Hybridation pneumatique d'un moteur Diesel en vue de son utilisation dans un Systeme Hybride Eolien-Diesel avec Stockage d'Energie sous forme d'Air Comprime

Canada has over 200,000 citizens living in remote communities, many of whom rely on diesel generators for their electricity supply. The economical cost of energy is therefore very high due to not only inherent cost of fuel but also to transportation and maintenance costs. The environmental cost of energy is also high as the use of fossil fuels for electricity generation is a significant source of greenhouse gas emissions.;Previous studies proved that Compressed Air Energy Storage (CAES) is very adequate for WDS due to its low cost, high power density, good efficiency and reliability. In order to store and restore energy, one or several pneumatic converters are needed. Knowing that the maximal power of the air motors existing in the market does not exceed 5 kW, suggesting the addition of several air motors and compressors would not be cost effective. To solve this problem, this research suggests a pneumatic hybridization of the existing Diesel engine in order to transform it into a Hybrid Pneumatic-Diesel Engine (HPDE) able to operate as a conventional Diesel engine, an air compressor and air motor. The innovative idea of doing a multi-hybrid wind-Diesel-compressed air system is therefore born.;This thesis investigates in details all the modifications of the Diesel engine required to transform it into a HPDE. It presents an optimization of the concept and an evaluation of its potential of fuel-savings generated by a WDS-HPDE power generation compared to a Diesel-only power generation and a WDS power generation, depending on the WPPR and the storage capacity, in a certain area.;The North-Canadian remote village Tuktoyaktuk is presently equipped with a Diesel power supply system of 1MW capacity. The power production consumes 1080 tons of fuel every year. If a high penetration WDS (WPPR=2) were installed, the power production would consume only 561 tons of fuel, i.e. 48% less. By adding a CAES of 100,000 m3 and turning the Diesel engine into an HPDE, the fuel consumption of the multi-hybrid system for generating the power in Tuktoyaktuk would be only 415 tons, i.e. 13% less.;Renewable energy for remote areas is being investigated to reduce the oil dependency. Among all renewable energies, the wind energy experiences the fastest growing rate, at more than 30% annually for the last 5 years in Canada, which led to significant reduction in installation cost. However, the intermittency of this free energy makes impossible replacing the Diesel generators by wind farms in remote areas. The use of hybrid Wind-Diesel Systems (WDS) is therefore the only reasonable alternative to Diesels. For a WDS, the fuel saving is higher for greater Wind Power Penetration Rate (WPPR), which is the ratio of the maximal wind generated power to the maximal load. Unfortunately, WDS with high WPPR are not cost - effective due to the high amount of wasted energy that occurs when the wind power is higher than the load. For this reason, adding an energy-storage element to the WDS is the only way to increase the WPPR and therefore the fuel savings.;To obtain this significant fuel economy, the following modifications of the Diesel engine's architecture are necessarily: 1. The addition of two 3-way valves: the first one, installed in the admission duct, connects the engine's intake either to the charger's outlet or to the CAES tank ; the second one, installed in the exhaust duct, connects the engine's exhaust either to the turbine's inlet or to the atmosphere; 2. The replacement of the cam-driven valve system by an electromagnetic or a piezoelectric valve system. The timing and duration of opening and closing of intake and exhaust valves could therefore be controlled via an external device. 3. The control of the fuel injection system (duration and timing) via an external device.;This thesis is produced in the form of five original papers published or submitted to international journals and three papers published in international conferences with reviewing committee. Each of these journal-articles summarizes the results of one part of the methodology explained in the first chapter.