(12c) Molten Carbonate Fuel Cell Hybrid Power System Simulation

Advancement in research of distributed generation of electrical power is a result of energy security issues and changing markets and technologies. Fuel cell hybrid technologies which integrate high temperature fuel cells with another power generation technology have promising abilities which make them an important research topic for development and commercialization. A hybrid system consisting of a Molten Carbonate Fuel Cells (MCFC) and gas Turbines has been considered as a distributed energy system. Steady state and dynamic models of the system was developed. The model was implemented using SIMULINK software and simulation of a plant trip, in which the fuel cell load starts at steady state and abruptly goes to zero has been performed. The steady state and dynamic behavior has been benchmarked with model results in literature. The model uses differential equations to calculate mass fractions, pressure, and temperature with basic simplifying assumptions.