An Energy Efficient Solution for Fuel Cell Heat Recovery in Zero-Emission Ferry Boats: Deep Deterministic Policy Gradient

All-electric ships (AES) are regarded as a promising solution for decreasing greenhouse gas emissions since they are able to utilize clean technologies like fuel cells instead of fossil fuel. A zero-emission hybrid energy system comprising the Proton Exchange Membrane (PEM) fuel cell, battery, cold-ironing, and Recuperative organic Rankine cycle (RORC) is scrutinized in this paper. To use the waste heat produced by PEM fuel cells, a hybrid system which is composed of PEM fuel cells and RORC is suggested. In order to analyze this zero-emission all-electric ship, the real data of a ferry boat, containing the load profiles and routes is used to appraise the possibility of the suggested hybrid system. The structure of the boat and energy sources, along with mathematical models, are represented and examined. Eventually, the hourly energy management of the boat for one specific day is analyzed, and also, to optimize the power dispatch, the Deep Deterministic Policy Gradient (DDPG) is applied in actor-critic architecture. To corroborate the proposed models, the MATLAB software is employed. According to obtained results, the proposed models could ensure effective and efficient ways in marine vessels due to not only their high performances but also permissible energy cost to be a zero-emission ship.

Automated summary

All-electric ships (AES) are considered a promising solution for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and a hybrid energy system comprising fuel cells and organic Rankine cycle is studied in this paper. Real data of a ferry boat is used to evaluate the proposed hybrid system's feasibility and energy management, with the application of Deep Deterministic Policy Gradient for power dispatch optimization. MATLAB software is employed to validate the models, showing effective and efficient ways in marine vessels for zero-emission ships.