2025/01/24 by Yiwei Qiu, Qiu, Yiwei, Jiatong Li +18
Computer Science · Energy · Engineering · Mathematics · #FOS: Electrical engineering #FOS: Mathematics #Fuel Cells and Related Materials #Hybrid Renewable Energy Systems #Membrane-based Ion Separation Techniques #Optimization and Control (math.OC) #Systems and Control (eess.SY) #cs.SY #eess.SY #electronic engineering #information engineering #math.OC
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2501.14576
published as Y Qiu, et al. International Journal of Hydrogen Energy 259 (2026), 156155
openalex publication_date 2025/01/24 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28 · arxiv created 2026/08/03 · arxiv updated 2026/08/04
An emerging approach for large-scale renewable hydrogen production is integrating multiple alkaline water electrolysis (AWE) stacks into one balance-of-plant (BoP) system, sharing gas-lye separation and lye circulation components. While this configuration, termed N-in-1, reduces cost and complexity, its dynamic performance under fluctuating power remains unclear compared with conventional 1-in-1 systems. This paper develops a state-space model of the multi-stack AWE system, capturing lye circulation, temperature, and hydrogen-to-oxygen (HTO) dynamics, calibrated via experiments on a 4,000 Nm3/h-rated 4-in-1 system. A mixed-integer quadratic programming (MIQP)-based predictive controller is then designed to coordinate inter-stack current distribution, lye flow, and cooling for load tracking and operational stability. Simulations on the experimentally validated model show that a 4-in-1 system achieves similar performance compared to four parallel 1-in-1 systems under continuous operation. Differences in load-tracking, temperature stabilization errors, and specific energy consumption remain below 0.015 MW, 0.346 K, and 0.001 kWh/Nm3 under wind power supply when all stacks remain online.