Distributed generation system using wind/photovoltaic/fuel cell

This dissertation investigates the performance and the operation of a distributed generation (DG) power system using wind/photovoltaic/fuel cell (W/PV/FC). The power system consists of a 2500 W photovoltaic array subsystem, a 500 W proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) stack subsystem, 300 W wind turbine, 500 W wind turbine, and 1500 W wind energy conversion subsystems. To extract maximum power from the PV, a maximum power point tracker was designed and fabricated. A 4 kW single phase inverter was used to convert the DC voltage to AC voltage; also a 44 kWh battery bank was used to store energy and prevent fluctuation of the power output of the DG system. To connect the fuel cell to the batteries, a DC/DC controller was designed and fabricated. To monitor and study the performance of the DG system under variable conditions, a data acquisition system was designed and installed.; The fuel cell subsystem performance was evaluated under standalone operation using a variable resistance and under interactive mode, connected to the batteries. The manufacturing data and the experimental data were used to develop an electrical circuit model to the fuel cell. Furthermore, harmonic analysis of the DG system was investigated. For an inverter, the AC voltage delivered to the grid changed depending on the time, load, and electronic equipment that was connected. The quality of the DG system was evaluated by investigating the harmonics generated by the power electronics converters. Finally, each individual subsystem of the DG system was modeled using the neuro-fuzzy approach. The model was used to predict the performance of the DG system under variable conditions, such as passing clouds and wind gust conditions. The steady-state behaviors of the model were validated by the experimental results under different operating conditions.