
persons?2, four persons?1)
?AP(3) : AP1, AP5
10 houses (single persons?10)
Figure 15. Urban area model.
The left-hand side of Equation (12) expresses the power in the AC-DC
converter outlet of a total of M f fuel cells in the generating mode. Moreover, the
27
2nd term of the right-hand side expresses the power consumption of V number of
auxiliary machines V (reformed gas compressor, hot-water circulating pump,
etc.). The 1st term of the left-hand side of Equation (13) expresses the exhaust
heat of fuel cells, and the 2nd term and the 3rd term express the heat output of the
heat storage tank and back-up boiler, respectively. Moreover, the 2nd term of the
right-hand side expresses the heat release of the hot-water piping surface that
connects each building. H hw, nn,t expresses the heat release from hot-water
piping that connects Building n to Building n , and is calculated from Equation
(14). This section assumes the installation of hot-water piping on the ground.
However, underground piping etc. is analyzable by the same calculation. In the
analysis case in after Section, in order to make the hot-water flow rate in the
piping 1 m/s or less, the piping inside diameter was 60 mm. Around the hot-water
piping is equipped with a 40-mm-thick polystyrene-foam heat insulating mold.
Moreover, the overall heat transfer coefficient ( h in Equation (14)) between the
hot water in the piping and outside air is calculated as 8.0 W/m2 K.
H hw,nn ',t = h D p lnn ' (Tn,out ,t Tatm,t )
(14)
Urban Area Model and Energy Demand Pattern

Figure 15 shows an urban area model in Sapporo assuming application of the
fuel cell network. The number of the buildings of this urban area model is 74.
This is separated into 16 buildings in Area 1, 23 buildings in Area 2, 13 buildings
in Area 3, 12 buildings in Area 4, and 10 buildings in Area 5. The energy network
is constructed for each Area. The usages of a building are a single-person
household (S: the symbols correspond to Figure 15), a two-person household (D),
a three- to four-person household (F), two households living together comprising
five or more persons (DH), a small office (SO), a 24-hour convenience store (CS)
and an apartment house (AP). The apartment house is a scheme of six households
(AP2 and AP4 in Figure 15), eight households (AP3 and AP6), and ten
households (AP1 and AP5). The power and heat demand pattern of each building
in winter, summer, and mid-term are shown in Figure 16 [16-18]. Note that the
number of household members differs in the apartment house in Figures 16 (e) to
(g). Figure 17 shows the total amount of power and heat demand on each
representative day in Area 1 to Area 5.
0.4
0.0
9
13
17
Tim e [Hou r]
0.8
16
8
1.2
0.8
9
1 3 17
Time [Hou r]
21
20
10
0
8 .0
6 .0
4 .0
9
1 3 17
21
Time [H our]
(c) Fam ily h ous eho ld ( 3~ 4pers ons )
6 ho uses (sin gle p erso n? 1, two
pers ons? 2, three pers ons ?2, fo ur
pers ons? 1)
2 .0
0 .0
9
13 1 7
Tim e [Ho ur]
21
8
6
9 1 3 17 2 1
Time [Hou r]
(e) Ap artm ent (AP-1 )
10 h ous es
(sing le p ers ons ?1 0)
4
2
0
9
13 1 7
Time [H our]
21
80
40
0
30
5
9
13
17
21
Time [H our]
(g) Ap artment (AP-3)
20
10
0
9
13
17
Tim e [Ho ur]
21
16
8
0
1
5
9
13
17
21
Time [Ho ur]
(b ) Family hou sehold ( 2 pers ons )
1.2
0.8
0.4
0.0
9
1 3 17
Time [H our]
21
20
10
0
1
5
9 13
17 21
Time [H our]
(d) Fam ily h ous eho ld ( 5 or more p ers ons )
8 h ous es (sin gle pers ons ? 3,

16 tw o pers ons ?2, three pers ons ? 2,
four p erso ns? 1)
8
0
21
9 13
17
Time [Ho ur]
9
13
17
21
Time [Hour]
(f) A partmen t (A P-2 )
8
6
4
2
0
9
13
17
Tim e [Hou r]
9 13
17
Tim e [Hour]
(h ) Office
21
9
13
17
Time [Hou r]
21
1 00
40
0
2 00
80
9
13 1 7
Ti me [Ho ur]
Figure 16. Energy demand patterns.
21
Consumpti on of
electric power [kW]
0.4
0.0
Cosumpt ion of
Consumption of
heat energy [kW] el ectric power [kW]
9
13
17
21
Time [H our]
(a) Family hous eh old ( Sin gle pers on )
Consumption of
electric power [kW]
Cosumption of
heat energy [kW]
Cosumption of
heat energy [kW]
0.4
0.0
21
Cosumpti on of
heat energy [kW]
Cosumption of
Consumption of
heat energy [kW] electric power [kW]
Consum ption of
elect ric power [kW]
Cosumption of
heat energy [kW]
Consumption of
el ectric power [kW]
Cosumpt ion of
heat energy [kW]
Consumption of
el ectric power [kW]
M arks
February
M ay
Au gus t
0.8
Cosumption of
Consumption of
Shin'ya Obara
Cosumpt ion of
Consumption of
28
21
80
60
40
20
0
8
4
0
(i) Convenience s tore
Energy needs ?103 [M J/Day]
29
Area 1
Area 2
Area 3
Area 4
Area 5
15.0
10.0
5.0
0.0
E need ,d ay
H need , day
February
E need , day
H need , da y
May
En eed ,d ay
H need , day
August
Figure 17. Energy needs for each area.
ROUTE PLANNING METHOD OF PIPING

Route Planning Method of Piping Using the TSP (Traveling
Salesman Problem [19])
The chromosome model indicating the piping route is installed into the
general genetic algorithm, and gene manipulation, such as crossover and
mutation, is added. In this case, many routes that pass the same building two or
more times, and route solutions that do not pass some buildings are obtained.
Since such routes cannot be managed, all of these chromosome models will be
canceled and their analysis efficiency is very low. So, in this section, the view of
route order expression by Dewdney is installed [20]. According to this view,
although each gene model expresses the building number of each building, this
number is not an actual number but the listed number of a building. If this listed
number method is installed, since the chromosome model that should be canceled
will not appear, analysis efficiency will improve.
The optimal solution to the route searching problem of hot-water piping is a
route with minimum heat release of the piping. Therefore, the fitness value of the
genetic algorithm is evaluated highly, so that the value of the objective function
shown in Equation (15) is small.
FO =
Period N
H hw,nn,t
t =1
n =1
(15)
30
Shin'ya Obara
Analysis Flow of the Search Program of the Piping Route

The analysis procedure of the route planning is described below. Each item of
data of the coordinate and the usage of each building in the urban area model
shown in Figure 15, the energy need pattern shown in Figure 16, and the outside
air temperature of a representative day of every month shown in Figure 18 is
given to the analysis program. Next, two or more random chromosome models
indicating the route order described in this Section are prepared. For each of these
chromosome models, the fitness shown in Equation (15) is evaluated, and models
of high fitness are proliferated, and low models are screened. Furthermore,
crossover and mutation are added to the remaining chromosome models, and such
fitnesses are evaluated. These calculations are repeated only the number of times
(equal to a generation number) decided beforehand. Moreover, the model with
fitness maximum is chosen among the last generation's chromosome model
groups. The optimal solution is the piping route expressed by this chromosome
model. Heat release H hw, nn,t of the connection piping in Equation (15) is
calculated using the following procedure. Power demand E need , n,t at a certain
sampling time is obtained from the power demand pattern of each building.
Before Section Output characteristics of the fuel cell describes the capacity and
output characteristics of the fuel cell placed in each building. Heat output E need ,n,t
when operating the fuel cell according to the power demand pattern can be
obtained from Equation (12). Fuel cell exhaust heat H f , m,t is calculated for every
building in the distributed system. The fuel cell exhaust heat of the fuel cell
installed in the machinery room in the central system is calculated. Both systems
set the hot water temperature of the machinery room outlet to 353 K, and calculate
piping heat release H hw, nn,t from Equation (14) using the piping specification
described in before Section Energy balance equation. Moreover, a back-up
boiler is operated so that the hot water temperature of the heat storage tank outlet
may become 353 K. The temperature of the hot water that returns to the heat
storage tank through the hot-water network shall be about 333 K, and the amount
of hot-water circulating flow is decided. Heat input-and-output H st ,t of the heat
storage tank is calculated by giving H f , m,t , H hw, nn,t , and heat demand H need , n,t
of each building to Equation (13). When the amount of heat storage run short, the
heat of H bo,t is outputted from the boiler.
Figure 19 shows the heat balance model of the hot-water piping network.
Connecting Buildings A to G with piping in order, hot water returns to Building
31
A. The machinery room is set in Building A and the heat storage tank and the
back-up boiler are installed, and each heat output is H st ,t and H bo,t . Buildings A
to G have heat demands H need , A,t to H need ,G ,t , respectively. The distributed
system has exhaust heat power output H f , A,t to H f ,G ,t with a fuel cell installed in
each building. In the case of the central system, there is exhaust heat power
H f , A,t from the fuel cell installed in Building A. In order to estimate heat release
H hw, nn,t ( n = A, B, C,....., G ) from the piping that connects each building, it is
necessary to give the outside air temperature Tatm,t to Equation (14). So, in the
analysis case of next Section, the meteorological data of Sapporo in summer
(August), winter (February), and mid-term (May) shown in Figure 18 are used
[21].
Temperature [K]
313
August
303
May
293
283
February
273
263
10
15
Time [O clock]
20
Figure 18. Outside temperature model in Sapporo.
Building A
H bo , t
H st , t
H in , A , t
H in , B , t
FA
H out , A ,t
B
FB
H nee d , A ,t
H nee d , B ,t
H f , A, t
H f , B ,t
H hw , AB , t
C
FC
H out , B ,t
H need , C ,t
H f ,C ,t
H hw , BC , t
Figure 19. Heat energy network model.
A
H in , A , t
FG
H need , G , t
H f ,G ,t
H hw ,GA ,t
32
Shin'ya Obara
CASE STUDY
Program Check by Shortest Route Search
The analytic accuracy of the route planning program of piping developed in
this section is checked. Therefore, the shortest route for the urban area model in
Figure 15 is sought. This analysis result is shown in Figure 20. In the result in
Figure 20, the hot-water piping of all the areas is a closed route. It was checked
using the analysis method of TSP by Dewdney that these route results were the
shortest in length [20]. Moreover, the variable installed in the genetic algorithm
was changed variously, and numerical simulation was repeated. The chromosome
model with a population of 2500, a crossover probability of 0.9, a mutation
probability of 0.001, and a generation number of 200 had the best analysis
efficiency of computation time and accuracy.
Area 2
Area 1 1
47 23
17
11
51
10
24
2
48
50
25
3
49
18
52
12
43 40
4
9
19
26
45
20
41
8
42
14
44
5
27 28
13
46
100
21
31
29
33
36
6
38
22 16 15 7
30
35
32
34
39 37
68
71
55 59 62 67
53
72
74
50
69
73
63
54
56
66
60
A rea 5
57
64
70
58
61
65
Area4
0
0
50
100
150
Distance [m]
Area 3
Distance [m]
150
Figure 20. Results of minimum length route analysis.
200
33
Power Generation Capacity of a Fuel Cell

