MJAE Volume 41 Issue 4 Pages 341-358
MJAE Volume 41 Issue 4 Pages 341-358
greatest solution to this issue is to suggest a hybrid energy system that incorporates energy-
efficient practices (Kamal & Hassan, 2016). Hydrogen is an adaptable energy carrier that may
be used to satisfy virtually any end-use energy need. (Roy & Pramanik, 2023). A fuel- cell is
a type of electrochemical gadget. Employs fuel source, such as hydrogen, and an oxidant to generate
electricity. A fuel- cell, like the batteries found under the hoods of vehicles or in flashlights,
transforms chemical energy to electrical energy. Fuel- cells have various advantages over traditional
power sources such as internal combustion engines and batteries. Fuel -cells can reduce pollution
resulting from the combustion of fossil fuels; only byproduct of hydrogen fuel cells at the time of
use is water. They are more fuel-efficient, make less noise, and emit no hazardous pollutants at the
time of use. (Chakraborty et al., 2022). Several research works have been reported in literature
on fuel cell systems depending on methanol fuel cell. The aim of this research is to develop a
hybrid PV/fuel cell system for remote desert areas in Egypt, where the remote desert area lacks
both electricity and other sources of energy. In addition, all the traditional sources of energy
harm the environment by increasing the carbon dioxide in the environment, which may cause
the destruction of the ozone layer. Due to the above obstacles in the Egyptian desert, the hybrid
PV/fuel cell will offer a good environment-saving solution It also aims to create a mathematical
model that simulates the hybrid energy system of solar energy and hydrogen fuel cells, as it was
used to a simulation software, or model, was created for the system using a mathematical
approach. Using various mass fluxes of air and salt water, the HF membranes' performance was
evaluated in order to maximize the system's operational efficiency (Elewa et al., 2023).
The work aims to develop a hybrid energy system that can meet specific system requirements
both day and night. A computer program will describe the system, determine solar panel energy,
fuel cell stacks energy, and hydrogen flow rate from electrolyzer. It will also calculate the
number of needed units in all phases of hybrid system.
2. MATERIALS AND METHODS
2.1. Materials:
Figures 1 show the hybrid solar-proton exchange membrane fuel cells system as a renewable
energy system consists mainly of five main units a photovoltaic panels unit, an inverter unit,
hydrogen electrolyzer, hydrogen tanks, and a fuel cell.
𝜎∗𝐿
Ro = ……………………………………………………………………………..(2)
𝐴
Where:
Ro: the initial load resistant in (Ω).
𝜎 : The specific resistance of the wire material in Ω.m is (0.0000172 Ω.m) for copper.
L: Length of the wire in m (0.485m)
A: wire section area in m2 , ( the radius r 0.002 m )
α: coefficient of resistivity in ℃-1 (0.1)
ΔT: temperature change in ℃.
The efficiency of the fuel cell stuck (ηstk) According (Omran et al., 2021) , stuck (ηstk) can be
calculated by dividing its output power (Pout) by its input power.
The stuck efficiency is calculated by:
𝑃𝑠𝑡𝑘 − 𝑃𝑎𝑢𝑥 𝑃𝑠𝑡𝑘 − 𝑃𝑎𝑢𝑥
𝜂 𝑠𝑡𝑘 = = ……………………………………………….(4)
𝑃𝐻2 𝑉̇𝐻2 𝑄𝐿𝐻𝑉,𝐻2
Where:
PH2 is the hydrogen's power input (W), which is calculated by multiplying the lower heating
value QLHV, H2 (Wh/l) by the hydrogen's flow rate V̇_H2 (l/h).
PH2 = 𝑉̇𝐻2 ∗ 𝑄𝐿𝐻𝑉,𝐻2 = 2.8 𝑉̇𝐻2 ……………………………………….………………….…(5)
Where: 2.8 is a constant equivalent the value of LHVH2 (Wh/l).
2.3.2. Mathematical consideration of wet electrolyzer:
One promising approach for producing green hydrogen using renewable energy is water electrolysis
(Shen et al., 2011).
1
𝐻2 𝑂 + 𝐸𝑙𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑟𝑖𝑐𝑖𝑡𝑦 = 𝐻2 + 2 𝑂 2 ………………..………..…………………...(6)
To ascertain the overall rate of hydrogen production in the electrolyzer, which is made up of many
parallel cell connections, the (Koundi & EL FADIL, 2019) equation for operation is stated below.
𝑛𝑐 𝑅 𝑎 𝐼𝑒𝑧 𝑇
𝑉 𝑒𝑧 𝐻2 = * 3600 *1000 …………..………………………………...(7)
𝑧 𝑃 𝐹
characteristics make MATLAB a formidable research and useful problem-solving tool, as well
as an outstanding language for teaching. Simulink, Dynamic system simulation software, such
as a MATLAB toolbox, offers an easy-to-use interface for building equation-based system
models. GUIDE, a tool used by MATLAB to develop GUIs, lets users design gueridons that
incorporate graphical elements. A graphical user interface program (GUI) consists of buttons,
text fields, sliders, and menus, among other graphical features. These definitions are not
unfamiliar to most computer users. GUIs control how the user and the MATLAB computational
engine communicate (Altintas, 2011).
