Study of dynamic performance of PEMFC-based CCHP system in a data center based on real-time load and a novel synergistic control method with variable working conditions

In this paper, the dynamic performance of Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell-based Combined Cooling Heating and Power (PEMFC-based CCHP) system combined with a data center real-time load is studied. A novel synergistic control method is proposed to achieve optimization of energy flow between system units under fluctuating load. First, the off-design working condition models of PEMFC-based CCHP system are constructed. The delay in the changes of data center temperature is considered because of the thermal inertia under dynamic conditions. Second, the dynamic performance of PEMFC-based CCHP system to step changes of data center load is analyzed. Third, to further reveal the energy flow between units, the units output under varying load conditions are compared under the constraints of power and refrigeration supply. Finally, the dynamic performance of PEMFC-based CCHP system under the traditional control method of following electric load are revealed. A novel synergistic control method for the PEMFC-based CCHP system is proposed by refining the traditional method to optimize the energy flow between units. The result presents that the average energy efficiency reaches 78.29 %. Compared with the following electric load method, the energy efficiency is increased by 6.02 %. The response time of synergistic control method is 27.0 ms. Improved energy efficiency and fast response have been achieved.