Date of Graduation
2004
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Type
MS
Committee Chair
Ismail Celik
Abstract
As energy demands increase and the associated costs increasing with the demand, newer energy alternatives are becoming more important to society. Although not new, fuel cell technology is taking a lead role in the quest for a cleaner and less expensive energy source. High efficiencies on the order of 50% are now possible with stand-alone fuel cells. When coupled with a microturbine, efficiencies of around 70% may be expected. However, the fuel cell/microturbine hybrid has inherent problems of stability and unpredictable response to adverse transients that first must be addressed to make this technology viable. The National Energy Technology Laboratories (NETL) in Morgantown is involved in the development of such hybrid technology. A test facility design and fabrication is underway. This study details a process modeling approach based on the commercial modeling package, Protrax™, and is associated specifically with the NETL research effort and presents simulation versus actual test data to validate the process model during the startup phase. The results provide insight into the transients of the system built at NETL.
Recommended Citation
Shelton, Michael S., "A study in the process modeling of a fuel cell/microturbine hybrid system under ambient conditions." (2004). Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD). 10816.
https://researchrepository.wvu.edu/etd/10816