Study of molten carbonate fuel cell - microturbine hybrid power cycles

The interaction realized by fuel cell-microturbine hybrids derive primarily from using the rejected thermal energy and combustion of residual fuel from a fuel cell in driving the gas turbine. This leveraging of thermal energy makes the high temperature molten carbonate fuel cells (MCFCs) ideal candidates for hybrid systems. Use of a recuperator contributes to thermal efficiency by transferring heat from the gas turbine exhaust to the fuel and air used in the system. Traditional control design approaches, consider a fixed operating point in the hope that the resulting controller is robust enough to stabilize the system for different operating conditions. On the other hand, adaptive control incorporates the time-varying dynamical properties of the model (a new value of gas composition) and considers the disturbances acting at the plant (load power variation). (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.