Method for controlling an electrolysis system taking into account the temperature of the electrolyser modules of the said electrolysis system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016104908-A1
Application number	US-201514880771-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Oct 12, 2015
Priority date	Oct 13, 2014
Publication date	Apr 14, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

The method for controlling an electrolysis system ( 1 ) which comprises a plurality of electrolyser modules ( 2 ) and is designed to cooperate with a system ( 3 ) for supplying electric energy which uses an intermittent energy source comprises: a step (E 1 ) of determining an available electric power which the electric energy supply system ( 3 ) can provide; a step (E 2 ) of evaluating a suitable number N e of electrolyser modules ( 2 ) to be used according to the available electric power; a step (E3) of selecting electrolyser modules ( 2 ) to be supplied electrically, taking into account the number evaluated N c ; a step (E 4 ) of determining the temperature of each electrolyser module selected; and a step (E 5 ) of supplying electrically the selected electrolyser modules ( 2 ) by the electric energy supply system according to a distribution of the available electric power depending on the temperatures determined (E 4 ) of each of the electrolyser modules selected.

First claim

1 . Method for controlling an electrolysis system which comprises a plurality of electrolyser modules and is designed to cooperate with an electric energy supply system which uses an intermittent energy source, the method comprising:
determining an available electric power which the electric energy supply system can provide; evaluating a suitable number N e of electrolyser modules to be used according to the determined available electric power; selecting electrolyser modules to be supplied electrically, taking into account the number evaluated N e ; determining a temperature of each of the electrolyser modules selected; supplying electrically the selected electrolyser modules by the electric energy supply system according to a distribution of the determined available electric power depending on the determined temperature of each of the electrolyser modules selected.

2 . Method according to claim 1 , wherein with each electrolyser module being configured to adopt (i) an active state when the electrolyser module is supplied by the electric energy supply system, or (ii) an inactive state when the electrolyser module is not supplied by the electric energy supply system, the step of selecting the electrolyser modules comprises a step of determining a current number of active electrolyser modules.

3 . Method according claim 2 , wherein when the current number of active electrolyser modules determined is equal to the said number evaluated N e , then the selection step consists of selecting all the active electrolyser modules.

4 . Method according to claim 2 , wherein the step of selecting the electrolyser modules comprises a step of determining temperatures of at least some of the electrolyser modules.

5 . Method according to claim 4 ,
wherein with the determined current number of active electrolyser modules being greater than the number evaluated N e , the temperatures determined during the selection step are those of the active electrolyser modules, and the electrolyser modules selected by the selection step correspond to the N e active electrolyser modules with the highest temperatures, and wherein the step of supplying electrically the electrolyser modules selected consists of supplying electrically only the electrolyser modules selected.

6 . Method according to claim 4 ,
wherein with the current number of active electrolyser modules determined being lower than the number evaluated N e , the temperatures determined during the selection step are those of the inactive electrolyser modules, and the electrolyser modules selected by the selection step correspond to the active electrolyser modules plus at least one inactive electrolyser module, the temperature of which determined during the selection step is the highest, and wherein the step supplying electrically the electrolyser modules selected consists of supplying electrically only the electrolyser modules selected.

7 . Method according to claim 1 , wherein the step of evaluating the suitable number N e of electrolyser modules to be used is calculated from the following equation:

NB

WHOLE


(

Pavailable
Pmax_module

)

+
1

where P available is the determined available electric power, P max _ module is the maximum power which each electrolyser module can receive, and NB WHOLE is the function which provides a whole value of the ratio

Pavailable
Pmax_module

.

8 . Method according to claim 1 , comprising determining the distribution of the determined available electric power
wherein the step of determining the distribution comprises, for each electrolyser module selected:
determining a theoretical optimised coefficient of distribution of the determined available electric power, taking into account the determined temperature of the electrolyser module selected;
determining a real coefficient of distribution to be used for the electrolyser module selected, taking into account the corresponding theoretical optimised coefficient; and
wherein the step of determining the distribution comprises adjusting the real coefficients.

9 . Method according to claim 8 ,
wherein a difference between each optimised theoretical coefficient and the corresponding real coefficient is minimized, and wherein the minimisation takes into account the following constraints:
the sum of the real coefficients of the electrolyser modules selected is equal to 1;
for each electrolyser module selected, the corresponding real coefficient is less than, or equal to, the maximum power of the electrolyser module selected divided by the determined available electric power;
for each electrolyser module selected, the corresponding real coefficient is higher than, or equal to, a minimum power of the electrolyser module selected divided by the number evaluated N e .

10 . Energy storage installation in the form of a product containing hydrogen, comprising:
an electric energy supply system configured to exploit an intermittent energy source; an electrolysis system comprising a plurality of electrolyser modules, and configured to cooperate with the electric energy supply system; a module to control the installation, comprising hardware and software elements for implementation of the method according to claim 1 .

11 . Method according to claim 8 , wherein in the step of adjusting the real coefficients, a difference between each optimised theoretical coefficient and the corresponding real coefficient is minimized.

12 . Method according to claim 2 , wherein the step of evaluating the suitable number N e of electrolyser modules to be used is calculated from the following equation:

NB

WHOLE


(

Pavailable
Pmax_module

)

+
1

where P available is the determined available electric power, P max _ module is the maximum power which each electrolyser module can receive, and NB WHOLE is the function which provides a whole value of the ratio

Pavailable
Pmax_module

.

13 . Method according to claim 2 , comprising determining the distribution of the determined available electric power,
wherein the step of determining the distribution comprises, for each electrolyser module selected:
determining a theoretical optimised coefficient of distribution of the determined available electric power, taking into account the determined temperature of the electrolyser module selected;
determining a real coefficient of distribution to be used for the electrolyser module selected, taking into account the corresponding theoretical optimised coefficient; and
whe

Assignees

• Commissariat Energie Atomique

Inventors

• Lopez Mathias
• Bourasseau Cyril

Classifications

• Y02E60/36

  Hydrogen production from non-carbon containing sources, e.g. by water electrolysis · CPC title

• C25B1/04 Primary

  by electrolysis of water · CPC title

• C25B15/02

  Process control or regulation · CPC title

• H01M8/0656 Primary

  by electrochemical means (H01M8/065 takes precedence) · CPC title

• H01M2250/10

  Fuel cells in stationary systems, e.g. emergency power source in plant · CPC title