• Journal of Power Electronics
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.55-61
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• 2005

A fuel cell (FC) system includes a fuel processor plus subsystems to manage air, water, and thermal energy, and electric power. The overall system is high-priced and needs peripheral devices. In this paper, a FC simulator is designed and constructed with the electrical characteristics of a fuel cell generation (FCG) system, using uses a simple buck converter to overcome these disadvantages. The characteristic voltage and current (V-I) curve for the FC simulator is controlled by a simplified linear function. In addition, to verify FCG system performance and operation, a full-bridge DC/DC converter and a single-phase DC/AC inverter were designed and constructed for FC applications. Close agreement between the simulation and experimental results confirms the validity and usefulness of the proposed FC simulator.

• The Transactions of the Korean Institute of Power Electronics
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.37-44
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• 2013

In this paper, the characteristics of portable fuel cell system are introduced and the dynamic response of output voltage of fuel cell stack with internal humidifier is analyzed. When the output of the fuel cell (FC) stack is short-circuited for humidification, the output voltage of the FC stack rapidly drops. In order to maintain the load voltage in the required range, dynamic compensation methods are proposed: 1) installing a capacitor behind the output of the FC stack; 2) utilizing the bi-directional converter. Especially, bi-directional converter is used when short of the FC output is detected or predicted by algorithm using data which is measured during previous three cycles. These methods are simulated by PSIM 9.0, then experimental results from the fuel cell system prototype verify the validity of the proposed methods.

• Journal of Energy Engineering
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.251-258
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• 2016

This article reports current status of micro fuel cell-combined heat and power (${\mu}FC$-CHP) systems which utilize both power and heat generated by fuel cells. There are several options for constructing CHP systems and among them, fuel cells are the most useful and their total energy efficiency combining heat and power can reach up to about 90%. Fuel cells are classified as five types based on the electrolyte, but the most suitable fuel cell types for the ${\mu}FC$-CHP system are proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) and solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs). ${\mu}FC$-CHP systems have several advantages such as decrease of the transmission-distribution loss, reduced costs of electricity due to distributed power generation, and environmental-friendliness owing to zero emission. The main drawback of the ${\mu}FC$-CHP systems is the high initial investment, however, it keeps decreasing as the technology development reduces production costs. Currently, Japan is the most leading country of the ${\mu}FC$-CHP market, however, Korea tries to expand the market by planning the deployment of 1 million units of ${\mu}FC$-CHP systems and governmental subsidiary supporting of half of the install price. In this report, integration technologies for connecting FC and CHP, and technology trends of leading countries are presented as well.

• Journal of Advanced Marine Engineering and Technology
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• v.40 no.5
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• pp.429-436
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• 2016

Currently, many studies on green ships are under way. Fuel cell (FC) ships are of interest as future low-emission, fuel-efficient vessels. In this paper, a hybrid power management system for an FC ship was designed. The system consists of an FC, a battery, a unidirectional DC/DC converter, a bidirectional DC/DC converter, a filter, an inverter, and a propulsion component. To design the system, we analyze electric sources and converters, and create PLECS models of hybrid power management system. Then, we check the cold start sequence and perform a simulation to understand the characteristics of the hybrid power management system in an FC ship.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Gas
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.27-34
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• 2023

Using ammonia as fuel for solid oxide fuel (SOFC) cells has become an attractive topic nowadays due to its high efficiency, environmental friendliness, and ease of storage and transportation. Several configurations of ammonia-fed SOFC systems have been proposed and investigated, demonstrating high electrical efficiency. However, to further enhance efficiency, it is crucial to understand the inefficient components of the system. The exergy concept is well-suited for this purpose, making exergetic analysis essential for ammonia-fed SOFC systems. This study conducts an exergetic analysis for three selected systems: a simple fuel cell system (FC), an anode off-gas recirculation system (RC-FC), and a recirculation system with water removal (RC-WR-FC). The results reveal that the exergetic efficiencies of the FC, RC-FC, and RC-WR-FC are 48.7%, 51.6%, and 58.4%, respectively. In all three systems, the SOFC stack is the main source of exergy destruction. However, other components with relatively low exergetic efficiency, such as the burner, air heat exchanger, and cooler/condenser, offer greater opportunities for improvement.

