Construction of a fuel cell system with DC power distribution for residential applications

Abstract

In recent years, fuel cell systems have been popular as electricity production systems these are clean, environmental-friendly, modular, and independent from fossil fuels. In Pamukkale University Clean Energy House, Denizli-Turkey, 1.2 kWp hydrogen-fuel cell-DC micro grid system was set up to investigate the fuel cells with DC power distribution. In the system, electricity is generated by 1.2 kWp PEM fuel cell unit. Hydrogen is transformed to DC electrical energy by fuel cell in the case of its necessity and then, DC electricity produced by fuel cell is distributed via DC power box consisting of 2 DC/DC converters, circuit breakers and monitored by data acquisition equipments. DC electricity is consumed by DC loads such as 44 lamps, freezer/refrigerator, 2 fans, TV, vacuum cleaner and circulation pump. In this study, a fuel cell system with DC power distribution grid under different DC load conditions is investigated. © 2011, Hydrogen Energy Publications, LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.