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Designing man‐portable power generation systems for varying power demand
Author(s) -
Yunt Mehmet,
Chachuat Benoît,
Mitsos Alexander,
Barton Paul I.
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
aiche journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.958
H-Index - 167
eISSN - 1547-5905
pISSN - 0001-1541
DOI - 10.1002/aic.11442
Subject(s) - software portability , power (physics) , electric power system , power demand , computer science , dynamic demand , electricity generation , reliability engineering , control engineering , mathematical optimization , engineering , power consumption , mathematics , physics , quantum mechanics , programming language
Portable electronic devices operate at varying power demand levels. This variability of power demand must be considered explicitly in the design of man‐portable power generation systems for acceptable performance and portability. In this regard, a mathematical programming based design method is proposed. The method transcribes optimal operation of the system at a given power demand into a mathematical program. The power demand specific programs are incorporated into another upper level mathematical program encoding design requirements to form a final two‐stage formulation. The design and operational parameters of the power generation system comprise a solution of the formulation. Unlike designs, based on a nominal power demand, the design guarantees that each power demand and all operational requirements can be satisfied. A detailed study of a microfabricated fuel‐cell based system is performed. The proposed method produces smaller designs with significantly better performances than nominal power demand based approaches. © 2008 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 2008