Improve energy conversion efficiency of μDMFC stack power system by optimal microscopic catalyst structures and power management

• Published in: Energy (Oxford) 2025-01, Vol.315, p.134361, Article 134361
• Main Authors: Fang, Shuo, Yang, Guowei, Liu, Yuntao, Zhao, Chunhui, Wang, Ying
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: ASIC for DC-DC; Fuel cell system; Fuel saving; Micro hydrogen energy source; Operating parameters
• ISSN: 0360-5442
• DOI: 10.1016/j.energy.2025.134361

This paper develops a power system in order to improve the practical energy conversion efficiency of the micro direct methanol fuel cell (μDMFC) stack. The construction of the power system begins with the quantitative evaluation of different microscopic catalyst structures. Based on the evaluating results, this research presents a power management unit according to the microscopic catalyst structure with the highest energy conversion efficiency and the corresponding optimized operating parameters. The main innovation of this research is that the power management unit employs a novel ASIC for DC-DC converter to execute the maximum-efficiency-point-tracking strategy according to the corresponding optimized operating parameters. The experimental energy conversion efficiency of the proposed μDMFC stack power system reaches 30.2 %–32.0 % compared with the 17.0 %–17.5 % of the conventional one during dynamic operation profiles. The energy conversion efficiency improvement achieves at least 12.7 %. Moreover, experimental results show that the output power value of the μDMFC stack power system fits the portable electrical equipment such as unmanned vessels. The proposed μDMFC stack power system shows great superiorities in energy conversion efficiency during practical applications with volume and weight limitations such as portable electrical equipment. [Display omitted] •An optimal microscopic catalyst structure is developed for the μDMFC stack.•A power management unit is presented to improve the μDMFC stack efficiency.•The power management unit employs a novel ASIC for DC-DC to operate.•The μDMFC stack power system shows high efficiency experimentally.