Design and simulation of proton exchange membrane fuel cell system

Abstract

Proton exchange membrane fuel cell system has been proposed as an alternative to the internal combustion engine due to its clean and high efficiency. Analysis of the coupling effects among components is critical to improve the design of the fuel cell system and shorten the development cycle. In this paper, the steady-state modeling of a fuel cell system is developed, focusing on the coupling effects between various components and the influence of operating conditions on the internal parameters. Firstly, the model of each component is established based on the mechanism or experience, and the boundary conditions of each component model are defined. Then, the component models are integrated into a system model, and the operation parameters of the system are solved by an iterative method. The operation conditions at different ambient temperatures are simulated and the results are discussed. It is indicated that a higher ambient temperature will significantly increase auxiliary power consumption and decrease system efficiency. The steady-state model proposed in this paper predicts the operation parameters of the system, which is helpful to reduce the development cost.

Keywords

• Proton exchange membrane fuel cell
• System model
• Component model
• Coupling effect
• Energy efficiency