SOFC 5 kWe CHP field unit: effect of the methane dilution

Massimo Santarelli (1) , Marcello Gariglio (2) , Ferrante de Benedictis (3) , Francesco Delloro (2) , Michele Cali' (2) , Gianmichele Orsello (3)

1 Energetics
2 Energetics
3 TurboCare spa

TurboCare and Politecnico di Torino (Italy), have installed a SOFC laboratory in order to analyze the operation of two SOFC generators (Project EOS-100 kW and EBE-5 kW) built by Siemens Power Corporation (SPC). In the EBE project the installation of the SFC5 SOFC generator (3.5 kWe and 3 kWth) was carried out. To date, it has operated in the workshop canteen for more than 15,984 hours with very high reliability. The real stack is a complex system not installed in a Lab environment, and has several effects of not-homogeneity in terms of electrochemical response to fuel or air management modifications. Moreover, many of the parameters of the stack are not directly measurable, and have to be inferred by indirect measurements. In this paper, the analysis of the not homogeneous behaviour of the different segments of the complete stack is performed, through an experimental session using a not conventional fuel. The obtained data have been analyzed using the ANOVA for every dependent variable and a non-linear regression model for the voltage. Those models were used to evaluate the effect of the fuel modification on the local fuel utilization in different sectors of the stack.

Mots clés: Physical Sciences

Massimo Santarelli, Marcello Gariglio, Ferrante de Benedictis, Francesco Delloro, Michele Cali', et al.. SOFC 5 kWe CHP field unit: effect of the methane dilution. Fuel Cells, 2010, 10 (3), pp.453. ⟨10.1002/fuce.200900096⟩. ⟨hal-00552357⟩