Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Fuel Cell Modeling

2 Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Fuel Cell Modeling 

The dynamic model of a PEMFC can be realized in MATLAB and Simulink software for implementation in power systems [10]. Beginning with hydrogen flow, the three significant factors are input, output, and reaction flows during operahon [11]. The thermodynamic potential of the chemical energy that can be converted into electrical energy is derived from Nernst s law and is dependent on the partial pressures of the reactants and temperature. For reaction kinetic considerahon, overpotentials at both anode and cathode essentially constitute the energy required to drive a reaction beyond the state of thermodynamic reversibility. 

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Rama, R., Chen, R., Thring, R. 2005. A polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell model with multi-species input. Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineering, Part A. /. Power Energy 219 255-71. 

Shah A. A., K. H. Luo, T. R. Ralph, F. C. Walsh, Recent trends and developments in polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell modelling, Electrochim. Acta, 56, 3731 (2011). 

The beginning of modeling of polymer-electrolyte fuel cells can actually be traced back to phosphoric-acid fuel cells. These systems are very similar in terms of their porous-electrode nature, with only the electrolyte being different, namely, a liquid. Giner and Hunter and Cutlip and co-workers proposed the first such models. These models account for diffusion and reaction in the gas-diffusion electrodes. These processes were also examined later with porous-electrode theory. While the phosphoric-acid fuel-cell models became more refined, polymer-electrolyte-membrane fuel cells began getting much more attention, especially experimentally. 

Jiao K, Li X (2009) Three-dimensional multiphase modeling of cold start processes in polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells. Electrochim Acta 54 6876-6891 Bar-On I, Kirchain R, Roth R (2002) Technical cost analysis for PEM fuel cells. J Power Sources 109 71-75... 

Two model fuel cell reactors, the stirred tank reactor- polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell and the segmented anode parallel channel fuel cell, have been shown to be effective in the study of PEM fuel cell dynamics. Simplified... 

From all that has been said above, it can be concluded that polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells, working at elevated temperatures, are highly promising. Many difficulties must still be overcome in order to develop models, which will function in a stable and reliable manner, and for extended periods of time. At present, about 90% of all publications on fuel cells are concerned precisely with the attempts to overcome these difficulties. Most of the publications deal with research into new varieties of membrane materials. Some results of these works are described in the reviews on elevated-temperature-polymer electrolyte fuel cells (Zhang et al., 2006 Shao et al., 2007). 

Guvelioglu G and Stevgner H G (2005), Computational fluid dynamics modeling of polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells, Journal of Power Sources, 147,... 

Yoon, W. and Huang, X. (2011) A nonlinear viscoelastic-viscoplastic constitutive model for ionomer membranes in polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells./. Power Sources, 196, 3933-3941. 

The focus of this chapter is on analyzing and modeling the microstructure of gas diffusion layers (GDLs) in polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs). GDLs are fiber-based materials and one of their main tasks is the transportation of hydrogen and oxygen towards the electrodes where the electrochemical reaction takes place, that is, electricity is generated and the transport of the byproduct water from the electrode towards the channel is accomplished [1]. 

Gostick, J.T., loannidis, M.A., Fowler, M.W., and Pritzker, M.D. (2007) Pore network modeling of fibrous gas diffusion layers for polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells. J. Power Sources, 173, 2TJ 29Q. 

Modeling of Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Fuel-Cell Components... 

Chang, P., Kim, G.S., Promislow, K., and Wetton, B. (2007) Reduced dimensional computational models of polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell stacks. 

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