Fuel Cell Application for Investigating the Quality of Electricity from Ship Hybrid Power Sources

Since recent marine application of fuel cell systems has been due largely limited to small-sized ships, this paper was aimed to investigate the technical applicability of molten carbonate fuel cell (MCFC) for medium and large-sized ships, using a 180 kW class hybrid test bed with combined power sources: A 100 kW MCFC, a 30 kW battery and a 50 kW diesel generator. This study focused primarily on determining whether the combined system designed in consideration of actual marine power system configuration could function properly. A case study was conducted with a 5500 Twenty-foot Equivalent Unit (TEU) container vessel. The operation profile was collected and analyzed in order to develop electric load scenarios applicable to the power system. Throughout the experiment, we evaluated the power quality of the voltage and frequency in the process of synchronization and de-synchronization across the power sources. Therefore, research results revealed that power quality continued to be excellent. This outcome provides insight into the technical reliability of MCFC application on large marine vessels.