In the central system, a machinery room is set in Building 1 in Area 1 as
shown in Figure 20, Building 17 in Area 2, Building 40 in Area 3, Building 53 in
Area 4, and Building 65 in Area 5, and a fuel cell is installed in each building. The
power generation capacity of the fuel cells is set at 26 kW, 26 kW, 36 kW, 42 kW,
and 78 kW, respectively, according to the method described in before Section
Output characteristics of the fuel cell. Moreover, the fuel cell capacity of the
distributed system was also decided to be values of Table 7 according to same
Section.
Table 7. Fuel cell capacity of buildings
M ark
M aximum
Fuel cell
electricity
capacity
(kW)
needs (kW)
S
D
F
DH
SO
CS
AP(1)
AP(2)
AP(3)
0.4
0.8
0.9
1.0
6.0
26.0
4.0
14.0
4.0
0.5
1.0
1.1
1.2
7.5
32
5.0
20.0
5.0
Result of Route Planning

(1) Difference Between a Distributed System and a Central System
Figures 21 and 22 show the route planning results of a representative day in
winter, summer, and mid-term of the distributed system and the central system,
respectively. The piping routes of each Area in Figures 21 and 22 differ from the
shortest routes shown in Figure 20. This is because the heat release changes with
the piping route as before Section Heat release model of hot-water piping and
Figure 13 explain. In particular, the analysis result of Area 5 in Figures 21 (a) to
(c) greatly differs from the shortest route shown in Figure 20. In this area, power
Shin'ya Obara
Distance [m]
34
1
23 17
47
11 10
150 51
48
24
50 49 25 18
2
52
26 19 12 934
43
40
13
45
8 5
44 42 41 27 20 14
100 46 36 33 3128 2921
15
7 6
38 35 3230 22 16
39 37 34 67 68 71
53 55 59 62
72 74
50
63 66 69 73
54 5756 60
70
58 61 64 65
0
0
50
100
150
200
Distance [m]
(a) February
23
47 2417 11 10 1
51
48
2
52 50 4925 18 12
3
26
19
45 43 40 27 20 14 13 9 4
8 5
44 42 41
21
100 46 36 33 3128
15 7 6
29
38
35 32 30 22 16
39 3734
68 71
53 5559 62 67
72 74
50
54 56 6366 69 73
57 60 61
70
58
6465
0
0
50
100
150
200
Distance [m]
(b) May
Distance [m]
150
23
1
17 11 10
51 47
2
50 4824 18
52 4925
3
12
26
19
4
45 43 40 27 20 13 9 5
14
44 41
8
42 3128 21
100 46
15 7 6
38 3633 32
29
22
34 30
16
39 37 35
68
71
67
53 55 62
72 74
50 54 56 59 63 66 69
60
73
57
6465 70
58
61
0
0
50
100
150
200
Distance [m]
(c) August
Distance [m]
150
Figure 21. Results of hot-water pipe route analysis of distributed system.
Distance [m]
Distance [m]
Distance [m]
47 2423 17 11 10 1
150 51
2
25
52 50 48
49 26 18
3
12
19
45 43 40 27 20 13 9 4
14
42 41
8 5
100 46 44 33 31 28 21
3635
15 7 6
32 29
38
22
16
30
34
39 3755
71
53 59 62 67
72 74
50 54 56 6366 68
69
73
60
57
70
58 61 6465
0
0
50
100
150
200
Distance [m]
(a) F ebruary
47 2423 17 11 10 1
150 51
48
2
52 50 49 25 18 12
3
26
19
9 4
45 43 40
14 13 8 5
41 27 20
21
100 46 443642 31 28
6
29
15 7
35 3332 30 22
38
16
39 37 34
68 71
53 5559 6267
72 74
50
54 5660 63 66 69
73
57
64
61
58
65 70
0
0
50
100
150
Dis tance [m]
(b) May
200
23 17
47
11 10 1
150 51
24
2
52 50 4825 18
3
494026 19 12
9
4
45 43 41 27 2014 13
5
21
8
28
100 46 44 4233 31
36
29
38
35 32 30 22 15 7 6
16
39 37 34
67 68 71
55
59
53
62
72 74
50
54 56 6366 69 73
57 60
58 61 64 65 70
0
0
50
100
150
200
Dis tance [m]
(c) A ugust
Figure 22. Results of hot-water pipe route analysis of central system.
35
36
Shin'ya Obara
1.2
Area 4
Area 5
Area 1
Area 2
Area 3
0.8
0.4
Distribute system
Figure 23. Heat loss of piping.
st
Au
gu
Ma
y
Feb
rua
ry
st
Au
gu
Ma
y
0.0
Feb
r ua
ry
Quantity of heat loss / Heat needs

[-]
consumption is large compared with the surrounding buildings. However, two

convenience stores (Buildings 70 and 71) with little heat consumption are
included. The exhaust heat of the fuel cells installed in these two buildings
becomes surplus in the distributed system. Correspondence of this analysis
program when there is large heat surplus is not taken into consideration because
the analytic accuracy of the route planning falls. Compared with this, in the
analysis result of the piping route of the central system shown in Figure 22, large
heat surplus is not generated on the route. Therefore, compared with the result of
Area 5 in the distributed system, the result of the central system is close to the
shortest route.
Figure 23 shows the ratio of the heat release of the hot-water piping to the
heat demand of the central system and the distributed system. When the
distributed system and the central system are compared regarding the piping heat
release of each area, the heat release of the distributed system is about 25% of the
central system (Area 4 on a representative day in August) at maximum. Moreover,
when the heat release of all the areas in each season is added, the distributed
system is about 75% of the central system. Therefore, if optimization analysis is
installed into the route planning problem of the hot-water piping network, it is
possible to greatly reduce heat release. The heat release in the case of the shortest
piping length shown in Figure 20 for reference was calculated. As a result, the
heat demand amount was almost the same as heat release in both systems.
Central system
1
2
3
12 13 9 4
5
14
8
6
16 15 7 Area 1
47
51
50 48
52 43 49
40
45
46 44 42 41 Area 3
11 10
37
23
24 17
25
18
26 27 19
20
28
36 33 31 29 21
38 35
22
39 37 34 32 30
Area 2
53 55 59 62
68 7172
63
67
74
54 56
69 73
57 60
66
65
70
58
61 64
Area 4
Area 5
Figure 24. Results of hot-water pipe route analysis of distributed system with load
fluctuation of 15% in February.
9.0 Load fluctuation 0%

8.0
6.0
15%
30%
Area 1
Area 2
Area 3
Area 4
4.0
Fe
b ru
ary
0.0
Ma
y
Au
gus
t
Fe
bru
ary
Ma
y
Au
gus
t
Fe
bru
ary
Ma
y
Au
gus
t
2.0
Figure 25. Heat loss with load fluctuations.
(2) Route Planning of Hot-Water Piping with Load Fluctuation