To demonstrate the system and validate the experimental results, a computer program was
developed, and a software program was created using MATLAB R2021a version 9.10.0.16. In
this application, the system consisting of three stages was implemented: the fuel cell unit, the
electrolyzer unit, which produces hydrogen, and the solar cell unit. The equations for each unit
or each stage were applied. Of the three stages, the three stages were also linked as a single
system to achieve the goal, which is to produce an integrated renewable energy system during
daylight hours and night hours without the need to connect to the electricity grid or use batteries
and produce the energy required for a specific energy load. The flow chart of our hybrid system
shows the diagram and flow of equations, inputs, and outputs. For each stage, as shown in
Figure (7).
Figure (8) also shows the graphical interface of the implemented application for the hybrid
energy system of solar and hydrogen fuel cell energy, which shows the 22 buttons of inputs to
the program, which consists of five inputs for the solar energy unit, which are solar panel Area
(A) in m2, solar radiation on tilted panels (H) in W/m2, number of PV panel units (npv),
Performance Ratio of PV panel (PR) and Power of one Panel (Ppanel) in W. seven inputs for the
hydrogen production unit, which are number of electrolyzer slices (nc) in parallel from 1 to 10,
Area of electrolytic slices (a) in cm2, number of electrolyzer units (nez), consumed power of one
electrolyzer unit (Pez) in W, electrolyzer current (Iez) in A/cm2, operating temperature (T) in K˚
and operating pressure (P) in pa. nine inputs for the hydrogen fuel cell unit contain three
Parameters of Load resistance (Rstk) the specific resistance of the wire material (σ) in Ω.m, Wire
length (L) in m and Wire radius (r) in m, three Parameters show the effect of temperature in
resistance (ΔT) the initial operation temperature (Ti) in ℃, final operation temperature (Tf) in
℃ and Coefficient of resistivity (α) in ℃-1, other Parameters like number of fuel cell stakes
units, stake voltage (V) in volt and minus power consumption of one fuel cell unit ,in addition
to Average load usage (L) in W.
The output data consists of 10 data which are the power of one photovoltaic panel generated
(Ppv) in W was calculated as shown in equation (8), total power of photovoltaic system
generated (TPpv) in W, hydrogen production rate from one electrolyzer unit (Vez_H2) in l/h was
calculated as shown in equation (7), hydrogen production rate from all electrolyzer units
(TVez_H2) in l/h, Power of one fuel cell unit (Pstk) in W was calculated as shown in equation (1),
total Power of fuel cell units (Pfc) W, Fuel cell efficiency % (ηstk) was calculated as shown in
equation (4), number of designed fuel cell units(nfc), number of designed electrolyzer units (nez)
and number of designed PV panels (npv). There is also a graph showing the relationship between
the efficiency of the fuel -cell stack and the- actual power produced from the fuel- cell unit.
Fig. (7): hybrid system PV/FC Renewable Energy Flow Chart (continued).
Fig. (7): hybrid system PV/FC Renewable Energy Flow Chart (continued).
Fig. (8): MATLAB graphical user interface of the hybrid energy system of solar and
hydrogen fuel cell energy.
Fig. (10): shows hourly profiles solar radiation at the experimental site W/m2
on August 1, 2021.
4. CONCLUSION
The research aims to develop a hybrid energy system capable of meeting the requirements of a
specific system during the day and night. The hybrid system consists of three basic units:
photovoltaic cells, an electrolyzer to produce hydrogen, and hydrogen fuel cells. During the
day, the system relies on several photovoltaic cell units sufficient to produce the energy required
to operate the system and sufficient to operate a number of electrolyzer units to produce the
required hydrogen rate to feed the fuel cells at night. During the night and in the absence of
sunlight, the system relies on hydrogen fuel cells to provide the energy required for the system.
Thus, the hybrid energy system is suitable for providing energy even in remote areas far from
the electricity grid because it relies entirely on renewable energy sources throughout the day. A
computer program is implemented that can describe the hybrid energy system and determining
the results obtained during each of the three stages and predicting the performance of each
stage. The number of required and sufficient units of photovoltaic cells, electrolyzers, and fuel
cells and their specifications can be determined. In general, at each stage there is a great
agreement between the experimental results and the mathematical model used. This agreement
includes the solar panel power generation stage used in the presence of sunlight, the hydrogen
production stage from the water electrolyzer, and the hydrogen fuel cell power generation stage
used in the absence of sunlight.
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نظام هجين جديد باستخدام الطاقة الشمسية الكهروضوئية وخاليا وقود الهيدروجين
أ.د .عبد الوهاب شلبي قاسم ،١م.م .أميرة عيسى علي عيسى ،٢أ.د .عبد هللا مسعد زين الدين،١
د .سامي جمعة حميدة 3و أ.د .عبد العزيز إبراهيم عمارة١