A High-Temperature Valve Design for a Solid Oxide Fuel Cell/Gas Turbine Hybrid System
Abstract
Systems containing high heat generation require thermal management, especially in a solid oxide fuel cell gas turbine (SOFC/GT) hybrid system. The startup of each system in a standalone configuration may be a trivial approach, but when coupled together, different dynamics are experienced. The SOFC/GT provide high theoretical efficiency due to the ability to recover the extra heat produced by the fuel cell (FC) to drive the gas turbine (GT). After recovering the energy recuperated in the GT, the exhaust gas heats the cathode inlet flow to the FC which is an advantage during nominal operation of the cycle but not during startup. During startup of the SOFC/GT system, the turbine needs to startup as fast as possible where the surge is avoided and slow enough that the high heat of exhaust gas does not thermally shock the FC. Therefore, with a bypass valve integrated in this system it will help to control the air flow going towards the FC and GT. Although a high temperature valve can be custom design by any company, it can result very expensive. However, self-designing the valve has also led to many challenges by examining the properties of materials that can stand very high temperatures. Other challenges are the design of the valve built-in to the actual SOFC/GT hybrid system, testing in high temperatures, analyzing the composites’ displacement, tolerance at different voltage levels, and identifying how much flow rate will flow through the pipe or get blocked.
Subject Area
Mechanical engineering|Materials science|Systems science
Recommended Citation
Morales, Cynthia, "A High-Temperature Valve Design for a Solid Oxide Fuel Cell/Gas Turbine Hybrid System" (2020). ETD Collection for University of Texas, El Paso. AAI28088536.
https://scholarworks.utep.edu/dissertations/AAI28088536