An Investigation of Integration Strategies for Oxide Fuel Cells (SOFC) in HVAC Systems

Since oil and gas demand is increasing and we have serious problems such as exhausting of fossil resources and global warming, we need efficient energy systems and new conversion processes. Fuel cells and hybrid systems are advanced thermodynamic systems which have excellent capabilities in achieving high energy and reduced environmental loads. Among several fuel cell types available currently, SOFC was chosen for this study because of its ability to be utilized as a cogeneration system. In addition, the operatingtemperature of SOFC fuel cells is high enough to provide sufficient heat for the fuel reforming process [ ]. This allows SOFCs to reform fuel internally which removes the need for expensive external reformers used to produce hydrogen in SOFCs. The high operating temperature also enables SOFCs to use the residual heat created as a byproduct of the power generation process for space and water heating, allowing SOFC to be used as a cogeneration system.This paper reviews different concepts/strategies for SOFC-based integration systems, which are opportune transformational energy-related technologies.

Keywords:

Solid oxide fuel cell , Integration strategy , Hybrid system