ME698A

ENERGY STORAGE SYSTEMS

Term paper 2019

FUEL CELL

Guided by : Dr. Jishnu Bhattacharya

Submitted by : Ram Kishor Singh

18205011

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ABSTRACT

LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES

1. INTRODUCTION 4

2. WORKING MECHANISM OF FUEL CELL 4

3. FUEL CELL DYNAMIC MODEL 5

4. ENERGY SYSTEM SIZING METHODOLOGY 10

5. CONCLUSION 12

6. REFERENCES 12

LIST OF FIGURES Page no:

Fig.1. 5

Fig.2. 7

Fig.3. 8
Fig.4. 9
Fig.5. 11

LIST OF TABLES
Table1. 10

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ABSTRACT

This paper presents a dynamic model of a PEMFC (Polymer Electrolyte Membrane fuel cell) system
implemented in MATLAB which can be used for further development of a control system for the same.
The proposed model incorporates various dynamic operating conditions like changes in load current,
pressures of input reactant gases, the cell operating temperature and calculated different voltage losses.
The voltage losses include the activation losses, concentration losses and ohmic losses. The presented
dynamic model can thus be useful in testing various control strategies and designing a controller for the
fuel cell system.

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1. INTRODUCTION

It was first demonstrated by a British Scientist Sir Willliam Robert Grove in 1839. First practical
fuel cell was demonstrated by Francis T. Bacin and J.C. frost of Cambridge University in 1959. Fuel cells
are energy conversion devices. In contrast to batteries, fuel cells do not store energy, but are used to
convert the chemical energy of fuel directly into electricity. Over the last couple of decades, there has
been an increasing concern over the consequences of using fossil fuels for the generation of electricity.
The energy and electricity demands of the future are going to be enormous and development of clean and
sustainable sources of energy has become critical. Fuel cells have emerged as a clean and excellent
solution to reduce the dependency on fossil fuels and to meet the ever increasing energy demand. Fuel
cells are electrochemical devices which produce electricity using hydrogen and air as fuel. Of all the
types, the PEM fuel cells have become an attractive option due to their high efficiency, low temperature
operation (50-100°C), zero emission potential, high power density and long stack life.

2. WORKING MECHANISM OF FUEL CELL

A single fuel cell consists of an electrolyte sandwiched between two electrodes, an anode and a
cathode. Bipolar plates on either side of the cell help distribute gases and serve as current collectors. In a
Polymer Electrolyte Membrane (PEM) fuel cell, which is widely regarded as the most promising for light-
duty transportation, hydrogen gas flows through channels to the anode, where a catalyst causes the
hydrogen molecules to separate into protons and electrons. The membrane allows only the protons to pass
through it. While the protons are conducted through the membrane to the other side of the cell, the stream
of negatively-charged electrons follows an external circuit to the cathode. This flow of electrons is
electricity that can be used to do work, such as power a motor.
On the other side of the cell, oxygen gas, typically drawn from the outside air, flows through
channels to the cathode. When the electrons return from doing work, they react with oxygen and the
hydrogen protons (which have moved through the membrane) at the cathode to form water. This union is
an exothermic reaction, generating heat that can be used outside the fuel cell.
The power produced by a fuel cell depends on several factors, including the fuel cell type, size,
temperature at which it operates, and pressure at which gases are supplied. A single fuel cell produces
approximately 1 volt or less — barely enough electricity for even the smallest applications. To increase
the amount of electricity generated, individual fuel cells are combined in series to form a stack. (The term
“fuel cell” is often used to refer to the entire stack, as well as to the individual cell.) Depending on the
application, a fuel cell stack may contain only a few or as many as hundreds of individual cells layered
together. This “scalability” makes fuel cells ideal for a wide variety of applications, from laptop
computers (50-100 Watts) to homes (1-5kW), vehicles (50-125 kW), and central power generation (1-200
MW or more).

1. The fuel (direct H2 or reformed H2) undergoes oxidation at anode and releases electrons.
2. These electrons flow through the external circuit to the cathode.
3. At cathode, oxidant (O2 from air) gets reduced.
4. The electrons produce electricity while passing through the external circuit

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 Fig.1 PEM fuel cell

3. FUEL CELL DYNAMIC MODEL

The dynamic model of the fuel cell takes into consideration the variation in the fuel cell output
voltage due to changes in the fuel cell current. This is basically considering the changes in the load which
is important from a practical application outlook.

