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DE-102024210848-A1 - Method for operating an electrolyzer, computer program product, control unit and electrolyzer with such a control unit

DE102024210848A1DE 102024210848 A1DE102024210848 A1DE 102024210848A1DE-102024210848-A1

Abstract

The invention relates to a method for operating an electrolyzer (2), comprising the steps: (S100) Reading in a pair of values (U act , I act ) indicative of a current electrical power (P act ) of the electrolyzer (2), (S200) Determining a regression function (Rf) using at least the input pair of values (U <sub>act</sub> , I <sub>act</sub> ) and another pair of values (U <sub>0</sub> , I<sub> 0</sub> ), and (S300) Determining an electrical power at the prediction point (P sp ) using the determined regression function (AGF).

Inventors

  • Dirk Wall

Assignees

  • Siemens Energy Global GmbH & Co. KG

Dates

Publication Date
20260513
Application Date
20241112

Claims (14)

  1. Method for operating an electrolyzer (2), comprising the steps: (S100) Reading in a pair of values (U act , I act ) indicative of a current electrical power (P act ) of the electrolyzer (2), (S200) Determining a regression function (AGF) using at least the read-in pair of values (U act , I act ) and another pair of values (U 0 , I 0 ), and (S300) Determining an electrical power at the prediction point (P sp ) using the determined regression function (AGF).
  2. Procedure according to Claim 1 , wherein in step (S200) to determine the regression function (AGF) a regression line is determined as the regression function (AGF).
  3. Procedure according to Claim 1 or 2 , where in step (S200) determining the compensation function (AGF) the further pair of values is an electrical reference voltage (U 0 ) at an electrical reference current (I 0 ).
  4. Procedure according to Claim 1 , 2 or 3 , wherein in step (S300) an electric current (I sp ) at the prediction point and an electric voltage at the prediction point (U sp ) determined using the determined regression function (AGF) are used to determine the electric power at the prediction point (P sp ), or in step (S300) an electric voltage (U sp ) at the prediction point and an electric current at the prediction point (I sp ) determined using the determined regression function (AGF) are used to determine the electric power at the prediction point (P sp ).
  5. Procedure according to one of the Claims 1 until 4 , where in step (S200) a temperature correction term (ΔU(T(t)I sp ) is used to determine the adjustment function (AGF).
  6. Procedure according to one of the Claims 1 until 5 , where in step (S200) a dynamic correction term (ΔU(t)I sp ) is used to determine the compensation function (AGF).
  7. Computer program product for executing a procedure according to one of the Claims 1 until 6 .
  8. Evaluation unit (4) for operating an electrolyzer (2), wherein the evaluation unit (4) is configured to read in a pair of values (U act , I act ) indicatively for a current electrical power (P act ) of the electrolyzer (2), to determine a balancing function (AGF) using at least the read-in pair of values (U act , I act ) and a further pair of values (U 0 , I 0 ) and to determine an electrical power at the prediction point (P sp ) using the determined balancing function (AGF).
  9. Evaluation unit (4) according to Claim 8 , wherein the evaluation unit (4) is designed to determine the regression function (AGF) as a regression function (AGF) to determine a regression line.
  10. Evaluation unit (4) according to Claim 8 or 9 , where the other pair of values is an electrical reference voltage (U 0 ) at an electrical reference current (I 0 ).
  11. Evaluation unit (4) according to Claim 8 , 9 or 10 , wherein to determine the electrical power at the prediction point (P sp ) an electrical current at the prediction point (I sp ) and an electrical voltage at the prediction point (U sp ) determined using the determined compensation function (AGF), or the evaluation unit (4) is configured to use an electrical voltage (U sp ) at the prediction point and an electrical current at the prediction point (I sp ) determined using the determined compensation function (AGF) to determine the electrical power at the prediction point (P sp ).
  12. Evaluation unit (4) according to one of the Claims 8 until 11 , wherein the evaluation unit (4) is designed to use a temperature correction term (ΔU(T(t)I sp ) to determine the compensation function (AGF).
  13. Evaluation unit (4) according to one of the Claims 8 until 12 , wherein the evaluation unit (4) is designed to use a dynamic correction term (ΔU(t)I sp ) to determine the compensation function (AGF).
  14. Electrolyzer (2) with an evaluation unit (4) according to one of the Claims 8 until 13 .

