Electric storage augmentation of fuel cell response to AC system transients
First Claim
1. Apparatus comprising:
- a fuel cell power plant;
a primary DC/AC inverter receiving DC power from said fuel cell power plant and providing three-phase AC power to three-phase power lines;
an energy storage device; and
a bidirectional DC/AC converter connectable from said energy storage device to said three-phase power lines, whereby to augment the response of said fuel cell power plant and said inverter to transients on said lines.
1 Assignment
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Accused Products
Abstract
A fuel cell power plant (9) provides DC power to an inverter (12) which provides power to three-phase power lines (16) which are connectable to a power grid (18) by switches (17), and which are connected to a critical customer load (30). An energy storage device (40) provides DC power to a bidirectional DC/AC converter (36) which is connectable through switches (34) to said three-phase power lines or to said power grid. A diode (45) may passively provide fuel cell power plant energy directly to the energy storage device so as to charge it, or bypass the primary DC/AC inverter in the event that it fails. Lapses in power caused by the inverter shutting down due to perturbations on the grid are avoided by power supplied by the converter using energy from the energy storage device.
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Citations
6 Claims
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1. Apparatus comprising:
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a fuel cell power plant;
a primary DC/AC inverter receiving DC power from said fuel cell power plant and providing three-phase AC power to three-phase power lines;
an energy storage device; and
a bidirectional DC/AC converter connectable from said energy storage device to said three-phase power lines, whereby to augment the response of said fuel cell power plant and said inverter to transients on said lines. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
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Specification