Design and experimental set-up of hydrogen based microgrid: characterization of components and control system development

• Published in: Journal of physics. Conference series Vol. 2385; no. 1; pp. 12042 - 12053
• Main Authors: Cava, Carmine, Cosentini, Carlotta, Gagliardi, Gabriele Guglielmo, Cedola, Luca, Caputi, Michele Vincenzo Migliarese, Aresti, Marco, Borello, Domenico
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Bristol IOP Publishing 01.12.2022
• Subjects: Control systems; Distributed generation; Electrolytic cells; Energy conversion efficiency; Energy storage; Hydrogen production; Hydrogen storage; Metal hydrides; Modularity; Physics; Proton exchange membrane fuel cells; Remote control; Storage tanks
• ISSN: 1742-6588; 1742-6596
• DOI: 10.1088/1742-6596/2385/1/012042

Abstract In this study, the implementation of a hydrogen microgrid is investigated, considering the integration of H 2 production, storage, and energy conversion to feed a typical end-user. A remote control system has been realized through LabVIEW software, allowing to monitor real-time all the devices and analyze their performances. The integrated system is composed of a PEM electrolyzer (325 W ), a storage system based on metal hydrides (two tanks, 54 g of hydrogen each, 1.08 wt %) and an energy converter (PEM Fuel Cell stack, 200 W ). A programmable electronic load was used to set a power demand throughout the year, simulating an end-user. Data collected from each component of the micro-grid were used to characterize the energetic performance of the devices, focusing on the H 2 production via electrolyzer, charging cycles of the H 2 storage system, and energy conversion efficiency of the FC stack. Finally, the global efficiency of the microgrid is computed. Even though the system is realized in laboratory scale, this circumstance will not invalidate the significance of the configuration due to modularity of all the technologies that can be easily scaled up to realistic scales.