FUJI ELECTRIC JOURNAL 2000 Vol.73-No.4
Present Status and Trends of Fuel-Cell Power Generation
Tomoyoshi Kamoshita, Noriyuki Nakajima
This paper reviews the system configurations, development status, and
future problems of Fuji Electric's phosphoric acid fuel cell
(PAFC) and polymer electrolyte fuel cell (PEFC), as well as other
companies' attitudes. As a PAFC plant is continuously working
over 10,000 hours, the reliability of the PAFC is considered to have
reached a commercial level. The PEFC itself has been improved enough in
reliability, and efforts are now concentrated on the application of
reformed gas to the system. Cost reduction is a prior subject in
commercializing them. Applications making the most of cleanness and
energy saving characteristic of fuel cells will be investigated.
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Application to Hotel of Fuel-Cell Power Units
Noriyuki Nakajima, Yoshimi Horiuchi
With the cooperation of Toho Gas Co., Ltd. Fuji Electric set up a 100kW
phosphoric acid fuel-cell unit in "Nagoya Sakae Washington Hotel
Plaza" in february 1999. In this case, the unit is used as a
cogeneration system. The low-temperature waste heat (about 50°C)
is used to preheat the feed water of the warm water heater. The
high-temperature waste heat (about 90°C) is used for the heat
source of air conditioning by the absorption machine and hot water tank.
The effect of fuel cell introduction on environmental preservation are
9.5% reduction in the amount of primary energy and 12% reduction in the
amount of carbon dioxide exhaust.
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Fuel-Cell Power Units Using Biogas from Garbage
Yoshitaka Togo, Noriyuki Nakajima, Kenichi Kuroda
Fuji Electric has so far accumulated technologies of applying liquid
petroleum gas (propane, butane, etc.), naphtha, and hydrogen, a
by-product from electrolytic plants, as well as town gas to the fuel of
phosphoric acid fuel-cell (PAFC) power generation. Recently, the
application of biogas produced by anaerobic processing of organic waste
has been under study. Now the opportunity is taken of participating
into the Kajima Corporation's project sponsored by New Energy and
Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO). This paper
outlines the features of PAFC power generation using biogas from garbage
and its experimental operation.
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Development of Phosphoric Acid Fuel Cells
Akitoshi Seya, Takashi Harada
Fuji Electric has continued improving the reliability and cost of
phosphoric acid fuel-cell stacks. We have developed a new stack of the
first commercial type. Based on the result of our basic studies on
phosphoric acid behavior, we developed a new cell, which is expected to
operate 60,000 hours without phosphoric acid replenishment. Also we
reconsidered the functions of the structural parts of the stuck to
reduce their costs and improved the reliability of the cooling plate.
The new stacks of the first commercial type continue satisfactory
operation on site. We are now pursuing an advanced type.
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Development of a Compact Reformer for Fuel Cell
Hirao Kudo, Hisanobu Yokoyama
In marketing fuel-cell power units, the most important problem is now
reduction in cost. The fuel reforming system is required to be
simplified and reduced in size as the whole system. The first phase of
the system improvement was the development of a reformer with a built-in
heat exchanger and a combination of a desulfurizer and a carbon monoxide
(CO) shift converter to reduce the number of components. In the second
phase, to reduce the reformer size developed in the first phase, a new
compact reformer is manufactured and evaluated. This paper describes
the development of the compact reformer.
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Development of On-Site Fuel-Cell Power Units
Takashi Ouchi, Masakazu Hasegawa, Harumasa Takeda
Fuji Electric has developed the second-phase commercial type of on-site
fuel-cell power units with the aim of further reducing cost, improving
durability, and enhancing functions. The first unit has been installed
in our factory and put in operation. In the development, the system has
been simplified and the number of parts has been reduced toward our
target cost of ¥400,000/kW. In addition, Fuji Electric is
tackling the developments of advanced functions such as steam extraction
and a system incorporating heat utilization equipment.
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Fuel Switching Technology in a Fuel-Cell Power Plant
Tadashi Komatsu, Yoshihito Chida, Donghui Xiang
Fuji Electric developed fuel switching technology for a fuel-cell power
unit in continuous operation and succeeded in the demonstrative test of
switching town gas to liquid petroleum gas (LPG) in a 100 kW fuel-cell
power plant. In fuel switching technology, it is important to control
reforming steam and adapt to variations in gas composition at the
reformer inlet. Fuji Electric made a dynamic model of a fuel switching
system to grasp the behavior of gas composition at each part and applied
the result to the demonstrative test.
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Development of Polymer Electrolyte Fuel Cells
Makoto Aoki, Akitoshi Seya
This paper outlines the development of Fuji Electric's polymer
electrolyte fuel cells (PEFCs). We intensively researched on the PEFC
without humidification which have the advantage of further improving in
reliability, cost, and size. The hydrogen-air PEFCs of a
50 cm
2 single
cell and a stack of ten 100 cm
2
cells reached stable and high
performance. A hydrogen-air 1 kW PEFC stack will soon be in operation
without humidification. We are also developing a reformed gas-air PEFC
stack and a PEFC fuel processor, and plan to develop a natural gas-air
PEFC system including other components in fiscal 2000.