The result of the route analysis in the distributed system when adding less
than 15% random load fluctuation to the power and heat demand pattern on a
winter representative day is shown in Figure 24. However, the route patterns
shown here do not comprise all of the results. If the analysis that added load
fluctuation is repeated, several different route patterns will appear in any area.
Moreover, Figure 25 shows the result of the hot-water piping heat release of these
analyses. When 30% or less load fluctuation is added, the heat release is changed
from -19% to 3% in the range to an analysis result without load fluctuation, and
this is averaged at -6%. In this way, if load fluctuation occurs, heat release will
38
Shin'ya Obara
drop. Furthermore, when fluctuation is added to a small power load, a no-load

condition will occur.
Piping Route Plan with a Solar Module

The influence of a hot-water piping route plan when connecting solar module
equipment to the power network of the distributed system is investigated. The
solar module equipment is 24 m2 in the power generation module area, and the
power output of the AC-DC converter outlet is a maximum of 3.0 kW. Figure 26
shows the power generation characteristic model in Sapporo for solar module
equipment [17]. The random output change within 25% and 50% is added to
Figure 26, and these data are used for analysis. The power obtained by the solar
module is supplied to each building through the power network. Since each fuel
cell connected to the network differs at each load factor, the generation efficiency
of each fuel cell is different. Consequently, the fuel cell is stopped when
generation efficiency is low instead of using solar power.
Fe bruary
May
Augast
Electric powe r output per hour

? 103 [MJ]
3.0
2.0
1.0
0.0
0
12
15
18
21
24
Time [O clock]
Figure 26. solar mocdule output.
Figure 27 shows the analysis results when adding less than 30% random
load fluctuation to the power and heat demand on a representative day in winter,
and adding less than 25% random solar power. As before Section describes, if
39
analysis is repeated, two or more route results will appear in all the areas. Since
some fuel cells stop if solar module equipment is connected to the network,
compared with Figure 24, the piping routes may differ greatly.
11
10
23
17
24
25
18
19
26
20
27
28 21
31
38 36 3533
29 22
39 37 34 32 30
2
3
12
9
4
13
14
5
8
16
7 6
15
Area 1
47
51
50 48
52
43 40
45
46 44 42 41
Area 2
53 5559 62
54
63
56 60
57
58
Area 3
67 68
66
65
61 64
Area 4
71
72 74
69 73
70
Area 5
Figure 27. Result of hot-water pipe rout analysis of distributed system with load
fluctuation of +/- 30% and solar power output fluctuation of +/- 25% in February.
Figure 28 shows the result of the heat release of hot-water piping when the
fluctuation rate of the power and heat load is less than 30%, and the output
change rates of the solar module are less than 25% and less than 50%.
Compared with solar power with 25% output change, the result of the heat
release with 50% output change is -16% to 5%. The average reduction value of
heat release is 2%. Moreover, if solar module equipment is connected to the
network, compared with when it is not connected, heat release fluctuation of -7%
to 1% will occur. The average heat release is reduced by 2%. If power is supplied
to the network from solar module equipment, some of the fuel cells connected to
the network will stop. As a result, the fuel cell exhaust heat outputted to the hotwater network decreases, and heat release decreases. In this case, the capacity of
solar module equipment is small and heat release reduction of the hot-water
piping is about 2%. However, if the capacity of the solar module connected to the
network is extended, the heat release of the hot-water piping will become smaller.
Shin'ya Obara
Solar output flactuation
25%
8.0
50%
Area 1
Area 2
Area 3
Area 4
6.0
4.0
2.0
st
Au
gu
Ma
y
ry
Fe b
rua
gu
st
Au
Ma
y
rua
r
0.0
Fe b
Quantity of heat loss 103

[MJ/Day]
40
Figure 28. Heat loss with load fluctuation 30% and solar device outputs.
CONCLUSION
A route planning program that optimizes the hot-water piping route of a fuel
cell energy network was developed. The view of TSP is installed into the analysis
program, and the fuel cell central system and fuel cell distributed system can be
examined. An urban area model of 74 buildings in Sapporo was analyzed, and the
piping route and the hot-water piping heat release were investigated. Furthermore,
the piping route and heat release of the fuel cell network that connected the
buildings with load fluctuation and solar module equipment with output
fluctuation were examined. As a result, the piping heat release in one year from
the distributed system is about 75% compared to the central system. The piping
heat release with power load fluctuation of 30% shows an average of a 6%
reduction compared with no load fluctuation. This is because a fuel cell idle state
of load zero will occur if the load is varied when the power demand is small.
Moreover, compared with when solar module equipment is not connected, there is
an average 2% reduction of heat release at the time of 50% output change of the
solar module equipment. This is because some of the distributed fuel cells are
stopped due to the power supply to the solar module network. Although hot-water
piping with an inside diameter of 60 mm was assumed in this section, a reduced
size is actually taken.
Chapter 3
LOAD LEVELING OF FUEL CELL SYSTEM BY

OXYGEN CONCENTRATION CONTROL OF
CATHODE GAS
INTRODUCTION
Wide usage of proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEFC) in houses, as
well as in small to middle-scale buildings requires a fuel cell stack, a reformer, a
heat storage tank, and cost reduction of cost of a back-up heat source. In
particular, the fuel cell stack is expensive, and is therefore used together with
commercial power and requires a device for reducing the power generation
capacity. Furthermore, if a fuel cell system is installed with a large load
fluctuation with a town gas reformer in a house and performs load-following
operation, partial load operation will occur frequently [22-24]. The dynamic
characteristics of a fuel cell stack and a reformer differ greatly, and the load
following rate of the reformer is very slow compared to the load following rate of
the fuel cell stack [25-25]. If small partial loads occur frequently in short time
intervals, a drop in efficiency will be expected for the reformer with a slow speed
of response. The time shift of the electric-power supply and demand using a
battery as a possible method to solve the reduction in fuel cell capacity and the
dynamic characteristics of the reformer can be considered. However, when the
cost of a battery, its charge-and-discharge efficiency, and its life are taken into
consideration, the introduction of the battery system to a house with long
operation time has many considerations. Improvement in the electric-powergeneration capacity reduction of a fuel cell and partial load operation of a
42
Shin'ya Obara
reformer has been attempted by electric power generation in time shifts using
hydrogen and oxygen produced by water electrolysis using surplus electric power.
Although reformed gas and air are supplied and power generation from the
fuel cell is performed in time zones with little electric power demand, the power
also has to be supplied to a water electrolyzer. The hydrogen and oxygen
produced by water electrolysis and they are stored under compression in
cylinders. On the other hand, electric power demand supplies and generates the
gases in the gas cylinders to the fuel cell during a time zone with larger demand.
The electric-power-generation characteristics of PEFC improve by supplying a
higher concentration of oxygen to the cathode [29-32]. Therefore, hydrogen and
oxygen are produced during time zones of smaller electric power demand, and the
power load peak is leveled by using these gases for time zones of greater electric
power demand. Although the capacity of the fuel cell stack has been decided until
now using the output characteristics of the fuel cell at the time of electricity
generation with reformed gas and air, in the operational method that will be
proposed in this report, the capacity of the fuel cell stack can be decided from the
output characteristics at the time of electricity generation with hydrogen and
oxygen. In this case, since the electric-power-generation characteristics of the fuel
cell improve by supplying gas and pure oxygen with a high oxygen concentration
to the cathode compared with the case where just air is supplied, the cell stack
capacity can be reduced. The proton exchange membrane water electrolysis
system (SPE) for water electrolysis has an efficiency of 84% at 393K and
0.4MPa, and has already been established as a basic standard technology.
Moreover, the SPE system cost may also reduce substantially in the future [9, 33].
In the present study, the capacity of the fuel cell facility, the town gas
consumption and the operational time of auxiliary machines is investigated by
assuming the introduction of a fuel cell system with a water electrolyzer into an
energy-demand model of a house, a hospital, a factory, a hotel, and a small store
for 24-hour operation. These models are used as analysis examples.
SYSTEM DESCRIPTION
System Structure
Figure 29 shows the structural drawing of a fuel cell system assuming water
electrolysis. Town gas fuel of a fuel cell system is supplied to the heat source
burner (BN) and reforming gas system (RM) of a reformer. Town gas is reformed
Load Leveling of Fuel Cell System
43
by a reformer, and a dryer (DY) recovers the surplus water of reforming gas after
that. After removing the carbon monoxide in reforming gas with a carbon
monoxide oxidization device (MC), the anode of the fuel cell (FC) is supplied. If
power is supplied to a water electrolyzer (EL) when the power load of the system
is small, hydrogen and oxygen are generated. The hydrogen generated by water
electrolysis other than reforming gas can be supplied to the anode of the fuel cell.
The air of a blower (B3) or pure oxygen generated with EL can be supplied to the
cathode of a fuel cell. Power is supplied from the system to the demand-side using
a fuel cell system E IT ,t or a commercial power system Ecm,t using an
interconnection device. Part of the electric power generated using the fuel cell is
supplied to a water electrolyzer, and the electric power EEL ,t is consumed for
the production of hydrogen and oxygen. The hydrogen and oxygen thus produced
are compressed into gas cylinders CDH and CDO , and are stored. The power
consumption of the compressors are EPH ,t and E PO ,t , respectively. The stored
gases can be supplied to the fuel cell and electric power generation, which shifted
the time period, can be carried out. The exhaust heat of a fuel cell is stored in a
heat storage tank (ST) by the heat transfer medium conveyed with a pump (PP).
When there is exhaust heat input exceeding the capacity of the heat storage tank, a
part for surplus is released from a radiator (RA). In addition, heat is supplied to
the demand side by feeding tap water to the heat exchanger installed within the
ST.
Commercial power
Town gas
Q BE, t
Air
Town gas
Q BN ,t
Town gas
Q RM ,t VA1
B3
B1 E B1 ,t
B2
E B2, t
BN
RM
RM ,t
CDH E PH ,t
PH
PH
CDO
PO PO
EP O,t
VA4
E B3,t
DY
MC ,t
MC
FC
VA2
F C,t
E FC ,t
H FC ,t
Ecm, t
E EL,t
BE
EL
DC
EL
DC
WP
Interconnection
device
E s,t
Electric
power
load
AC electric
power output
IT
IT
EIT ,t
RT PP E PP ,t
Drain
VA 3
Tap water
H RM ,t
ST
RA
H ST ,t
Exhaust
VA 5
Figure 29. Structure of fuel cell cogeneration with electrolyzer.
Heat exhaust
H RA,t
H S ,t
Heat
power
load
Heat power
output
44
Shin'ya Obara
O2 from cylinder (CDO)
Air from blower (B3)
Mixing
chamber
Reforming gas from