The output voltage of a PEMFC is given by:

Vstack = n X [Enernst − Losses] (1)

Where,

Vstack : stack output voltage;

n: number of cells on the stack;

Enernst : Cell voltage obtained in open circuit thermodynamic balance;

Losses: voltage losses.

The voltage losses include the activation losses, concentration losses and ohmic losses which will be
elaborated in further sections.

1. Nernst Voltage (Enernst ):

The Nernst voltage or reversible voltage of the cell is the potential of the cell obtained in an open
circuit thermodynamic balance (without load).

The Nernst voltage is given by the equation:

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 RT
Enernst = E 0 − 2F (ln PH2 + 0.5 ln PO2 ) (2)

where, E 0 is the Reference potential at standard operating conditions (V), F is the constant of Faraday
(96,487 C); R is the universal constant of the gases (8.314 J/Kmol); while PH2 and PO2 are the partial
pressures of hydrogen and oxygen (bar),

2. Activation Loss (Va ):

Activation losses are the result of complex surface electrochemical reaction steps, each of which
have their own reaction rate and activation energy. The activation over voltage is the voltage drop due to
the activation of anode and cathode .The parametric equation for the over-voltage due to activation
developed from the empirical analysis is given as

Va = −(α1 + α2 . T + α3 . T. ln CO2 + α4 . T. ln Ifc) (3)

The value of CO2 is found using the following equation:

PO2
CO 2 = ( −498/T ) (4)
5.08 X 106 e

Where, T is the temperature of the fuel cell (K), Ifc is the Fuel cell current (A), and the α1 ’s represent
parametric coefficients for each cell model, whose values are defined based on theoretical equations with
kinetic, thermodynamic, and electrochemical foundations, CO2 is the concentration of oxygen in the
catalytic interface of the cathode (mol/cm3).

MATLAB CODE:

close all
clc
clear all
IFc=linspace(0,1,500);%Fuel cell current(A)
Va=zeros(500,1);%acttivation loss
alpha1=-0.9477;
alpha2=0.0033;
alpha3=7.5*10^(-5);
alpha4=-1.915*10^(-4);
Po2=1.26;%Partial pressure of Oxygen
T=338;
A=50.6;%area
Co2=(Po2./(5.08*10^(6).*exp(-498./T)));%concentration of oxygen
Va=-(alpha1+alpha2.*T+alpha3.*T.*log(Co2)+alpha4.*T.*log(IFc));
plot(IFc,Va,'k');

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 Fig.2. Activation Loss

3. Ohmic Losses ( Vohm ) :

Ohmic losses occur because of resistance to the flow of ions in the electrolyte and resistance to
flow of electrons through the electrode. These losses can be expressed as i x R losses where I is the
current and R is the summation of internal resistances within the cell.

Vohm = Ifc. (R e + R p ) (5)

Where R e resistance produced by the membrane to the flow of electrons and R p is the resistance produced
by the membrane to proton flow. R p is a constant, and R e is given by the equation:

Where,

l
R e = ρ. A (6)

Where,

2.5 1
[1 +0.03.(Ifc)+0.062.(Ifc) T
.(303) ]
A A
ρ = 181.6. T −303 (7)
Ifc 4.18( )
[(14 −0.634−3.( A )).e T ]

Where ρ is the specific resistivity of the membrane for the electron flow (Ω-cm), A is the cell active area
(cm2) and l is the thickness of the membrane (cm),

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MATLAB CODE:

close all
clear all
clc
Rp=0.0003;%ohms
A=50.6;%in cm^2
T=338;%kelvin
L=0.0178;%in cm
IFc=linspace(0,1,500);
Vohm=zeros(500,1);%ohmic voltage loss
Re=(L./A).*(181.6.*((1+0.03.*(IFc./A)+0.062*(IFc./A).^(2.5).*(T./303))/((14-1.634-
3.*(IFc./A)).*exp(4.18.*(T-303)./T))));
Vohm=IFc.*(Re+Rp);
plot(IFc,Vohm,'k');

Fig.3.Ohmic Loss

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4. Concentration Voltage losses (Vconc ):

These losses are due to the change in concentration of reactants at the electrodes, as the fuel is
used up during the course of the reaction causing reduction in the partial pressure of reactants, resulting in
reduction in voltage given. It is represented by the equation:
i
Vconc = −B. ln (1 − (i )) (8)
max

Where B is a parametric coefficient in Volts and depends on the cell and its operating state, i is the actual
current density of the cell (A/cm2) and imax is the maximum current density (A/cm2).