• Journal of Advanced Marine Engineering and Technology
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• v.31 no.8
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• pp.911-917
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• 2007

Global primary energy demand is projected to increase by 1.7% per year from 2000 to 2030. Almost three-quaters of the increase in demand will come from the transportation sector. Fuel cell hybrid vehicle technology has the potential to significantly reduce energy and harmful emissions, as well as our dependence on foreign oil. In this paper, a systematic and logical methodology is developed and improved mainly to design light duty fuel cell hybrid electric vehicle. We investigated structure and characteristics of light duty FC hybrid vehicle carefully. It can easily be expanded to analyze vehicle-to-grid power connectable plug-in NeHEV. A fuel cell hybrid neighbourhood electric vehicle configuration has been studied in-depth utilizing the proposed methodology.

• Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
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• 2005.10c
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• pp.329-333
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• 2005

In this study paper, a 3[kW] Fuel Cell Generation (FCG)system with Fuel Cell(FC)simulator has been proposed. The developed FC simulator generates the actual voltage and current output characteristics of the Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell (PEMFC), so that the overall performance and the dynamics of the proposed system could be effectively examined and tested. In this paper, at first, the system configuration and operational principle of the developed FC simulator has been investigated and the design process of the FCG system is explained in detail. In addition, the validity of the proposed system has been verified by the informative simulation and experimental results.

• The Transactions of The Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers
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• v.58 no.11
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• pp.2200-2208
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• 2009

This paper presents a novel single converter and single inverter (1Con-1Inv) topology for photovoltaic (PV)-fuel cell (FC) hybrid system and a new control scheme for the PV-FC hybrid system is then proposed. The new topology and the unique algorithm can minimize volume and production cost of the hybrid system. Moreover, system efficiency can improve due to reduction of losses of hardware components and other control factors are well regulated using just 1Con-1Inv with the help of the proposed control algorithm. The validity of proposed algorithm is verified both computer simulation using PSIM and Matlab/Simulink program and experimental with 700W of PV and 600W of FC system.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.481-487
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• 2011

A fuel cell vehicle using a polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell (PEM FC) as power source produces electric power by consuming the fuel, hydrogen. The unconsumed hydrogen is recirculated and reused to gain higer stack efficiency and to maintain the humidity in the anode side of the stack. So it is needed considering fuel efficiency to recirculated hydrogen. In this study, the indirect hydrogen recirculation flow rate measurement method for fuel cell vehicle is presented. By modeling of a convergent nozzle ejector and a hydrogen recirculation blower for the hydrogen recirculation of a PEM FC, the hydrogen recirculation flow rate was calculated by means of the mass balance and heat balance at Anode In/Outlet.

• ETRI Journal
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• v.44 no.4
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• pp.695-707
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• 2022

As for the insufficient nature of the fossil fuel resources, the renewable energies as alternative fuels are imperative and highly heeded. To deliver the required electric power to the industrial and domestic consumers from DC renewable energy sources like fuel cell (FC), the power converter operates as an adjustable interface device. This paper suggests a new boost structure to provide the required voltage with wide range gain for FC power source. The proposed structure based on the boost converter and the quazi network, the so-called SBQN, can effectively enhance the FC functionality against its high operational sensitivity to experience low current ripple and also propagate voltage and current with low stress across its semiconductors. Furthermore, the switching power losses have been decreased to make this structure more durable. A full operational analysis of the proposed SBQN and its advantages over the conventional and famous structures has been compared and explained. Furthermore, a prototype of the single-phase converter has been constructed and tested in the laboratory.