CO oxidation (MC)
Mixing
chamber
FC
E F C ,t
H 2 from cylinder (CDH)

(a) System A
O2 from cylinder (CDO)
VA4
Air from blower (B3)
Reforming gas from VA2
CO oxidation (MC)
FC
E FC ,t
H 2 from cylinder (CDH)

(b) System B
Figure 30. Structure of fuel cell cogeneration with battery.
Figure 30 shows the two methods of supplying hydrogen and oxygen to a fuel
cell stack. In Figure 30 (a), hydrogen and reformed gas from a gas cylinder are
mixed in one chamber, oxygen from a gas cylinder and air from the blower B3
are mixed in another chamber, and the system supplying these gases to the fuel
cell stack is described as System A. Since the cathode gas in System A uses
mixed air and oxygen, the oxygen concentration supplied to the fuel cell varies.
On the other hand, in Figure 30 (b), valves VA 2 and VA 4 are operated, and the
anode gas and cathode gas which are supplied to the fuel cell stack are changed.
This system is termed as system B. Since the air flow path of the blower B3 and
the flow path of the gas cylinder oxygen are changed, and cathode gas is supplied
to the fuel cell, air or pure oxygen will be supplied. In System A of Figure 30 (a),
the hydrogen supplied to FC is a mixed gas of MC and CDH. Moreover, the
oxygen supplied to FC is a mixed gas of B3 and CDO. In this case, since the air of
B3 and the oxygen of CDO are mixed and FC is supplied, the oxygen
concentration changes. On the other hand, VA2 and VA4 of System B of Figure 30
(b) are switching valves. Therefore, VA2 supplies the gas of MC or CDH to FC.
Moreover, VA4 supplies the gas of B3 or CDO to FC. The electrochemical
45
reaction of the cathode in the case of supplying the gas of CDO to FC uses pure
oxygen, and the electrochemical reaction of the cathode in the case of supplying
the gas of B3 to FC uses air. Although the oxygen concentration in the cathode gas
of System A is controllable, the oxygen supplied to cathode from CDO is pure gas
in the case of System B. However, even if it mixes the air of B3 and pure oxygen
of CDO of System A, since the volume of gas other than oxygen is large, the
oxygen concentration cannot be increases. Since the power-generation
characteristics of the fuel cell especially using pure oxygen improves compared
with the fuel cell using air, it is the target to reduce the fuel cell capacity greatly
by supplying at a peak period. System A and System B attempt a reduction in
power-generation capacity by increasing the oxygen concentration in the gas
supplied to the cathode, shifting time and supplying this gas to a fuel cell.
However, System A and System B are independent structures, and combined
operation is not considered. Although the operating methods of the cathode gas of
each system differ by power load, the details are described later.
Town gas is supplied to the burner BN with quantity of flow Q BN ,t , and the
heat source of the reformer RM is acquired. Electricity consumption is EB1 ,t
though air is supplied to a burner by the blower B1 . Moreover, air is supplied to
the dryer DY, which is used for removing water from the reformed gas, by the
blower B2 , and electricity consumption is EB2 ,t . The blower, which supplies air
to the fuel cell stack, is B 3 and the electricity consumption is E B3 ,t . For heat
recovery from the fuel cell stack, electric power E PP,t is consumed using the
heat-transfer-medium circulated by pump PP. Although hydrogen and oxygen
produced by water electrolysis are stored in each gas cylinder with operation of
compressors PH and PO. The electric power consumed by the compressors are
EPH ,t and E PO,t respectively. The electricity consumption EB1 ,t , EB2 ,t , and
EB3 ,t of the blowers B1 , B 2 , and B 3 , and the electricity consumption E PP ,t

of the pump PP are obtained from the electric power supplied from a commercial
power system. The electricity consumption EPH ,t and E PO ,t of the
compressors PH and PO are supplied by the electric power generated by the fuel
cell. The system shown in Figure 29 is electric power generation system, and the
thermal output system is not taken into consideration.
46
Shin'ya Obara
Fuel Cell Performance

Figure 31 shows the cell performance curve for an operating temperature of
333 K, with the gas pressure at the anode and cathode being 0.1MPa [29, 30].
Although the cell efficiency changes with oxygen concentration of the cathode
gas, there is no difference in the cell efficiency whether reformed gas or hydrogen
is supplied to the anode.
1.0
Potential [V]
0.8
0.6
0.4
Oxygen concentration
of cathode gas
0.2
Air
80 %
40%
100%
60%
0
0
100
200 300
400
500
600
700
Current density [mA/cm ]
Fue l cell e fficiency

[%]
Figure 31. Cell performance generated with oxygen. Operating temperature 333K, and
reactant flow stoichiometries 2 both hydrogen and oxygen.
80
60
69%
48%
53%
74%
60%
40
20
0
Air
40%
60%
80%
100%
Oxygen volume concentration in cathode gas .
Figure 32. Efficiency of the fuel cell electric power output. Operating temperature 333K,
and pressure 0.1 MPa.
Figure 32 shows the model of the generation efficiency FC of the fuel cell
stack [29, 30]. When pure oxygen is supplied to the cathode, the efficiency is 1.54
47
times that of the case when air is supplied. When the electrode surface of an anode
and cathode is 1 m2, Figure 33 shows the model of the oxygen concentration
supplied to the cathode, the town gas consumption, and the power output in an
inverter outlet [23, 24, 29, 30]. However, these characteristics are the models
when setting the reformer efficiency RM to be constant at 73%. Details of RM
are given below.
[kW]
Electric power output
100%
80% 60%
40%
Air
0
0.0
Oxygen volume concentration

in cathode gas .
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.4
-3
, t [m3/s]
QCON
Quantity of flow 10
0.5
Figure 33. The power output of inverter by difference in the oxygen volume concentration
in cathode gas. The area of the electrode of anode and cathode of the fuel cell stack is 1
m2, respectively. Reformer efficiency is 0.73.
System Operation
The operational model of the fuel cell system with water electrolysis is shown
in Figure 34. In the fuel cell system, reformed gas and air are supplied and the
threshold value E set of the electric power shown in the figure is generated.
However, during the time period when the power load Ed ,t is less than E set , the
electric power of ( E set - Ed ,t ) is supplied to the water electrolyzer. The hydrogen
and the oxygen, which are produced in this time period, are compressed and
stored in the gas cylinders. As shown in Figures 32 and 33, the output
characteristics of the cell stack improve by supplying gas with a high oxygen
concentration to the cathode rather than supplying air. Then, the threshold value
E set of the electric power is compared with the power load Ed ,t , and the
hydrogen and oxygen stored in the gas cylinders using Ed ,t in the large time
48
Shin'ya Obara
period are supplied to the cell stack. The hydrogen and the oxygen stored in the
gas cylinders are supplied to the fuel cell by either of the two systems shown in
Figure 30. With the operating method described in the Figure 34, the power
generation characteristics under a high load serves as a high output compared with
the power generation method with conventional reformed gas and air, and can
perform peak-cut of the electric power load. The installed capacity of the
conventional fuel cell stack was decided by the electrode surface product which
can output the maximum value of electric power demand at the time of generating
electricity with reformed gas and air. In this study, at the time of low load,
hydrogen and oxygen are produced by water electrolysis using surplus electric
power, and a reduction in capacity of the cell stack is attempted by generating
electricity with this hydrogen and oxygen at the time of high load including at the
maximum value of the power load.
Ed , t
Eset
Figure 34. System operation.
The operating range of the reformer is limited by always operating the fuel
cell system at the electric-power threshold value Eset . In this case, consideration of
partial load operation for which the efficiency of the reformer falls, and
consideration of the delay time of the speed of response of the load are avoidable.
Although steam reforming of the town gas quantity of flow Q RM ,t is carried
out and reformed gas is produced in the reformer, the heat source for reforming
reaction burns and obtains using the town gas with a flow quantity of Q BN1 ,t . The
following equation defines the reformer efficiency and the maximum of this value
is 73% [9].
RM =
WH
100
(WC + W R )
49
(16)
With CO oxidation equipment, when burning and changing CO in the

reformed gas into CO2, a part of the hydrogen also burns. Nearly 2% of hydrogen
in the reformed gas will burn with CO oxidation equipment, with an associated
efficiency MC of 98%. Therefore, the hydrogen flow quantity QMC , H 2 ,t of the
CO oxidization equipment outlet and the town gas flow quantity
( QCON ,t = QRM ,t + QBN1 ,t ) supplied to the reformer are connected by the following
equation.
Q MC , H 2 ,t = MC ,t RM QCON ,t
(17)
Water Electrolysis
Water electrolysis produces hydrogen and oxygen using the proton exchange
membrane electrolysis system [9]. The pure water used for water electrolysis
supplies and produces tap water which carries out heat exchange to a pure-water
production device inside the heat storage tank. A charcoal filter and an ion
exchange filter are installed by the pure-water production device, and electric
power is not consumed for its operation. Moreover, the cost of pure-water
production, which uses a charcoal filter and an ion exchange filter, is inexpensive.
Water electrolysis is performed under conditions of 393K and 0.4MPa, heat
source burns and obtains town gas by the flow quantity of Q BN 2 ,t , and makes
town gas a heat source. The efficiency EL of water electrolysis is 84% [9], and
the direct-current power generated with the fuel cell is supplied to the water
electrolyzer through a DC-DC converter (efficiency DC =95%). The hydrogen
and oxygen produced by water electrolysis are compressed using the compressor,
and are stored in gas cylinders. The electricity consumption in the hydrogen
compressor is calculated by the following equation.
,t )
E PH ,t = 1 CDH Pin Qin ,t ln(Qin ,t Qout
(18)
50
Shin'ya Obara
,t = 1.0 MPa . The hydrogen compressor-efficiency

