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Design of Stand-Alone Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell Hybrid System

under Amman Climate

Article  in  Journal of Ecological Engineering · September 2019

DOI: 10.12911/22998993/111800

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 Journal of Ecological Engineering Received: 2019.07.09
Revised: 2019.08.17
Volume 20, Issue 9, October 2019, pages 1–10 Accepted: 2019.09.13
Available online: 2019.09.28
https://doi.org/10.12911/22998993/111800

Design of Stand-Alone Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell Hybrid

System under Amman Climate

Wala’ Nsour1*, Tamara Taa’mneh1, Osama Ayadi1, Jamil Al Asfar1

1
Mechanical Engineering Department, The University of Jordan, Amman 11942, Jordan
* Corresponding author’s e-mail: [email protected]

ABSTRACT
Renewable energy application is gaining a wide acceptance by end users; however, considering the fact that renew-
able energy is intermittent, variable and cannot be predicted, the need of storage systems is becoming a necessity
at both micro and macro levels. Fuel cell technology is one of the most promising storage systems due to the fact
that hydrogen has high energy density. This paper presents a design of stand-alone PV-PEMFC hybrid system
for a small house under Amman climate. The simulation results show that the optimal size of PV array, fuel cell
(PEMFC), inverter, electrolyzer (ELE) and H2 Tank capacity were 10 kW, 1 kW, 5 kW, 6 kW, and 5 kg respectively.
Hydrogen proved itself as a low carbon energy source, which is environmental friendly and characterized with
high energy content per unit mass. Due to fuel cells technology, hydrogen can be used for inter-season storage.

Keywords: proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC), PV system, hydrogen storage, stand-alone, hybrid
system, HOMER.

INTRODUCTION oxide fuel cell (SAFC) and molten carbonate fuel

cell (MCFC). PEMFC as shown in Figure 1 are
Diminishing resources, severe environmental the most promising technology due to the low op-
pollution and an ever increasing demand for en- erating temperature, fast start-up, low noise, low
ergy are forcing the energy sector towards the use mass and high density [2].
of Renewable Energy (RE). The RE application is The Solar-Hydrogen energy cycle shown be-
gaining a wide acceptance by end users; however, low in Figure 2, is the conversion of solar energy
considering the fact that it is intermittent, variable to electricity which is later converted to hydro-
and cannot be predicted, the need of storage sys- gen. Once electricity is needed, hydrogen is con-
tems is becoming a necessity at both micro and verted back to electricity to meet the demand. H2
macro levels. is stored using many methods, such as: H2 cylin-
Fuel cell technology is one of the most prom-
ders, H2 fuel tanks, and H2 vessels.
ising storage systems due to the fact that hydro-
gen has high energy density. Fuel cell basic prin-
ciple is based on the simple equation: Literature review

2H2 + O2 → 2H2 O + HEAT (1) A solar-hydrogen system is a kind of stand-

alone power system, which can supply low energy
However, electrical energy is produced in- dwellings with energy. Many studies on such sys-
stead of heat. [1] tems have been performed. A subset of literature
The main six types of fuel cells: are proton has been selected, based on its direct relevance to
exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC), direct the proposed system.
methanol fuel cell (DMFC), alkaline fuel cell Ulleberg and Mørner (1997) simulated a
(AFC), phosphoric acid fuel cell (PAFC), solid stand-alone system using TRANSYS software,

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Journal of Ecological Engineering Vol. 20(9), 2019

Figure 1. Basic structure of PEM fuel cell

Figure 2. Solar Hydrogen energy cycle

as shown in Figure 3. It consists of a photovol- system, as shown in Figure 4, with hydrogen gen-
taic (PV) cell array, an electrolyzer, a hydrogen eration via a proton exchange membrane (PEM)
(H2) storage, a fuel cell, a catalytic burner, a electrolyzer, compressed gas or metal-hydride
lead-acid battery, DC/DC converters, DC/AC hydrogen storage, and a PEM fuel cell [4].
inverters, diodes, a solar collector, and a water Djafour et al. (2014) presented the results of
storage tank. The results showed that the size of sizing a system of hydrogen production obtained
the solar-hydrogen system can be significantly through an electrolyzer, powered by photovoltaic
reduced [3]. solar modules installed in Ouargla, Algeria to
Dou & Andrews (2012) focused on the design meet the needs of hydrogen for a fuel cell of type,
of a control unit for a stand-alone solar-hydrogen PEMFC[5]. Figure 5 illustrates their model.

