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Micro combined heat and power management for a residential system

Fuel cell technology has reached commercialisation of fuel cells in application areas such as residential power systems, automobile engines and driving of industrial manufacturing processes. This thesis gives an overview of the current state of fuel cell-based technology research and development, in...

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Main Author: Tichagwa, Anesu
Other Authors: Barendse, Paul Stanley
Format: Thesis
Language:English
Published: Department of Electrical Engineering 2016
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access_status_str Open Access
author Tichagwa, Anesu
author2 Barendse, Paul Stanley
author_browse Barendse, Paul Stanley
Tichagwa, Anesu
author_facet Barendse, Paul Stanley
Tichagwa, Anesu
author_sort Tichagwa, Anesu
collection Thesis
description Fuel cell technology has reached commercialisation of fuel cells in application areas such as residential power systems, automobile engines and driving of industrial manufacturing processes. This thesis gives an overview of the current state of fuel cell-based technology research and development, introduces a μCHP system sizing strategy and proposes methods of improving on the implementation of residential fuel cell-based μCHP technology. The three methods of controlling residential μCHP systems discussed in this thesis project are heat-led, electricity-led and cost-minimizing control. Simulations of a typical HT PEMFC -based residential μCHP unit are conducted using these control strategies. A model of a residential μCHP system is formulated upon which these simulated tests are conducted. From these simulations, equations to model the costs of running a fuel-cell based μCHP system are proposed. Having developed equations to quantify the running costs of the proposed μCHP system a method for determining the ideal size of a μCHP system is developed. A sizing technique based on industrial CHP sizing practices is developed in which the running costs and capital costs of the residential μCHP system are utilised to determine the optimal size of the system. Residential thermal and electrical load profile data of a typical Danish household are used. Having simulated the system a practical implementation of the power electronics interface between the fuel cell and household grid is done. Two topologies are proposed for the power electronics interface a three-stage topology and a two-stage topology. The efficiencies of the overall systems of both topologies are determined. The system is connected to the grid so the output of each system is phase-shifted and DC injection, harmonic distortion, voltage range and frequency range are determined for both systems to determine compliance with grid standards. Deviations between simulated results and experimental results are recorded and discussed and relevant conclusions are drawn from these.
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institution University of Cape Town (South Africa)
language eng
last_indexed 2026-06-10T12:33:40.116Z
license_str Not specified — see source repository
provenance_str_mv Harvested via OAI-PMH from UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository
publishDate 2016
publishDateRange 2016
publishDateSort 2016
publisher Department of Electrical Engineering
publisherStr Department of Electrical Engineering
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source_str UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository
spelling oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/16914 Micro combined heat and power management for a residential system Tichagwa, Anesu Barendse, Paul Stanley Khan, Azeem Electrical Engineering proton exchange membrane fuel cell PEMFC combined heat and power CHP system power management micro-CHP Fuel cell technology has reached commercialisation of fuel cells in application areas such as residential power systems, automobile engines and driving of industrial manufacturing processes. This thesis gives an overview of the current state of fuel cell-based technology research and development, introduces a μCHP system sizing strategy and proposes methods of improving on the implementation of residential fuel cell-based μCHP technology. The three methods of controlling residential μCHP systems discussed in this thesis project are heat-led, electricity-led and cost-minimizing control. Simulations of a typical HT PEMFC -based residential μCHP unit are conducted using these control strategies. A model of a residential μCHP system is formulated upon which these simulated tests are conducted. From these simulations, equations to model the costs of running a fuel-cell based μCHP system are proposed. Having developed equations to quantify the running costs of the proposed μCHP system a method for determining the ideal size of a μCHP system is developed. A sizing technique based on industrial CHP sizing practices is developed in which the running costs and capital costs of the residential μCHP system are utilised to determine the optimal size of the system. Residential thermal and electrical load profile data of a typical Danish household are used. Having simulated the system a practical implementation of the power electronics interface between the fuel cell and household grid is done. Two topologies are proposed for the power electronics interface a three-stage topology and a two-stage topology. The efficiencies of the overall systems of both topologies are determined. The system is connected to the grid so the output of each system is phase-shifted and DC injection, harmonic distortion, voltage range and frequency range are determined for both systems to determine compliance with grid standards. Deviations between simulated results and experimental results are recorded and discussed and relevant conclusions are drawn from these. 2016-02-08T14:21:18Z 2016-02-08T14:21:18Z 2013 Master Thesis Masters MSc (Eng) http://hdl.handle.net/11427/16914 eng application/pdf Department of Electrical Engineering Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment University of Cape Town
spellingShingle Electrical Engineering
proton exchange membrane fuel cell
PEMFC
combined heat and power
CHP system
power management
micro-CHP
Tichagwa, Anesu
Micro combined heat and power management for a residential system
thesis_degree_str Master's
title Micro combined heat and power management for a residential system
title_full Micro combined heat and power management for a residential system
title_fullStr Micro combined heat and power management for a residential system
title_full_unstemmed Micro combined heat and power management for a residential system
title_short Micro combined heat and power management for a residential system
title_sort micro combined heat and power management for a residential system
topic Electrical Engineering
proton exchange membrane fuel cell
PEMFC
combined heat and power
CHP system
power management
micro-CHP
url http://hdl.handle.net/11427/16914
work_keys_str_mv AT tichagwaanesu microcombinedheatandpowermanagementforaresidentialsystem