Optimal Operation of Automotive Electrical System with Photovoltaic Generation and Three-level Battery Management Scheme

For many years, the electrical power requirements in Automotive Electrical System (AES) have been quickly increasing and are predicted to continue to climb. This trend is being pushed by the introduction of a slew of new vehicle features. The constant growth in power needs is stretching the limitations of current automotive power generation and control technologies, stimulating the development of higher-power and higher-voltage electrical systems and components. Electrical power on a vehicle is not free. It comes as a direct result of consuming fuel within the engine to drive the alternator. With a typical engine efficiency of 44% and with present fuel costs this leads to onboard electrical power costs 4 times more than a typical household utility rate. Global oil and gas resource depletion, as well as environmental concerns, have prompted the automobile industry to build more efficient and eco-friendly cars in order to minimize fuel use and safeguard the environment. In our proposed Automotive Electrical system configuration, we have an AES system which is powered by an automotive alternator and battery combination where the alternator is driven by an IC engine and we have a hybrid energy system using a Rooftop PV array with a battery management system (BMS). We discovered that during the off state, the whole load of the automobile is dependent on the 12Vlead acid battery for power, which causes the SOC to drop dramatically. As a result, the suggested model will include a flexible thin-film solar PV module positioned on the rooftop, which will be supported by a Maximum Power Point (MPPT) Tracking charge controller and will deliver energy to recharge the extra battery and meet the electrical requirements when the vehicle is stationary. When the vehicle is in motion, the existing alternator in the car's electrical system takes over the battery charging requirements, by this way, we can meet the electrical requirements of AES without running the engine for a long time by consuming fuel. The proposed model specialty is investigated using MATLAB/Simulink and compared with existing methods. Keywords: Automotive Electrical System (AES), Internal Combustion Engine (ICE), Hybrid Energy System, Rooftop PV array, Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT).

Possibility of Using Fuel Cells for Co-generation of Heat and Power in Venizelio Hospital in Crete, Greece

Mitigation of climate change requires the replacement of traditional energy technologies with novel low carbon energy systems. The possibility of using a fuel cell and a hybrid energy system consisted of a fuel cell and solar-PV panel for energy generation in Venizelio hospital located in Crete, Greece has been investigated. The size, the heat and electricity generated, the H2 required and the capital cost of the fuel cell and the solar-PV system covering the energy requirements in the hospital have been estimated. Existing research has indicated that fuel cells using H2 can cover the heat and electricity needs in various buildings. Our results indicated that a fuel cell at 1 397 KW can produce annually 4 895 MWhel and 4 895 MWhth covering all the electricity and heating needs in Venizelio hospital producing excess heat at 2 451 MWhth. The capital cost of the fuel cell has been calculated at 4 191 000 € while the required H2 at 367.5 tons/year. All the energy requirements of the hospital can be also covered with a hybrid energy system consisted of a fuel cell and a solar-PV system. The size of the fuel cell has been estimated at 697.5 KW and the cost at 2 092 500 €. The electricity generation was at 2 444 KWhel and its heat production at 2 444 KWhth. The size of the solar-PV system has been evaluated at 1 629 KWp and the cost at 1 634 000 €.The annual electricity generation was at 2 451 MWhel. The capital cost of the hybrid energy system at 3 726 500 € is lower than the cost of the fuel cell alone at 4 191 000 €. Our results indicated that the use of novel benign energy systems with zero carbon emissions in Venizelio hospital is technically and economically feasible.

Techno-Economic and Environmental Assessment of the Hybrid Energy System Considering Electric and Thermal Loads

Optimal sizing of hybrid energy systems has been considerably investigated in previous studies. Nevertheless, most studies only focused on providing AC electric loads by renewable energy sources (RESs) and energy storage systems (ESSs). In this paper, a hybrid energy system, including photovoltaic (PV) system, ESS, fuel cell (FC), natural gas (NG) boiler, thermal load controller (TLC), and converter is optimized for supplying different load demands. Three scenarios are introduced to investigate the feasibility of the energy system. Environmental aspects of each system are analyzed, as there are NG-consuming sources in the system structure. A sensitivity analysis is conducted on the influential parameters of the system, such as inflation rate and interest rate. Simulation results show that the proposed hybrid energy system is economically and technically feasible. The net present cost (NPC) and cost of energy (COE) of the system are obtained at $230,223 and $0.0409, respectively. The results indicate that the TLC plays a key role in the optimal operation of the PV system and the reduction in greenhouse gas emission productions.