Thermal control and performance assessment of a proton exchanger membrane fuel cell generator

• Published in: Applied energy 2013-08, Vol.108, p.184-193
• Main Author: Hwang, Jenn-Jiang
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: algorithms; Applied sciences; cells; cold; cooling; Energy; Energy. Thermal use of fuels; Equipments for energy generation and conversion: thermal, electrical, mechanical energy, etc; Exact sciences and technology; Fuel cells; fuels; heat; Proton exchange membrane fuel cell; Radiator; System efficiency; temperature; Thermal control unit; thermal properties; Thermostat
• ISSN: 0306-2619; 1872-9118
• DOI: 10.1016/j.apenergy.2013.03.025

•Thermal control unit along with a smart algorithm is able to limit the fuel cell temperature in a desired range.•Thermal control unit comprises a thermostat, a radiator/fan assembly, a coolant heater, and a convection fan.•The system efficiency is increased with increasing the external load, reaching 46% at 80% load-duty.•The stack coolant inlet temperature is optimized in the range 58–63°C. An original-designed thermal control scheme that manages the thermal behaviors in a proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell generator has been proposed. It not only keeps the stack from overheating under extreme high external loads, but also prevents the stack from staying too cold in the cold-start conditions. A thermal control unit (TCU) together with a smart control algorithm is able to limit the fuel cell operation temperature in a desired range. The TCU comprises mainly a thermostat, a radiator, and a heater. It divides the stack coolant into a cooling stream and a heating stream that maintains a pre-set coolant temperature before entering the stack. Parametric studies include the external loads (0