System for providing assured power to a critical load

Abstract

A power system () is provided for economically supplying uninterrupted electrical power to one or more critical loads (). One or more fuel cell power plants () provide one substantially continuous source of power, and a utility grid () provides another source of power. The fuel cell power plants () areadapted to be, and are,normally substantially continuously connected and providing power to, the critical load(s) (). A rapidly-acting static switch () selectivelyconnects anddisconnectsand reconnectsthe grid power supply () to the critical load(s) () and with the fuel cell power plant(s) ()for abnormal and normal grid operation, respectively. A switch controller () controls the state of the static switch () toconnect the grid power source () with the critical load(s) () and therapidly ()fuel cell power plant(s) ()during normal operation of the grid (), and to rapidly (less than 4 ms) disconnect the grid power source () from the load(s) () and the fuel cell power plant(s) () when operation of the grid () deviates from normal beyond a limit.each include power conditioning systems ()()()().