Here, Pout = Pin Qin ,t Qout
CDH is 50%. The electricity consumption EPO,t in the compressor which

compresses oxygen is similarly calculated.
Energy Balance
Equation (19) is the electric-power balance in sampling time t .
E FC ,t = E IT ,t IT + E EL,t DC + E PH ,t + E PO,t
(19)
The left side is the power output of a fuel cell stack, and the 1st term on the
right hand side is the electric power output to the interconnection device from the
inverter and E IT ,t is equal to the electric power demand in sampling time t . The
2nd term on the right hand side is the electric power used for the water
electrolysis operation, and the 3rd term and 4th terms are the electricity
consumption in each compressor used for hydrogen and oxygen. Commercial
power is used as the power supply to other blowers and the pump. Equation (20)
shows the heat balance of the system. The left side of Equation (20) expresses the
heat output from the fuel cell, the reformer, and the heat storage tank, and the
right hand side expresses the thermal output from the system. H S ,t is equal to the
heat demand amount in sampling time t .
H FC,t + H RM ,t + H ST ,t = H S ,t
(20)
Equation (21) shows the mass balance of hydrogen. The left side expresses
the hydrogen quantity produced by the water electrolyzer, the hydrogen quantity
of flow supplied to the fuel cell from the gas cylinder, and hydrogen quantity of
flow from the CO oxidization equipment outlet. The right hand side expresses the
hydrogen quantity consumed by the fuel cell. Equation (22) shows the mass
balance of oxygen. The left side includes oxygen flow rate produced by the water
electrolyzer, oxygen flow rate supplied to the fuel cell from the gas cylinder, and
air supplied to the fuel cell by the blowers. The right hand side expresses the
amount of oxygen consumed by the fuel cell at sampling time t .
Q EL , H 2 ,t + QCDH , H 2 ,t + Q MC , H 2 ,t = Q FC , H 2 ,t
(21)
Q EL ,O2 ,t + QCDO ,O2 ,t + Q B3 ,O2 ,t = Q FC ,O2 ,t
51
(22)
Analysis Method
The threshold value E set of the electric power for low load and high load is
decided so that the balance of the individual amounts of hydrogen and oxygen
produced by water electrolysis at the time period of low loading and the amounts
consumed by the fuel cell at the time period of high load can balance. Then, E set
is decided below which the maximum electric power output of the system, and the
balance of the amounts of hydrogen and oxygen produced during the low loading
time period and the high load period is calculated. When the power load Ed ,t
exceeds the threshold value E set of electric power, the anode gas supplied to the
fuel cell in System A is the mixed gas of reformed gas hydrogen and the cylinder,
and the cathode gas is the mixed gas of oxygen in the air supplied by the blower
and the cylinder. However, in System A, suspending the gas supply from the
reformed gas and blower, and supplying only the hydrogen and the oxygen from
each gas cylinder to the fuel cell can also be chosen. The choice of the method of
supplying gas, which mixes gas cylinder hydrogen with reformed gas, and the gas
which mixes gas cylinder oxygen with blower air to the fuel cell, and the method
of supplying only gas cylinder hydrogen and oxygen is decided based upon
minimal consumption of gas cylinder oxygen. On the other hand, when the power
load Ed ,t exceeds the threshold value E set of electric power, electric power
generation from the fuel cell in System B is performed with the hydrogen and
oxygen supplied from the cylinders. In the numerical calculation which
determines Eset , the balance of hydrogen and oxygen is calculated by E set , the
amount of production of hydrogen and oxygen is excessive, and the value of E set
whose difference of the balance is the minimum, is decided as a solution. That is,
when E set > Ed ,t , the reformed gas produced by the reformer and the blower air
are supplied to the fuel cell. In this case, the power output E IT ,t at the inverter
outlet in Equation (19) is set to Ed ,t . The electric power consumed by the water
electrolyzer is EEL,t = ( Eset Ed ,t ) EL and sets the water electrolysis thermal
efficiency to EL . However, in order to supply the direct-current power generated
by the fuel cell to the water, a DC-DC converter is required to adjust the voltage.
52
Shin'ya Obara
The efficiency of this DC-DC converter is set to DC , and the electric power,
EEL,t DC , is supplied to the water electrolyzer from the fuel cell. If the electric
power EEL,t is decided, the amount Q EL, H 2 ,t of hydrogen production and the
amount QEL,O2 ,t of oxygen production can be calculated. The amounts of
hydrogen and oxygen for a sampling time interval of t which are stored in
cylinders are QEL, H 2 ,t t and QEL,O2 ,t t , respectively. The electricity
consumption E PH ,t in a compressor is calculated by converting QEL, H 2 ,t t into
, H 2 ,t , and introducing this into Qin,t in Equation (18).

the volume rate of flow Q EL
The electricity consumption E PO ,t
in the compressor, wherein oxygen
compression occurs, is calculated similarly. The electric power E FC ,t generated
1. 0
0. 8
0. 6
0. 4
0. 2
0
8
12
16
Ti me (ho ur)
20
30
Electric po wer load [kW]
1. 2
Electri c p ower load [kW ]
by the fuel cell stack is calculated by introducing appropriate values into each
term on the right hand side of Equation (19).
20
10
60
40
20
0
8
12
16
Time (ho ur)
(d ) Hotel model
20
(b) Hos pi tal mod el
20
El ectr ic power lo ad [k W]
(a) Ind iv id ual h ou se mod el
8
12
16
Ti me (ho ur)
80
60
40
20
0
8
12
16
Ti me (ho ur)
20
(c) Facto ry mod el
30
20
Janu ary
M ay
Au gu st
10
0
8
12
16 2 0
Ti me (ho ur)
(e) Mo del o f s mall sto re op en arou nd t he clo ck
Figure 35. Models of electric power load.
The hydrogen flow quantity Q FC , H 2 ,t supplied to a fuel cell stack is obtained

using Equation (23). The FC is calculated by creating the approximate
expression for the relationship between the oxygen concentration shown in Figure
32 and the efficiency of the fuel cell stack, and introducing the oxygen
concentration of the gas supplied to cathode into this approximate expression.
53
Furthermore, QMC , H 2 ,t is calculated from Equation (21), and the town gas flow
,t + Q BN
,t supplied to a system is calculated by introducing this
quantity Q RM
value into Equation (24).
, H 2 ,t = E FC ,t ( FC )
Q FC
(23)
,t + Q BN
,t = Q MC
, H 2 ,t ( MC RM )
Q RM
(24)
For E set Ed ,t , the flow quantities QCDH , H 2 ,t and QCDO ,O2 ,t are supplied to
the fuel cell from the hydrogen and oxygen stored in each gas cylinder. In System
A, the oxygen concentration of the cathode gas required to reduce the power load
Ed ,t at sampling time t to E set , is calculated. In order for the oxygen
concentration of the gas to be the value described above, the supply oxygen flow
rate QCDO ,O2 ,t in the gas cylinder added to the oxygen flow rate Q B3 ,O2 ,t in the
air supplied by the blower is calculated. The hydrogen flow quantity QCDH , H 2 ,t
supplied from a gas cylinder is adjusted to be twice the molar flow rate of the
oxygen flow rate QCDO ,O2 ,t . The hydrogen used for the hydrogen flow quantity
Q MC , H 2 ,t in the reformed gas for QCDH , H 2 ,t is supplied to the anode of a fuel

cell. On the other hand, in System B, the fuel cell is operated only by the cylinder
gases, and pure hydrogen and pure oxygen are supplied and generated. The
calculation results of the threshold value E set of the electric power should change
with the difference in the oxygen concentration of the cathode gas in System A
and System B, and differences in the power load pattern introduced into the
system.
When E set = Ed ,t in System A, the reformed gas produced by the reformer
and the air from the blower are supplied, and the fuel cell is operated. Water
electrolysis is not performed at this time. One of the two methods of operating a
fuel cell, (1) with reformed gas and blower air, and (2) with cylinder hydrogen
and cylinder oxygen where the value of E set is smaller, is carried out by System
B.
54
Shin'ya Obara
CASE STUDY
Weather Conditions in Tokyo
In Tokyo, the annual average temperature for the past five years is 289K. The
average temperature in January is 279K, and the highest and the lowest
temperatures on a representative day for January are 283K and 275K,
respectively. The average temperature in May is 292K, and the highest and the
lowest temperatures on a May representative day are 296K and 288K,
respectively. The highest and the lowest temperature on a July representative day
for the past five years are 302K and 296K, respectively, and the average
temperature is 298K [34].
Energy Demand Models