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 Journal of Ecological Engineering Vol. 20(9), 2019

Figure 3. Schematic of the simulated solar-hydrogen system [3]

Figure 4. basic solar-hydrogen system for a Remote area power supply application Solar [4]

METHODOLOGY Experimental setup

An off-grid PV system with hydrogen stor- In this part, the system is presented in
age was designed for a house in Amman with greater detail. Figure 6 below shows the setup
the following assumptions: House loads will be components.
used all year. The load of appliances will be es-
timated and off-grid PV system will be sized ac- Experimental system components are:
cordingly. Hydrogen storage will be designed for 1. Double cell PEM Electrolyzer stack
two days of autonomy. The required size of the 2. 80 cm3 Hydrogen storage tank
hydrogen tank will be calculated. Fuel cell will be 3. PEM fuel cell stack
used to convert hydrogen back to electricity when
needed. For this system, an experimental model 4. Fan Tutorial
was investigated in labs to maintain the I-V curve 5. 13 W Solar Module
of fuel cell and efficiency of overall system for 6. Lamps for lighting the solar module
a small scale load. Finally, proper simulation 7. Measuring transformer card
software will be implemented to maintain more
accurate outcomes for this system. This system 8. Lamp as a load
consists of: PV panels, H2 fuel cells, electrolyzer 9. Power output
and hydrogen storage. 10. Electrical protection

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Journal of Ecological Engineering Vol. 20(9), 2019

The first step is to power the two lights mod- again, H2 recombines with atmospheric O2 in
ules that are used to energize the photovoltaic so- the fuel cell to generate electricity which is fed
lar module. This is alternative to using the direct to the final load.
sun for solar module. After connecting all the components and
The second step is to connect the output of when the lights turned on, while keeping the seal-
the photovoltaic solar module to the input of the ing cap of fuel cell closed, the electrolyzer started
electrolyzer stack. The lamp modules need to be to split water into H2 and O2. Figure 7 shows the
switched on, the water tank of the electrolyzer lab experiment. When hydrogen accumulates
stack must be filled with distilled water and the in the tank, the sealing cap can be opened to al-
output of the electrolyzer stack connected to the low gas to flow through the fuel cell and produce
input of the gas storage tank. This enables the electricity.
hydrogen to accumulate in the storage tank. One The obtained characteristics I-V curve and
also needs to make sure to open the sealing cap Power-Time curve of this fuel cell are presented
of the fuel cell so that the gas can flow through in Figure 8 and Figure 9.
the fuel cell.
The third step is to connect the hydrogen System design
output of the storage tank to one of the hydro-
gen inputs of the fuel cell. The fan starts running The system design, as shown in Figure 10,
owing to the electric power generated by the compromises of the following components:
fuel cell stack. 1. PV modules
The electrical energy that comes from solar 2. Inverter
PV modules combines with the water in a device 3. Electrolyzer
known as electrolyzer. The electrolyzer generates 4. Hydrogen storage tank
hydrogen H2 and byproducts gas O2. H2 is stored 5. PEM fuel cell
in storage tanks for later use. When it is required 6. Water source (water tank)

Figure 5. The hybrid system (PV-PEMFC) for energy production [5]

Figure 6. Experimental setup components

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 Journal of Ecological Engineering Vol. 20(9), 2019

Figure 7. Lab experiment

Figure 8. Characteristics I-V curve of experimental fuel cell

The system working process starts with the Sample calculations:

PV modules generating DC electricity during sun
hours, this electricity is either fed directly to the Ed = 8.660 kWh/day.
electrolyzer or to the inverter. The inverter chang- Annual irradiation = 5.62 kWh/m²/day.
es DC to AC to power house appliances. The ex- Efficiency of electricity system =
cess electricity is fed to electrolyzer which uses = eff. of inverter · eff. of panel ·
it to split water into H2 and O2. O2 is ejected to (2)
· eff. of electrolyzer · eff. of fuel cell =
ambient air while H2 is stored in the storage tanks. = 0.97 · 0.162 · 0.79 · 0.48 = 0.06 = 6%
Later, at times of low or no sufficient solar energy
to meet the load, hydrogen is drawn from storage
tanks and fed into the fuel cell to produce electric- Ppv = Ed / (PSH · eff.) = 8.66 / (5.62 · 0.06) = 25.68 kWh
ity that meets the supply shortage. (3)
The assumptions in Table 1 abovePpv were= Ed / (PSH · eff.) = 8.66 / (5.62 · 0.06) = 25.68 kWh
made
to size the required PV system to cover the de-
mand of small house in Amman. Monthly radia- PV module = 315 W.
tion in Amman is presented in Figure 11. Number of panels = 82.

