Laura Andaloro

Development of a SOFC Hybrid System

With new technologies emerging and the existing ones evolving, the basis for having large centralised Combined Heat and Power (CHP) plants is slowly diminishing. Beside the increasing energy demand and the need to reduce CO2 emissions, the use of smaller decentralised CHP plants is becoming more interesting. Solid Oxide Fuel Cells (SOFC), thanks to their fuel flexibility (hydrogen, natural gas, propane, etc), are suitable to the above mentioned aims. From a storage point of view, in order to ensure increasing penetration of technologies related to renewable energies in decentralized generation, innovative devices that permit storage of energy must be considered. The most effective solution is the combination of renewable energies and secondary batteries. The paper explores the benefit of a hybrid system which combines the SOFC technology and a high temperature battery in a first step of the development process. A proper strategy is proposed using simulation and experimental results.

Fuel Cell Hybrid Electric Vehicles

Direct combustion of fuel for transportation accounts for over half of greenhouse gas emissions and a significant fraction of air pollutant emissions. Because of growing demand, especially in developing countries, emissions of greenhouse and air pollutants from fuels will grow over the next century even with improving of technology efficiency. Most issues are associated with the conventional engines, ICEs (internal-combustion engines), which primarily depend on hydrocarbon fuels. In this contest, different low-polluting vehicles and fuels have been proposed to improve environmental situation. Some vehicle technologies include advanced internal combustion engine (ICE), spark-ignition (SI) or compression ignition (CI) engines, hybrid electric vehicles (ICE/ HEVs), battery powered electric vehicles and fuel cell vehicles (FCVs). Fuel cell vehicles, using hydrogen, can potentially offer lower emissions than other alternative and possibility to use different primary fuel option (Ogden, 2005) (Fig. 1.).

Electrochemical energy storage mitigating impact of electric vehicle on the electric grid: Two Italian case studies

In the framework of the Italian R&D project i-Next two pilots plants were realized aiming at demonstrate benefits coming from the adoption of electrochemical energy storages (Lithium ion batteries and hydrogen) integrated with renewable energy sources. In the present study the preliminary results coming from the demo sites operations are reported paying attention to the impacts to the grid.

Electric vehicles charging stations network - A preliminary evaluation about Italian highways

Charging infrastructures have a fundamental role in the diffusion of Electrical Vehicles (EVs). An insufficient number of these could have negative effects on the EVs diffusion. This paper is going to analyze the Italian territory in order to provide an evaluation regarding the number of charging stations that Italian highways need. First of all attention was paid about the number of electrical vehicles situated in each Italian regions. Then, a cartographic study of the territory followed in order to identify the highways network and the traffic flow in it and a study of the main characteristics of the EVs over the past few years was carried. Finally, simulation results have demonstrated that the developed method supports the evaluation about the number of the charging stations that the Italian highways need.

Electric vehicles for urban logistics improvement

The use of EVs for distribution of goods and public transportation together with the legislation that allows only to the logistic vehicles and public vehicles to access in the city center will have a large positive environmental effect on both noise level and pollution. With the progress of alternative powertrains that reduce local emissions to zero, urban buses can now throw in to decarbonising road transport. Without a doubt, a number of cities are already paying attention on cleaner public transport, while many bus operators are renewing their fleet or deploying low-emission vehicles. About goods trucks, they can drive directly into centrally placed distribution hubs where the last mile delivery to the shops is made with smaller EVs driving predefined routes. This approach can potentially increase the utilization of the last-mile delivery vehicles and thereby reduce their number causing lowering distribution costs. Within the i-NEXT project (Innovation for Green Energy and eXchange in Transportation) CNR TAE Institute is involved in infrastructure, logistic and vehicle development with the aim to reduce the impact of transportation on the cities and touristic areas. The proposed project, according to the European Union action plan on urban mobility, aims to support innovation in transport, by promoting a system based on sustainable mobility and RES (Renewable Energy Sources), and by acting simultaneously on improving logistics and distribution channels. The goal of the project is to create next practice solutions, offer promising opportunities for urban logistics operations, in order to become both more efficient and more environmentally sustainable.

Modeling of a Range Extender Power Train for a City Bus

The H-BUS is a joint project of National Research Council of Italy and two supplier companies to develop a range extender Fuel Cell/Battery Hybrid Electric city bus. Within the project, CNR TAE Institute is involved in determining the optimal level of hybridization assessing all boundary conditions (mission, performances, hydrogen consuption, range, etc...). The paper reports the characterization results of the hybrid system which allowed the identification of the power and energy consumption. These data were the starting points to define the size of Batteries and Fuel Cell (FC) system and to optimize the batteries State of Charge (SoC). PEM (Polymer Electrolyte Membrane) and ZEBRA ® (Zero Emission Battery Research Activities) technologies have been selected for the fuel cell system and batteries, respectively.