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NREL, through the support of the U.S. Department of Energy, has extensive state-of-the-art laboratory test facilities for conducting hydrogen and fuel cells research.
 NREL's DERTF was designed to assist the distributed power industry in the development and testing of distributed power systems. The DERTF contains a variety of distributed generation and storage, interconnection and testing, and electric power systems equipment. In FY2004, a new Hydrogen Electrolysis Test Facility, dedicated to optimizing and demonstrating integrated PV/electrolysis and wind/electrolysis systems for hydrogen production was established at the DERTF. This new hydrogen test facility houses a control room, battery bank, electrolyzer, and fuel cell and is wired for connection with the DERTF's on-site distributed power sources, which include wind turbines, PV arrays, a diesel generator, and a microturbine. The facility will be used to evaluate novel new approaches and conduct research to address the technical gaps and maximize the synergies associated with integrated renewable hydrogen/electricity co-production systems.
Initially a 5-kW polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) electrolyzer will be installed and tested. The DERTF's grid simulation capabilities will be used to characterize the electrolyzer performance with varying electrical loads as would be expected from intermittent PV- or wind- generated electricity. The electrolyzer will then be tested using power generated from the 5-kilowatt PV array at the DERTF. Finally, a single power electronics package and controller, which will allow direct connection of the DERTF's 10-kW wind turbine to the PEM electrolyzer and eliminate the redundant power electronics in the overall integrated wind/electrolysis system, will be designed and tested. In the future, alkaline electrolyzers and various types of fuel cells will be evaluated. In addition, and the electrolysis test facility will be expanded to incorporate hydrogen storage and high-pressure operation. These activities all support the systems integration effort to synthesize hydrogen and fuel cell technologies into a fully functional system.
The technological advancements and lessons learned through research, development, and demonstration of hydrogen and fuel cell technologies must be integrated to work as a fully functional system. NREL's experience in systems integration—understanding the complex interactions between components, systems costs, environmental impacts, societal impacts, and system trade offs. Identifying and analyzing these interactions will enable evaluation of alternative concepts and pathways, and result in well-integrated and optimized hydrogen and fuel cell systems.
 The state-of-the-art Thermochemical User's Facility (TCUF) (PDF 927 KB) (Download Acrobat Reader) consists of several complementary unit operations that can be configured in various arrangements to accommodate the testing and development of various reactors, filters, catalysts, and other unit operations. The TCUF is used to test new processes and feedstocks in a timely and cost-effective manner, and to quickly and safely obtain extensive performance data on their processes or equipment.
The heart of the TCUF is a 0.5 ton-per-day ThermoChemical Process Development Unit (TCPDU), which can be operated in either a pyrolysis or gasification mode. A two-inch diameter, high-temperature fluidized bed reactor is another important operation in the TCUF, used to conduct catalyst studies and to upgrade a slip stream from the TCPDU to produce high-value fuels and chemicals. The final major component of the TCUF is the generator test cell (GTC), which uses clean syngas from the TCPDU to produce power in a variety of configurations. The TCUF facility and laboratories also have the capability to analyze products on-line over a wide spectrum of chemical compositions.
Most recently, the TCUF was used to test and evaluate a pilot-scale catalytic steam reforming reactor built specifically for a biomass-to-hydrogen demonstration in Georgia. By performing the initial system tests at NREL rather than in an industrial environment, the experience of the NREL researchers with the process and the analytical equipment of TCUF can be used to monitor and optimize the system performance. This ensures the safety of the reactor and provides preliminary performance data on the catalyst, especially physical attrition and deactivation.
 NREL's world-class Advanced Heating, Ventilating, and Air-Conditioning (HVAC)/Thermal Conversion Test Facility offers capabilities for accurate testing and evaluation of HVAC equipment and distributed power systems, including fuel cells. This laboratory has been instrumental in developing and testing innovative and advanced technologies, including high-efficiency compressor-less cooling, breakthrough enthalpy recovery, real-time ppb contaminant sensing for energy-efficient IAQ and security, and zero liquid-carryover desiccants. With state-of-the-art instrumentation, conditioning equipment, and control devices, this facility can emulate the waste heat streams of fuel cells and HVAC load profiles for comprehensive performance evaluation of combined heat and power (CHP) systems.
Optimum utilization of the electrical and thermal energy outputs of fuel cell systems can be a complex task because of the large number of variables and parameters encountered in CHP systems for buildings and industrial facilities. In addition, the thermally activated technologies (TAT) typically used in CHP applications, require a higher heat source temperature than the low-temperature waste heat from proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) (140-180°F). Consequently, service hot water and possibly space heating are generally perceived as the primary candidates for waste heat utilization from PEMFCs. This limitation greatly restricts heat recovery in CHP systems incorporating PEMFC technologies. This HVAC equipment test facility is being used to develop techniques and tools for optimum integration of fuel cells in CHP/ PEMFC systems.
 The High Flux Solar Furnace at NREL's Concentrated Solar Radiation (CSR) User Facility allows industry, government, and university researchers to examine the effects and applications of as much as 50,000 suns of concentrated solar radiation. The high flux and high temperatures that can be achieved with concentrated sunlight provide a unique alternative to the typical fossil-fuel-fired processes of today.
To produce this clean power alternative, the solar furnace uses a 32-m2 mirrored heliostat to track the sun and reflect the light onto a primary collector composed of 25 curved facets. The primary concentrator focuses the light to a 10 cm-diameter circle inside the experiment bay. Under optimal conditions, the focused beam is 2500 times the intensity of normal sunlight. If a reflective secondary concentrator is placed at the beam's focus, the solar flux intensity increases to as much as 20,000 suns. A refractive concentrator can achieve 50,000 suns. The CSR User Facility is equipped with computers and data acquisition tools, video monitors for the outside equipment and experiments, sophisticated instruments to monitor solar radiation and other atmospheric data, and automated devices that enable researchers to control the heliostat, primary concentrator, focal point, and the power of the concentrated sunlight.
Since 1990, a wide range of materials processes and production projects have explored the use of highly concentrated sunlight as an alternative energy source for new and existing industrial applications. The heat generated at the facility can also be used for the thermal and thermochemical decomposition of water to produce hydrogen. Direct thermolysis (thermally-driven dissociation of water) requires ultra-high temperatures, ›3000 K, which presents significant technical challenges. To prove the concept viability and develop the materials and systems that will be needed for direct thermolysis, researchers are first investigating lower temperature (‹2500 K) multi-step thermochemical cycles, based on the oxidation and reduction of metal oxides.
The Atlas 260 is one of several accelerated-testing chambers in the high-bay laboratory at OTF.
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NREL's Outdoor Test Facility (OTF) High-Bay Laboratory houses accelerated testing equipment, which is used to evaluate advanced or emerging PV technologies under simulated accelerated weathering conditions. Specialized chambers in the high-bay area are used to determine how PV modules perform when exposed to varying weather conditions such as heat, cold, humidity, moisture, and ultraviolet light. Modules are tested in high-voltage and wet conditions to evaluate electrical insulation and to verify that moisture will not enter the module and cause corrosion, ground faults, or pose an electrical safety hazard. Mechanical tests include module flexing, static loading, and simulated one-inch-diameter hail strikes. Researchers are using this facility to evaluate a variety of materials for their suitability as photolytic reactor materials for photobiological and photoelectrochemical hydrogen production. Performance characteristics, reliability assessments, identification of degradation mechanisms, and strategies to improve performance will be determined for each material.
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