Volume 3: Innovative Solutions for Energy Transitions: Part II

Graphical Thermal Model of Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell System Based on Energetic Macroscopic Representation Rui Pan, Duo Yang, Yujie Wang, Zonghai Chen

Abstract

The fuel cell is actually an energy conversion device which converts Gibbs free energy of reactants into electrical energy. And the remaining enthalpy changes and chemical overpotential loss will generate a lot of heat. However, the performance of fuel cell is strongly dependent on the operation temperature, therefore it is necessary to maintain the thermal balance of the whole system. This paper presents a graphical thermal model of proton exchange membrane fuel cell system based on energetic macroscopic representation and the thermal balance is analyzed using power chain. Then, the EMR-based control methodology is used to manage the operation temperature using inversion rules. Finally, the model is validated by MATLAB/Simulation.

Keywords thermal model, proton exchange membrane, fuel cell, energetic macroscopic representation, power chain, inversion rules