Modeling control and waste heat recovery in polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell power plant

Abstract

Due to the concerns surrounding global warming, world is looking for better newlineand environment friendly energy sources. Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Fuel Cell, newlinealso known as Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell (PEMFC) is a credible choice as newlinethe next generation energy source. PEMFCs have already found their way into a wide newlinerange of commercial applications, including electric mobility, backup systems, and newlinevehicles. They are efficient, compact and a clean source of energy. The anode side of newlinethe fuel cell is sourced with hydrogen, while the cathode side is supplied with oxygen. newlineAt the cathode catalyst layer, water is produced along with the liberation of heat energy. newlineDevelopment of mathematical models for PEMFC have received much attention over newlinethe last two decades, since modeling them provide an insight on performance, design newlineand prediction of cell behavior under different operating conditions. newlineThe current study is concerned with mathematical modeling, controller design, newlineand waste heat recovery in PEMFC. The first phase of work incorporates steady state newlinemathematical modeling of PEMFC. Theoretical modeling of PEMFC makes use of newlinebasic physical, electrical, and chemical processes that occur inside the fuel cell. This newlinetype of model necessitates extensive knowledge of the internal processes of the system. newlineEmpirical models present an efficient way of representing the system, with reduced newlinecomputing time. These models are data-driven models, which require real-time inputs newlineand outputs of the system considered. The steady state performance characteristics of newlinethe cell is analyzed and validated with experimental results. For empirical model newlinedevelopment, black box modeling approach is chosen. Polynomial models like newlineAutoregressive (ARX), Autoregressive Moving Average (ARMAX), Output Error