The energy-demand models for an average individual house, a hospital, a
factory, a hotel, and a small store with day-long business in Tokyo is shown in
Figure 35. Each energy-demand pattern is for a monthly representative day of
winter (January), mid-term (May), and summer (August). The space cooling load
of all buildings shown in Figure 35 is included in the electric power demand.
Although the space heating load of a hospital and a hotel is supplied using the fuel
cell exhaust heat, the space heating load of other buildings is included in the
electric power demand. The floor space of each building, the energy demand, and
the reference capacities of the fuel cell installed in the buildings are shown in
Table 8. The power-generation capacity in Table 8 is decided by an increase of
nearly 10% in the maximum electric power load of the buildings. In a numerical
analysis, as for the electric power generation characteristics of the fuel cell, the
relationship shown in Figure 33 needs to be maintained relatively, and the
efficiency of the fuel cell stack is obtained by giving oxygen concentration to the
approximate expression which determines Figure 32.
The values indicated in Table 9 are used for the efficiencies of the auxiliary
machines used in the analysis. The values of such efficiency are products on the
market and the products under engineering development.
55
Table 8. Total floor space, power consumption and fuel cell capacity of each
model
Total floor
2
space (m )
Model
(a) Individual house
(b) Hospital
(c) Factory
(d) Hotel
(e) Small store
128
600
800
1000
145
Power consumption of January,

M ay and August (M J/day)
Fuel cell
capacity (kW)
(Electric power / Heat power)

36, 32.4, 39.6 / 77.4, 48.6, 27.0
551, 745, 1130 / 3640, 1670, 1280
1620, 1490, 1800 /
1440, 1760, 2560 / 5220, 3380, 2380
1660, 1510, 1810 /
1.0
22.0
55.0
44.0
28.0
Table 9. The values of the efficiency used for analysis

RM ,t
M C ,t
D C ,t
PH
PO
EL
IT ,t
73 %
98 %
95 %
50 %
50 %
84 %
95 %
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Operation Planning and Fuel Cell Capacity Reduction Effect
Figure 36 shows the calculation results for the operational plan after the
introduction of System A into each building, and Figure 37 shows the calculation
results of the operational plan after the introduction of System B. In the system
which supplies all the electric power loads using the fuel cell, the capacity of the
fuel cell was conventionally fixed to be the value which covers the annual peak
electricity demand. However, if both System A and System B are introduced, the
capacity of the fuel cell can be reduced to a value which covers the electric power
load shown overall in Figures 36 and 37. The production of electricity from the
fuel cell stack is the value which divides the electric power needs in the figures
using the inverter efficiency IT =0.95. Moreover, for the analysis of the small
store in System A, and the hotel and small store in System B, the solution by
calculation of a representative day in August was not obtained. This is because the
amount of oxygen required for the peak-cut of electric power load cannot be
produced by water electrolysis in the time zones when power load is small.
12
16
Time [Hour]
January
20
20
16
8
4
0
12
16
Time [Hour]
January
20
50
40
30
20
10
00

of the fuel cell stack [kW]

12
12 16
Time [Hour]
January
8
12
16
Time [Hour]
January

30
25
20
15
10
5
0
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
20
20

0 0
12
16
20
Time [Hour]
May
20
16
12
8
4
0
12
16
Time [Hour]
May
(b) Hospital
20
50
0.4
0.2
0
12
16
Time [Hour]
August
20
12 16
Time [Hour]
August
20
00
12
16
Time [Hour]
August
20
12
16
Time [Hour]
August
20
20
16
12
8
4
0
40
30
30
20
20
10
10
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
0.6
50
40
0.8

0.2
1.0


0.4
8
12 16
Time [Hour]
January
20
12
16
Time [Hour]
May
(c) Factory
20
12 16
Time [Hour]
May
(d) Hotel
30
25
20
15
10
5
0

0.2
0.6

0.4
0.8

0.6
1.0

Electric power needs

System A
0.8

1.0

Shin'ya Obara

56
20
40
30
20
10
00
12
16
Time [Hour]
May
20
(e) Small store
Figure 36. Operation planning of system A.
The analysis results for the conventional System A and the System B are
shown in Table 10 for the electric power output supplying the biggest load for
each sampling time of every month for representative days in winter (January),
57
mid-term (May), and summer (August), as the power generation capacity of the
fuel cell. In System A, improvements in the fuel cell efficiency by increasing the
oxygen concentration as shown in Figures 32 and 33, can be performed at the time
of the high load of Ed ,t E set . However, in order to boost the oxygen
concentration in the air supplied by the blower, the oxygen flow quantity may
increase greatly. As a result, the rate of utilization of oxygen at the cathode will
fall. As shown in Table 10, in System A, the capacity reduction effect of the fuel
cell is fairly small by reducing the oxygen utilization rate when compared with
System B. The reduction effect of the fuel cell capacity is so large that the
difference between the load for the high load sampling time of Ed ,t E set of the
load pattern of a building and the low load sampling time of Ed ,t E set is large.
This typical case is a load pattern of the factory, and is common in System A and
System B. The capacity reduction effect of the fuel cell is influenced by frequency
of appearance of the high load and the low load. There is little appearance
frequency of low loads, and when the values of the loads are large, the capacity
reduction effect of the fuel cell is very small. The load pattern of the hotel is a
typical example of this. Moreover, when changes in the load are small through
one day, the reduction effect of the fuel cell capacity is small in both systems, and
the load pattern of the small store is an example of this. When there are sufficient
occasions to produce hydrogen and oxygen for reducing a load peak, the reduction
method of the fuel cell capacity of using the water electrolysis system is effective.
The time period of low loading and high load is divided clearly, and since the
difference between low loading and the high load is large, the load pattern for the
hospital and the factory is sufficient for the production of hydrogen and oxygen
by water electrolysis. As a result, the power-generation capacity of the fuel cell is
greatly reduced. In the case of the individual house, the capacity of the electric
power is decided by the cooling load in summer. In an individual house, although
the load fluctuation is large, before and after night or daytime, the load is small
and a large amount of hydrogen and oxygen can be produced during these periods.
By introducing System B into an individual house, the effect of capacity reduction
of the fuel cell stack is large.
Town Gas Consumption

Figures 38 and 39 show the calculation results of the town gas consumption
as a result of the introduction of System A and System B to each building,
58
Shin'ya Obara
respectively. The calculated town gas consumption on representative days each

month from the analysis results are shown in Figures 40 and 41. Figure 40 shows
the town gas consumption for monthly representative days in the individual
house, and Figure 41 shows the results of town gas consumption in other
buildings. The conventional method in Figures 40 and 41 is an operational method
which follows the power load, except for the water electrolysis equipment of the
system shown in Figure 29. The efficiency RM of the reformer in the
conventional method changes with the value of the load. The model showing the
relationship between the power load of the fuel cell system with a reformer and
the generation efficiency of this system is shown in Figure 42 [23, 24, 29, 30].
The town gas consumptions of the conventional method shown in Figures 40 and
41 are calculation results when carrying out load-following operation using the
characteristic of Figure 42. In the calculation results for each monthly
representative day of each load pattern for the individual house, the hospital, and
the factory, the reduction effect of the town gas consumption in System B is larger
than the conventional method. However, for May and August representative days
for the hotel, and every monthly representative day for the small store, System A
and System B cannot reduce the town gas consumption in the conventional
method. This is because partial loads with low efficiency occur frequently which
increases the town gas consumption, if the load following operation by the
conventional method is introduced into each load pattern for the individual house,
the hospital, and the factory. On the other hand, when introducing the
conventional method into the load pattern of a hotel or a small store, a drop in the
efficiency of the system has a small sampling time of a partial load with low
efficiency few.
Reformer and Auxiliary Machines Operation

The reformer is stopped in the sampling time when there is no consumption
of town gas in Figures 38 and 39. As shown in each figure, since the floating
loads are small, the reformer can operate at a maximum efficiency point. Since
starting and stopping of the reformer takes nearly 20 minutes, it is necessary to
reduce the number of times this occurs which will also reduce consumption of
energy 23, 24. As shown in Figures 38 and 39 (a), (b), (c), in the load
patterns of the individual house, the hospital, and the factory, the reformer can be
stopped on many sampling time zones, respectively. Therefore, if the operational
59
20
16
12
5
0
4
0
3
0
2
0
1
0
00

of the fuel cell stack [ kW]
30
25
20
15
10
5
00
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
0
8
12 16
Time [Hour]
January
20
12 16 20
Time [Hour]
January
8
12 16
Time [Hour]
January
8
12 16
Time [Hour]
January
20
0.4
0.2

8
4
0
0.6
0.4

8
12 16
Time [Hour]
January
0.8
0.6
0.2
00
20
16
12
8
4
00
8
12 16 20
Time [Hour]
May
8
12 16
Time [Hour]
May
(b) Hospital
10
00
30
25
20
15
10
5
00
30
25
20
15
10
5
00
00
20
16
12
8
4
0
12 16
Time [Hour]
August
20
12 16
Time [ Hour]
August
20
12 16
Time [ Hour]
August
20
50
40
30
20
40
30
20
10
12 16
Time [Hour]
May
(c) Factory
20
8
12 16
Time [Hour]
May
20
8
12 16
Time [Hour]
May
20
(d) Hotel
20
20
50

