Transfer function development for control of cathode airflow transients in fuel cell gas turbine hybrid systems

Direct-fired fuel cell gas turbine hybrid power system responses to open-loop transients were evaluated using a hardware-based simulation of an integrated solid oxide fuel cell gas turbine (SOFC/GT) hybrid system, implemented through the Hybrid Performance (Hyper) facility at the U.S. Department of Energy, National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL). A disturbance in the cathode inlet air mass flow was performed by manipulating a hot-air bypass valve implemented in the hardware component. Two tests were performed; the fuel cell stack subsystem numerical simulation model was both decoupled and fully coupled with the gas turbine hardware component. The dynamic responses of the entire SOFC/GT hybrid system were studied in this paper. The reduction of cathode airflow resulted in a sharp decrease and partial recovery of the fuel cell thermal effluent in 10 s. In contrast, the turbine rotational speed did not exhibit a similar trend. The transfer functions of several important variables in the fuel cell stack subsystem and gas turbine subsystem were developed to be used in the future control method development. The importance of the cathode airflow regulation was quantified through transfer functions. The management of cathode airflow was also suggested to be a potential strategy to increase the life of fuel cells by reducing the thermal impact of operational transients on the fuel cell subsystem.