MATLAB CODE:

close all
clc
clear all
imax=0.00578/50.6;%max cell current density
B=0.016;
i=linspace(0,1,500);
Vconc=zeros(500,1);%concentration voltage loss
Vconc=-B*(log(1-(i/imax)));
plot(i,Vconc);

Fig.4. Concentration Loss

5. Combining the effect of all the losses described above, the cell voltage of a single fuel cell is given by:

Vcell = Enernst − Va − Vconc − Vohm (9)

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 Table1.Typical values of parameters used

Parameter Value
Temperature(T) 338 K
PH2 0.9995 bar
PO2 1.26 bar
Area(A) 50.6 cm2
B 0.016 V
α1 -0.9477
α2 0.0033
α3 7.5 X 10−5
α4 -1.915 X 10−4
C 1F
Thickness of membrane 0.0178 cm
Rp 0.0003 Ω
Limiting current 0.00578 A

4. ENERGY SYSTEM SIZING METHODOLOGY

The proposed methodology aims at sizing a power system fuel cell-based, to achieve the highest
specific energy .The fuel cell stack is the component that mostly affects the energy system performance.
In fact, for a given electric load, the output current depends on the number of installed fuel cell stacks.
Furthermore, the output current is proportional to the hydrogen consumption and hence to the hydrogen
tanks number. Moreover, the hydrogen consumption affects the air needed for the cathodic reaction and,
as a consequence, the compressors number to be installed.
It can be noted that increasing the stacks number from 24 to 25, the specific energy increases
because the lowest H2 consumption (the fuel cell works at lower load with higher efficiency) implies a
lower number of air compressors (from 6 to 5). However, even if the increasing of the stacks number
from 25 to 27, causes a further reduction of the H2 mass, it is not compensated by the increasing of overall
stacks mass. As a consequence, the specific energy decreases. Finally, by increasing again the stacks
number (from 27 to 28), not only the H2 consumption decreases but also the number of hydrogen tanks
(from 7 to 6). The decrease of the number of H2 tanks allows a drastic mass saving with a great increment
of the system specific energy. It shows that H2 tanks are accounted for about 47% of the total mass. In
conclusion, the results of this study have pointed out that the optimal LED configuration, with the highest
specific energy consists of: 28 stacks, 5 air compressors, 6 hydrogen tanks.

MATLAB CODE:

close all
S_N=[24 25 27 28 30];%stack number
S_Energy=[0.47 0.481 0.478 0.513 0.506];%specific energy
plot(S_N,S_Energy,'K');
%5.merge stack vs H2 and compressor
close all
C=[6 5 5 5 5];%compressor
S_N=[24 25 27 28 30];%stack number

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plot(S_N,C,'R');
hold on%to merge plot
H2=[7 7 7 6 6];%h2 tank number
plot(S_N,H2);

Fig.5.Varitaion of stacks numbers Vs Specific energy and number of Compressor/H2 tank

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5. CONCLUSION

A dynamic model of a PEM fuel cell has been implemented using MATLAB is more efficient for
calculation of system specific parameters of any fuel cell system for observing the fuel cell responses to
changes in one or many dynamic operating conditions of the fuel cell like load changes, temperature
change or variation in the air/fuel input pressures. It can be used for future requirements of real-time data
processing from fuel cell systems on field and is flexible enough for updating of parameters and
displaying results. This can be of future use for development of a complete fuel cell system. The
performance of the system can be tested beforehand for following purposes:

a) Investigation of response of fuel cell system to specific type of load variation.

b) Testing different control strategies and responses to the same.
c) Design of controller for the fuel cell and to check the transient response of the system.

6. REFRENCES

1. Dynamic Modeling and Simulation of A PEM Fuel. Aliasger Zaidi, Pooja Pokharkar, Rajesh
Krishnan, Dayaram Sonawane. 2014, ICONCE.

2. Design methodology for a PEM fuel cell power system in a more. D. Guida , M. Minutillo. s.l. :
Elsevier, 2017, Applied Energy, Vol. 192, pp. 446–456.

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