20
Electr ic power output


00

0.2
1.0
0.8

0.6
0.4
1.0

Electric power needs

System B
0.8


1.0


methods using System A or System B are introduced, starting and stopping will
only occur once or twice each day.
(e) Small store
Figure 37. Operation planning of system B.
00
60
Shin'ya Obara
Table 10. Fuel cell capacity reduction effect
0.7 kW
18.2 kW
36.0 kW
40.0 kW
(21.8 kW)
24
24
0. 6
16
0. 2
0
8
12
16 2 0
T ime [Hou r]
(a) In di vi du al h ou se
0.49 kW
13.6 kW
23.0 kW
(27.2 kW)
(21.8 kW)
8
12 1 6
Time [H ou r]
(b) H os pi tal
20
24
8
4
0
0
8
12
16 2 0
Ti me [Ho ur]
(c) Fact ory
24
16
30
12
20
10
0
4
0
System B
12
12
0. 4
Con sumption of town

gas [ m3/h our]
0.94 kW
22.0 kW
50.0 kW
41.0 kW, 28.0kW(May)
24.0 kW(January)
Co nsump tio n of town

3
gas [m /hou r]
System A
Co ns umption of town
gas [m 3/hou r]
Co ns umption of town
3
gas [m /hou r]
Co nsump tio n of town

3
gas [m /hou r]

(b) Hospital
(c) Factory
(d) Hotel
(e) Small store
Conventional
method
8
12 1 6
T im e [ Ho ur]
(d ) Ho tel
20
J an uary
M ay
Au gu st
4
0
8
12
16
Time [ Ho ur]
(e) Smal l store
20
24
24
0.1
8
12 16 20
Time [Hou r]
(a) In divid ual h ouse
6
4
2
0
8
12 16
Time [Hou r]
(d) Ho tel
20
8
12 16
Time [Hou r]
(b) Hosp it al
20
24
Con sump tion

of town
gas [m3/h our]
Consumpti on of town
gas [m3/hou r]
10
8
24
5
4
3
2
1
0
Con sump tion of town

gas [m3/h our]
Consumpti on of town
gas [m3/hou r]
0. 2
Con sump tion

of town
gas [m 3/ hour]
Figure 38. Town gas consumption using system A.

8
6
4
2
0
0
8
12 16
Ti me [Hou r]
(c) Factory
20
24
Janu ary
May
A ugu st
4
2
0
8
12 16 20
Ti me [Ho ur]
(e) Small sto reMay
24
Figure 39. Town gas consumption of the sytem B.
On each monthly representative day for each building, the calculation results
of the number of times required for the operation of blowers B1 , B 2 and B 3 are
61
Consumption
of town gas
3
[m /day]
shown in Figure 43. There is more operational time required of the blowers for
System A, except for the results of the small store, when compared to System B.
The reasons for this include operation of the reformer at times of high load,
mixing of the hydrogen from the gas cylinder with the reformed gas, and
supplying the fuel cell.
Conventional system
System A
System B
2
0
January
May
August
Figure 40. Town gas consumption of the representation day of the system A and the
system B introduced into the individual house.
400
300
200
Conventional system
System A
Syste m B
Hospital
Factory
Hotel
A ug
u st
M ay
J an
u ary
A ug
u st
M ay
ary
J anu
Aug
ust
J anu
Aug
ust
Janu
ary
M ay
100
ary
Ma y
C onsumption of town gas [ m3/d ay]
500
Sma ll stor e
Figure 41. Town gas consumption of the representation day of the system A and the
system B introduced into the individual house, factory, hotel, small store and office.
Shin'ya Obara
Efficiency of system electric
power output [%]
62
40
30
20
10
0
20
40
60
80
100
Ratio of electric power load [%]
Operation time [Hour/day]
Figure 42. The related curve of the ratio of power load of a fuel cell system with reformer,
and efficiency of electric power output.
24
System A
System B
20
16
12
8
4
Janu
ary
May
Aug
ust
Janu
ary
May
Aug
ust
Janu
ary
May
Aug
ust
Janu
ary
May
Janu
ary
May
House
Hospital
Factory
Hotel
Small
store
Figure 43. Operation time of the blower B1, B2, B3.
CONCLUSION
If gas with a high oxygen concentration is supplied, rather than air, to the
cathode of a fuel cell stack, the generation efficiency of the fuel cell improves. A
reduction in the installed capacity of a fuel cell stack was attempted in this study
using this power-generation characteristic.
During periods of small electricity demand, the fuel cell is operated with
reformed gas and air, along with simultaneous water electrolysis operation.
Hydrogen and oxygen are produced by water electrolysis, and compression
63
storage of these gases is carried out in cylinders. On the other hand, when the
electric power load is large, the cylinder gases are supplied to the fuel cell. In this
case, the town gas consumption is smaller using the method which supplies
hydrogen and oxygen of cylinders to the fuel cell directly for specific load
patterns, such as the individual house, the hospital, and the factory, rather than
mixing hydrogen and oxygen of the cylinders with the reformer and blower air.
In order to introduce a water electrolysis system and to obtain a larger
reduction effect of the capacity of the fuel cell stack, sufficient hydrogen and
oxygen to reduce the load peak must be produced. Therefore, the reduction effect
of the fuel cell capacity changes with the load pattern. The periods of low and
high loads are divided clearly, and the effect is large when the difference between
the low load and high load values is large.
If the load-following operation of a building with load fluctuation is
performed by a fuel cell system with a reformer, partial load operation with low
efficiency will occur frequently. According to the operational method of the
system proposed in this section, the load fluctuation range of a reformer is narrow
and drops in efficiency can be prevented. Moreover, the number of times of
starting and stopping of a reformer can be limited to once or twice each day.
INDEX
A
accuracy, 2, 32, 36
air, 7, 8, 24, 27, 30, 31, 42, 43, 44, 45, 47, 50,
51, 53, 57, 62
algorithm, 22, 29, 32
anode, 43, 44, 46, 47, 51, 53
application, 19, 27
B
battery, 41, 44
buildings, 21, 26, 27, 29, 33, 36, 40, 41, 54,
58
burn, 49
burning, 49
burns, 48, 49
business, 1, 54
butane, 6
C
calcium, 7
capacity, 2, 3, 5, 7, 13, 15, 19, 24, 30, 33, 39,
41, 42, 43, 45, 48, 54, 55, 57, 60, 62, 63
carbon, 2, 10, 43
carbon dioxide, 2, 10
carbon monoxide, 43
case study, 2, 7
catalytic, 4
cathode, 42, 43, 44, 46, 47, 51, 52, 53, 57, 62
cell, 1, 2, 4, 6, 10, 15, 18, 19, 21, 22, 23, 24,
25, 27, 30, 31, 33, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43,
44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54,
55, 57, 58, 60, 61, 62, 63
charcoal, 49
chemical, 6
chloride, 7
chromosome, 29, 30, 32
CO2, 49
coefficient of performance, 6
combustion, 4
commercial, 1, 2, 10, 13, 18, 19, 41, 43, 45
composition, 19
compositions, 11
compression, 7, 42, 52, 62
computation, 32
concentration, 12, 42, 44, 46, 47, 52, 53, 54,
57, 62
condensation, 6
configuration, 14
Congress, iv
consumption, 2, 7, 8, 10, 11, 27, 36, 42, 43,
45, 47, 49, 50, 51, 55, 57, 58, 60, 61, 63
control, 21
cooling, 7, 54, 57
cost minimization, 13
66
Index
D
demand, 2, 3, 4, 10, 13, 14, 18, 19, 21, 24, 27,
28, 30, 36, 37, 38, 40, 41, 42, 43, 48, 50,
54, 55, 62
density, 7
deregulation, 1
distribution, 1, 21
E
electric energy, 10
electric power, 2, 3, 6, 7, 9, 10, 14, 15, 18, 19,
22, 42, 43, 45, 46, 47, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53,
54, 55, 56, 62, 63
electrical, 2
electrical power, 3
electricity, 9, 26, 42, 45, 48, 49, 50, 52, 55, 62
electrochemical, 44
electrochemical reaction, 45
electrolysis, 1, 2, 3, 6, 7, 10, 13, 42, 45, 47,
49, 50, 51, 53, 55, 57, 58, 62, 63
electronic, iv
electrostatic, iv
emission, 2, 10, 11, 13
energy, 1, 2, 4, 8, 9, 10, 13, 14, 19, 21, 22, 27,
30, 31, 40, 42, 54, 58
engineering, 54
engines, 1
environmental, 1
equipment, 1, 2, 3, 4, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15,
19, 22, 38, 39, 40, 49, 50, 58
exhaust heat, 3, 21, 23, 24, 27, 30, 31, 36, 39,
43, 54
expert, iv
F
February, 2, 4, 9, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 19, 31,
37, 39
feeding, 43
fitness, 29, 30
floating, 58
flow, 9, 10, 23, 27, 30, 44, 45, 46, 48, 49, 50,
52, 53, 57
flow rate, 11, 27, 50, 53
fluctuations, 37
fuel, 1, 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 11, 12, 15, 18, 19, 21,
22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 30, 31, 33, 36, 38,
39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49,
50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 57, 58, 61, 62, 63
fuel cell, 1, 2, 4, 6, 10, 15, 18, 19, 21, 22, 23,
24, 25, 26, 27, 30, 31, 33, 36, 38, 39, 40,
41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51,
52, 53, 54, 55, 57, 58, 61, 62, 63
fuel flow rate, 11
G
gas, 2, 4, 7, 10, 11, 13, 19, 21, 22, 27, 41, 42,
44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 57,
58, 60, 61, 62
gases, 11, 42, 43, 44, 53, 63
gene, 2, 29
generation, 2, 21, 24, 30, 32, 33, 38, 41, 42,
43, 45, 46, 48, 51, 54, 57, 58, 62
genetic, 22, 29, 32
geo-thermal, 1, 2, 3, 6, 19
green energy, 1
greenhouse, 11, 13, 19
greenhouse gas, 11, 13, 19
greenhouse gases, 11
groups, 30
H
heat, 1, 2, 3, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 13, 14, 15, 18, 19,
21, 22, 24, 26, 27, 29, 30, 33, 36, 37, 38,
39, 40, 41, 42, 45, 48, 49, 50, 54
heat loss, 22
heat release, 22, 24, 27, 29, 30, 31, 33, 36, 37,
39, 40
heat storage, 1, 2, 3, 7, 8, 10, 13, 14, 19, 23,
24, 27, 30, 31, 41, 43, 49, 50
heat transfer, 3, 22, 24, 27, 43
heating, 23, 54
hospital, 42, 54, 57, 58, 63
Index
hospitals, 22
hot water, 3, 23, 24, 27, 30
household, 27
households, 27
hydrogen, 3, 6, 7, 10, 13, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46,
47, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 57, 61, 63
67
mixing, 61, 63
models, 2, 24, 29, 30, 42, 47, 54
modules, 1
mold, 27
mutation, 29, 30, 32
N
I
network, 21, 22, 23, 24, 26, 27, 30, 31, 36, 38,
39, 40
New York, iii, iv
nonlinear, 2
numerical analysis, 54
id, 54, 57
independence, 2
injury, iv
interval, 52
J
January, 54, 56
Japan, 2, 4
Japanese, 11
O
optimization, 1, 14, 18, 19, 36
oxidation, 49
oxygen, v, 3, 6, 7, 10, 13, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45,
46, 47, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 57, 62, 63
K
P
kerosene, 1, 13
L
linear, 1
linear programming, 1
losses, 7
M
machinery, 21, 22, 24, 30, 31, 33
machines, 27, 42, 54
magnetic, iv
manipulation, 29
market, 54
measurement, 9
mechanical, iv
meteorological, 31
methanol, 1, 3, 4, 5, 6
MIP, 2
PEMFC, 2, 3, 6, 19
performance, 6, 25, 46
planning, 1, 13, 16, 17, 19, 22, 30, 32, 33, 36,
40, 56, 59
polystyrene, 27
population, 32
power, 1, 3, 6, 7, 10, 13, 14, 15, 18, 19, 21,
22, 24, 26, 27, 30, 31, 33, 36, 37, 38, 39,
40, 41, 42, 43, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51,
52, 53, 54, 55, 57, 58, 62, 63
power generation, 21, 24, 33, 38, 41, 42, 43,
45, 48, 51, 54, 57
preparation, iv
pressure, 46
prices, 22
probability, 32
production, 7, 9, 43, 49, 51, 55, 57
program, 6, 22, 30, 32, 36, 40
programming, 1
propane, 6
property, iv
68
Index
proton exchange membrane, 1, 2, 7, 22, 41,