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Journal of Ecological Engineering Vol. 20(9), 2019

Figure 9. Power-Time curve of experimental fuel cell

Figure 10. System process

System size = 315·90 = 28.35 kWp, On the basis of unit conversion data for
10% oversize. hydrogen:
Storage = (Number of days · Energy daily) / •• 1 m3 gas è 0.08988 kg
/ (allowable depth of discharge · eff. electrolyzer) = (4) •• 0.17446154 m3 è 0.0156 kg
= 2 · 5.620 / 1·0.79 = 14.23 kWh

Experimental fuel cell storage: Modeling and simulation

•• 13 W (PV) = 80 cm3 hydrogen tank
HOMER is a computer model that simpli-
House PV system storage:
fies the task of designing hybrid renewable
•• 28350 W (PV) = 174461.54 cm3 hydrogen
micro-grids, whether remote or attached to a
tank
larger grid. Optimization and sensitivity analy-
Storage tank needed = 0.17446154 m3 at at- sis algorithms allow to evaluate the economic
mospheric pressure. and technical feasibility of a large number of

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 Journal of Ecological Engineering Vol. 20(9), 2019

technology options and to account for varia- CONCLUSION

tions in technology costs and energy resource
availability. Solar hydrogen system used as an energy sup-
Different sizes and ranges of each compo- ply is a good solution to solve the fuel logistic
nent inside the system have been used in model- problem for remote, desert areas in Amman that
ing and simulation the proposed problem. The can at least be capable of providing necessary
figure below shows the model generated using light and power. In this study, we have showed
HOMER software. This model analyzes a stand- an example of sizing of a solar generator that
alone PV-hydrogen system. can make a stand-alone hybrid power generation
Excess solar power goes to the electrolyzer,
which generates hydrogen for storage in the hy- Table 1: House load assumptions
drogen tank. The fuel cell generates electricity us- Avg hrs/
Appliance Power No. Avg Wh/day
ing the hydrogen stored as fuel. day
Figure 12 shows this model on HOMER. Light 11 20 4 880
TV 60 2 5 600
Computer 60 1 3 180
Refrigerator 80 1 24 1920
RESULTS Kettle 1000 1 0.2 200
Microwave 700 1 0.4 280
After using simulations and calculations by Food processor 400 2 0.15 120
HOMER® software, the following results were Washing
800 1 0.6 480
obtained; PV system is 10kW, PEMFC is 1kW machine
and H2 Storage is 5kg. Detailed results are shown A/C unit 1000 2 2 4000

in Figures 13, 14, 15 and 16. Total Wh / day 8660

Figure 11: PVGIS monthly radiation in Amman.

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Journal of Ecological Engineering Vol. 20(9), 2019

system, mainly with the production of hydrogen gas, or in metal hydrides that have a high ener-
needed to run a PEMFC fuel cell. gy per unit mass on a system basis, without the
Since no fuel is burned to make energy, fuel self-discharge of a battery. The simulation results
cells are fundamentally more efficient than the showed that using a solar-hydrogen system can
combustion systems. Fuel cells are considered reduce the size of a PV system.
environmental friendly, as hydrogen is a low-car- Due to fuel cells technology, hydrogen can be
bon energy source. used for inter-season storage. The excess electric-
The advantage of using hydrogen for energy ity production in summer can be used to cover the
storage is that it can be stored as a compressed heating load in winter.

Figure 12. Stand-alone solar-hydrogen system

Figure 13. Monthly average electric production

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 Journal of Ecological Engineering Vol. 20(9), 2019

Figure 14. Monthly PV output

Figure 15. Monthly PEMFC output

Figure 16. Monthly average H2 production

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REFERENCES tion models for solar-hydrogen systems, Sol. En-

ergy, 59, no. 4–6–6 pt 4, 271–279.
1. J. Larminie and A. Dicks. 2003. Fuel cell systems 4. X.X. Dou and J. Andrews. 2012. Design of a dy-
explained. namic control system for standalone solar-hydro-
2. J.H. Wee. 2007. Applications of proton exchange gen power generation, Procedia Eng., 49, 107–115.
membrane fuel cell systems, Renew. Sustain. En- 5. A. Djafour, M.S. Aida, and B. Azoui. 2014. Pho-
ergy Rev., 11(8), 1720–1738. tovoltaic assisted fuel cell power systems, Energy
3. Ulleberg and S.O. Mørner. 1997. TRNSYS simula- Procedia, 50, 306–313.

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