Appliance Design - March 2008 - (Page 15)

POWER The evolution of Ballard’s fuel cell stack. The AP1, on the far left, was released in 2002 and had a projected lifespan of 5,000 hours. The AP2 (middle) was tested to 15,000 hours and was released in 2005. On the right is v.3 with 40,000 hours, it is lighter, but more durable. er, however, depending on the type of unit, they can also save energy in warm seasons by heating water used for showers, laundry, dishwashing, and so forth. So their utility is more than seasonal. In addition to serving the homeowner, micro CHP units can serve society in general by helping out the local electric utility. That’s because, in some cases, when the amount of energy generated by a micro CHP is greater than what is needed, this excess can be sold back to the utility company through a process known as net metering. More than 40 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, have some form of net metering program, originally designed to promote solar power and cogeneration technologies. In these projects, the excess energy can be sold back to the utility and be used for credit against future power use. Again, if such units were widely deployed, the cumulative excess electricity they produced and fed back into the grid could help power companies meet the challenges of high peak demand periods and reduce the need for constructing more power plants. Micro CHP is an umbrella concept that encompasses the macro idea of generating heat and power from the same energy conversion. According to Thomas Butcher, a micro CHP expert with the Brookhaven National Laboratory, Long Island, N.Y., micro CHP technologies include internal combustion engines, Stirling engines, proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cells, solid oxide fuel cells (SOFC), reciprocating engines, Rankine/ LIC cycles, thermoelectric devices, and thermo-photovoltaic units. www.applianceDESIGN.com As the technologies vary, so too does the fuel used to drive them. And they can vary by market or application. Butcher says that the fuel used in many CHP systems is primarily natural gas, which burns cleanly, is readily available and has an infrastructure in place, but other fuels are being used including LPG, and kerosene. Theoretically, any fuel that can power an engine can be used to power a CHP system. In Japan, for instance, some homeowners with CHP systems use kerosene as fuel because it is the lowest cost fuel on the Japanese market. The concept behind CHP isn’t new. There are thousands of large-scale CHP systems in use at universities, hospitals, factories, hotels and other large facilities. Tom Frankiewicz of the U.S. EPA’s CHP Partnership says that there are more than 3,300 installations that annually produce some 85,184 MW of power. This represents 8 percent of the total U.S. generating capacity, saving an estimated 3 quads of fuel use per year, and eliminating more than 400-million tons of CO2 emissions annually. What is relatively new is the ability to take the technology used in large-scale applications and shrink the footprint, develop a small power generator, and reduce the cost of the unit, to make it feasible for use in residential applications. Today, as these challenges have been met, or are being met, the residential application for CHP technology is poised to soar. CHP technologies are quickly becoming commercialized across the globe. Asia was an early adopter. Europe, too, is a fast growing market for this technology, especially in the colder climates of Northern Europe, and in the U.K. The U.S. is ripe for CHP, say many experts, because of the country’s dependence on coal to generate power and the significant environmental issues that that fuel source generates. One company has started marketing to this customer base. Japan was the earliest investor in the concept and tens of thousands of the units have been sold. CHP’s inroads into the Japanese market have been aided by government subsidies, which have been pivotal in the technology’s development and market acceptance. The 2007 subsidy per unit was approximately $30,000. Just a couple of years before that, the subsidy was closer to $50,000, Diagram of Ballard’s proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell. Source: Ballard applianceDESIGN March 2008 15 http://www.appliancedesign.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Appliance Design - March 2008

Appliance Design - March 2008 Contents Editorial Shipments/Forecasts News Watch A New Appliance is Set to Break into Homes Soon - the Micro CHP Unit, which Generate both Heat and Power. Thermally Enhanced Varistors Help Protect Low-Power Systems Against Damage Caused by Over-Current, Over-Temperature and Over-Voltage Faults. Hybrid Controller Reduces Standby Power Consumption and Improves Active-Mode Efficiency. Battery-Management ICs Solve Design Challenges for Cordless Appliances Using High-Voltage, Lithium-Ion Battery Technology. A Semiconductor Solution Protects the Relay in a Temperature Controller for a Cooking Appliance. New Polyurethane Foam Insulation System Optimizes both Insulation Performance and Productivity. Innovations in Decorative, Pre-Finished Metals Expand Range of Design Options for Appliance Designers. Design Marts Association Report: AHAM Advertiser's Index

Appliance Design - March 2008

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