42, 49
pure water, 49
R
radiation, 21
random, 30, 37, 38
range, 2, 6, 37, 48, 63
reactant, 46
recovery, 22, 45
reduction, 13, 39, 40, 41, 45, 48, 57, 58, 60,
62, 63
refrigerant, 6
relationship, 1, 8, 52, 54, 58
renewable energy, 1, 19
returns, 24, 30
S
sampling, 5, 7, 26, 30, 50, 52, 53, 56, 58
searches, 13
searching, 29
services, iv
short period, 15
simulation, 32
soil, 6
solar, 1, 2, 3, 8, 9, 13, 18, 19, 22, 38, 39, 40
solutions, 29
specific heat, 7
speed, 41, 48
speed of response, 41, 48
storage, 1, 2, 3, 7, 8, 10, 13, 14, 19, 23, 24, 27,
30, 31, 41, 43, 49, 50, 63
summer, 2, 4, 22, 27, 31, 33, 54, 57
supply, 2, 6, 8, 9, 10, 12, 19, 21, 22, 40, 41,
50, 51, 53
surplus, 3, 36, 42, 43, 48
switching, 44
symbols, 27
systems, 1, 3, 22, 24, 30, 36, 48, 57
T
tanks, 3
technology, 21, 42
temperature, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 24, 30, 31, 46, 54
thermal, 1, 2, 3, 6, 19, 45, 50, 51
thermal efficiency, 51
threshold, 47, 48, 51, 53
time, 3, 5, 6, 7, 10, 11, 13, 21, 24, 26, 30, 32,
40, 41, 42, 43, 45, 47, 48, 50, 51, 53, 55,
56, 58, 61, 62
Tokyo, 54
transfer, 3, 7, 22, 24, 27, 43, 45
transmission, 21, 22
transport, 21
U
urban, 22, 27, 30, 32, 40
V
values, 5, 12, 13, 33, 52, 54, 55, 57, 63
variable, 2, 32
variables, 2
W
waste, 22
water, 1, 2, 3, 6, 7, 8, 10, 13, 21, 22, 24, 27,
29, 30, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40,
42, 45, 47, 49, 50, 51, 55, 57, 58, 62, 63
wind, 1
winter, 2, 4, 9, 22, 27, 31, 33, 37, 38, 54, 56

Distributed Energy Systems

Încărcat de

Informații document

Drepturi de autor

Formate disponibile

Partajați acest document

Partajați sau inserați document

Opțiuni de partajare

Vi se pare util acest document?

Este necorespunzător acest conținut?

Drepturi de autor:

Formate disponibile

Distributed Energy Systems

Încărcat de

Drepturi de autor:

Formate disponibile

DISTRIBUTED ENERGY SYSTEMS

DISTRIBUTED ENERGY SYSTEMS

Nova Science Publishers, Inc.

Copyright 2009 by Nova Science Publishers, Inc.

Published by Nova Science Publishers, Inc. 

Operation Plan of a Combined Fuel Cell Cogeneration

Route Planning of Heat Supply Piping in a Fuel Cell

Load Leveling of Fuel Cell System by Oxygen

OPERATION PLAN OF A COMBINED FUEL CELL

the optimization of equipment capacity. The Genetic Algorithm (hereafter

FUEL CELL, SOLAR MODULES, AND GEO-THERMAL HEAT

Operation Plan of a Combined Fuel Cell Cogeneration

Hot water supply

1. Fuel cell s tack, 2 . Vaporizer, 3. Reformer , 4. Shifter, 5. CO oxidation ,

Power demand [kW]

Energy output (kW)

Figure 2. Energy demand of Sapporo-city (Narita et al, 1996).

M ethanol supply (mol/s)

Operation Plan of a Combined Fuel Cell Cogeneration

Compared with the condition of the steady operation of the methanol

Here, Ic,tk , EV ,tk , WFS,tk , Q f , tk , Fd and Ec express current, voltage, power

(2) Heat Output of Geo-thermal Heat Pump

Figure 4. p-h diagram of Refrigerant AHC-12a (HC-TECH Inc., 1997).

Operation Plan of a Combined Fuel Cell Cogeneration

(3) Characteristic Equation of Water Electrolysis Tank

(4) Characteristic Equation of Heat Storage Tank and Boiler

T,tk TSt ,t k TSt , max

The characteristic equation of heat storage tank between time t k and t is

Fuel consumption [kg/s]

Figure 5. Thermal energy output of boiler.

Solar module area 6m2

Quantity of solar isolation [MJ]

Figure 6. Time change of solar module output (Nagano et al., 2002).

Operation Plan of a Combined Fuel Cell Cogeneration

quantity of flow being FBoiler ,t k , and the characteristic equation of a boiler is

H Boiler,tk = Boiler FBoiler,tk Boiler

( S St,Di ,tk H Need, tk )

Sst ,Di ,tk

( S E,Di ,tk E Need,tk S E,max )

( S E , D i ,t k E Need, t k > SE ,max )

( H Di ,tk + SSt,Di , tk H Need ,tk > H St,max )

( SE ,Di ,tk E Need, tk S E,max )

( S E,Di ,tk ENeed ,tk )

T her mal e ner gy

E.B : Electric energy storage

T.T and release

H St,max ( H D ,t + SSt,D ,t H Need,t )

Figure 7. Energy supply path.

(5) Characteristic Equation of Solar Module

Energy Supply Path

Di , and let subscript i

( i = 1 , 2 , 3 ,..., M , M are the number of pieces of equipment) be the equipment

, hydrogen and oxygen

are produced and stored by water electrolysis. Moreover, it is also possible to

ENERGY BALANCE AND OBJECTIVE FUNCTION

FS FFS,tk FS + Boiler FBoiler,tk Boiler + HHP,tk + HSt,tk = HSystem,tk + HRad,tk + HSt,tk

Operation Plan of a Combined Fuel Cell Cogeneration

Objective function (1) described in Introduction is an operating pattern when the

commercial power cost.

CSystem,t k = (C fuel, Di FDi ,t k t ) + CUtility,tk

Objective function (3) expresses the operation pattern whose amount of

WSystem,tk = (GDi , EX j Di , EX j ,tk FDi ,tk t )

Table 2. Energy cost and greenhouse-warming coefficient

Minimization of the error of

Published by Nova Science Publishers, Inc.