Description

The invention relates to a method for operating an electrolyzer, a computer program product and a control unit for carrying out the method, as well as an electrolyzer with such a control unit. Electrolysis, by applying an electric current through suitable cell elements, forces redox reactions that involve chemical transformations, such as the splitting of water into hydrogen and oxygen. A device for this purpose is called an electrolyzer and can be used to produce important basic chemicals for the chemical industry. The power output of such an electrolyzer varies over time, as it is limited by the minimum and maximum current density. Over time, the electrolyzer loses efficiency; therefore, the voltage increases for the same current, and consequently, the required power also increases. In particular, the minimum and maximum operating limits are thus variable. On the other hand, these values are needed, for example, to purchase electrical operating energy or to communicate these values to, for example, generating plants or grid operators. In particular, communication with grid operators was previously unnecessary. Grid requirements are currently being tightened. Until now, they only applied to generation plants, but are now being extended to include consumer installations such as electrolyzers. Often, the electricity demand at an operating point was determined based on past values. Therefore, there is a need to show ways in which improvements can be achieved here. The object of the invention is solved by a method for operating an electrolyzer, comprising the steps of: Reading in a pair of values indicative of the current electrical power of the electrolyzer, Determining a regression function using at least the input pair of values and another pair of values, and Determining the electrical power at the prediction point using the determined balancing function. In other words, values for the electrical voltage and current are determined, and thus a prediction of the electrical voltage at a different operating point, given the current electrolysis state, especially the current aging, is obtained. This allows the accuracy of determining the power demand at a different operating point under the current boundary conditions to be improved. According to one embodiment, a regression line is determined to calculate the regression function. In this way, the current power demand can be determined using a particularly simple regression function. However, other functions can also be used as regression functions, such as exponential functions, logarithmic functions, or polynomials. According to another embodiment, an electrical reference voltage at a specific electrical reference current is used to determine the balancing function. These values are known and can, for example, be read from a memory. Thus, only the acquisition of the current value pair is required. According to another embodiment, to determine the electrical power at the prediction point, an electrical current at the prediction point and an electrical voltage at the prediction point, determined using a specific balancing function, are used, or an electrical voltage at the prediction point and an electrical current at the prediction point, determined using a specific balancing function, are used to determine the electrical power at the prediction point. In other words, the corresponding electrical voltage or the corresponding electrical current is determined using the specific balancing function. This allows for a particularly simple determination of the current demand. According to another embodiment, a temperature correction term is used to determine the compensation function. This allows for consideration of different or changing operating temperatures of the electrolyzer, such as those that can occur during rapid power changes, for example, during active frequency support. According to another embodiment, a dynamic correction term is used to determine the compensation function. This allows for the consideration of effects that vary over time or during operation, such as improvements or changes in the efficiency of the Electrolyzers, which occur, for example, on a minute/hour time scale, are taken into account. Furthermore, the invention includes a computer program product and a control unit for carrying out the method, as well as an electrolyzer with such a control unit. The invention will now be explained with the aid of a drawing. The drawing shows: 1 A schematic representation of an electrolyzer with other components associated with the electrolyzer. 2 A schematic representation of a current/voltage diagram. 3 a schematic representation of the procedure for operating the in 1 The electrolyzer shown, with its associated components. It will initially be on 1 Reference made to. Shown is an electrolyzer 2, which in the present embodiment is designed for electrolysis, in particular for water electrolysis, i.e. for the decomposition of water into hydrogen and