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Development of an On-Site Hydrogen Generator
Kokan Kubota, Hideo Nishigaki
Fuji Electric and Osaka Gas Co., Ltd. developed the on-site hydrogen
generator "HG-100" which produces hydrogen from town gas
or propane gas. This equipment consists of a steam reforming unit, a
reformed gas compressor, and a pressure swing absorption unit. The main
specifications are :
(1) Output of hydrogen : 100 m
3/h (normal state).
(2) Hydrogen purity : 99.999% or higher.
(3) Town gas : 35 m
3/h (normal state).
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Development of Partial Oxidation Reforming Technology
Shunsuke Ohga, Toru Kiyota, Isao Nakagawa
Fuji Electric is developing a small methanol reforming system which
combines exothermic partial oxidation reforming and endothermic steam
reforming. The adavantage of the combined partial oxidation reforming
is the structure made simple and compact because the catalyst heating
structure is not necessary. The evaluation of the combined partial
oxidation reforming system with an output of
60 m
3/h
(Normal) hydrogen
proved that the combined method had a possibility of reducing the volume
per output to about a fifth compared with the former steam reforming method.
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Preventive Maintenance of Fuel-Cell Power Plants
Yoshihiro Oka, Makoto Mikami, Hideyuki Miwa
Fuji Electric is tackling improvement in cost and reliability with the
aim of commercializing on-site phosphoric acid fuel cells. This paper
describes the present status of the reliability based on the on-site
operation results and also preventive maintenance technology according
to plant data observation system supporting improvement in reliability.
The results of operation at more than 90 sites have been reflected and
steadily improved reliability. Especially, the reliability of the
second-generation and subsequent fuel-cell plants has almost reached a
commercial level.
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Present Status and Trends of Photovoltaic Generation Systems
Norio Kanie, Michiru Fujita
To prevent global warming, photovoltaic generation capable of converting
solar energy directly into electricity attracts attention. Fuji
Electric has been developing film-substrate, amorphous-silicon solar
cells which has lower efficiency than crystal silicon cells, but the
time in which the production energies of PV cell are withdrawn is short,
and it is possible to aim at making a low price. Also, we have
completed a series of inverters to convert generated DC into AC. In
addition, to reduce the influence of weather, we are developing a hybrid
system in which photovoltaic generation is combined with wind power or
micro hydropower generation.
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Development of Amorphous-Silicon Solar Cells
Yukimi Ichikawa, kouichi Harashima
Fuji Electric proposed an original monolithic series-connection
structure for amorphous-silicon (a-Si) solar cells "SCAF"
and has developed a-Si-based solar cells with plastic-film substrates.
On the basis of fundamental studies of fabrication technologies, we have
constructed a prototype mass-production line for 40 cm x 80 cm SCAF
solar cells and attained a conversion efficiency of 9%. Currently, the
device structure and process technology are under improvement to reach
10% efficiency. Application technology for a-Si solar cells is also
under development through field and durability tests.
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Photovoltaic System for Preserving Reservoir Water Quality
Souichirou Yamamoto, Masatoshi Ono
This system operates a series of equipment to collect, treat, and
discharge out the algae that grow in a reservoir. It consists of three
pieces of equipment : the photovoltaic generation and water quality
preservation system as the core installed on the surface of a reservoir
with the aim of preserving water quality, the electric ship
"Hidamari" to transport algae collected and treated by the
above-mentioned system, and the photovoltaic generation system installed
on shore to charge the ship. It was installed in fiscal 1998 and is
scheduled to be evaluated in cooperation with the Bureau of Waterworks,
Tokyo Metropolitan Government for four years from 1999 to 2002.
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Advanced Power conditioner for Photovoltaic Generating Systems
Satoshi Kusumoto, Masaki Kato, Hisashi Fujimoto
A photovoltaic power generation system consists of solar cells made of
silicon crystals, a current collector for photovoltaic power, and a
power conditioner to convert photovoltaic DC into power frequency AC.
The newly developed power conditioner is not of a conventional
transformer-insulating type but of a tranformerless type, and is
improved in size, weight, and efficiency. This paper describes two
types of power conditioners with a single-phase 200 V, 3.5 kW output for
home use and a three-phase 200 V, 10 kW output for industrial use.
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Demonstrative Research on a Hybrid System Using Photovoltaic Power and Micro Hydropower Generation
Hiromitsu Ota, Masahiro Sakurai, Norio Kanie
A demonstrative research on an independent hybrid system with
photovoltaic power generation and micro hydropower generation combined,
sponsored by New Energy and Industrial Technology Development
Organization, is implemented in the middle highland of Vietnam from
fiscal 1997 to 2000. It aims at optimizing the system configuration and
operations from the point of view of reliability and cost. The system
was completed in September 1999, and now data related to weather
conditions and system operation are being collected and analyzed.
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