The development of control strategy for solid oxide fuel cell and micro gas turbine hybrid power system in ship application

A solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) and micro gas turbine (MGT) hybrid power system is a newly developed and promising power technology for ship power systems. Compared to conventional power plants on commercial ship, the technology can achieve a high efficiency (up to 80 %) and very low emission (up to zero) [1]. However, working as a marine power provider onboard ship, the control strategy of the hybrid system is one of the key challenges due to the requirement of balance between power generation from the SOFC's chemical reaction and the MGT's rotation mechanical power generation. In this paper, based on a system model, the control strategy for the hybrid power systems is presented. To get the maximum efficiency, the control of key parameters of the SOFC, such as stack temperature, fuel flow rate, fuel utilization and related power have been investigated and the control of power sharing between the two power sources of SOFC and MGT is proposed. The simulation results demonstrate that the control system can effectively control the SOFC and MGT subsystem and make them undertake their appropriate load separately with the forthcoming load.