Fault-tolerant control through dynamic surface triple-step approach for proton exchange membrane fuel cell air supply systems

Proton exchange membrane fuel cells are relevant systems for power generation. However, they suffer from a lack of reliability, mainly due to their structural complexity. Indeed, their operation involves electrochemical, thermal, and electrical phenomena that imply a strong coupling, making it harder to maintain nominal operation. This complexity causes several issues for the design of appropriate control, diagnosis, or fault-tolerant control strategies. It is therefore mandatory to understand the fuel cell structure for a relevant design of these kinds of strategies. This paper proposes a fuel cell fault structural analysis approach that leads to the proposition of a structural graph. This graph will then be used to highlight the interactions between the control variables and the functionalities of a fuel cell, and therefore to emphasize how changing a parameter to mitigate a fault can influence the fuel cell state and eventually cause another fault. The final aim of this work is to allow an easier implementation of an efficient and fault-tolerant control strategy on the basis of the proposed graphical representation.

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STUDY ON THE OPTIMIZATION FOR THE SIZE OF FUEL CELL FLOW FIELD UNDER INADEQUATE AIR SUPPLY CONDITION

Química Nova ◽

10.21577/0100-4042.20170713 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Shi Lei ◽

Zheng Minggang

Keyword(s):

Fuel Cell ◽

Flow Field ◽

Proton Exchange Membrane ◽

Three Dimensional ◽

Proton Exchange ◽

Field Size ◽

Air Supply ◽

Supply Condition ◽

Length Width ◽

Exchange Membrane

In this paper, the influence of the optimization for flow field size on the proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) performance under the inadequate air supply of cathode was studied based on the three-dimensional, steady-state, and constant temperature PEMFC monomer model. Additionally, the effect of the optimization for hybrid factors, including length, width, depth and width-depth, on the PEMFC performance was also investigated. The results showed that the optimization of the flow field size can improve the performance of the PEMFC and ensure that it is close to the level under the normal gas supply.

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Fuzzy observer-based fault tolerant control against sensor faults for proton exchange membrane fuel cells

International Journal of Hydrogen Energy ◽

10.1016/j.ijhydene.2018.10.070 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 45 (19) ◽

pp. 11220-11232

Author(s):

Elkhatib Kamal ◽

Abdel Aitouche

Keyword(s):

Fuel Cells ◽

Proton Exchange Membrane ◽

Fault Tolerant ◽

Fault Tolerant Control ◽

Proton Exchange ◽

Sensor Faults ◽

Fuzzy Observer ◽

Exchange Membrane

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Effect of Gravity on Droplet Growth and Detachment Inside a Simulated PEM Fuel Cell Air Flow Channel With Hydrophobic Walls

ASME 2013 11th International Conference on Fuel Cell Science, Engineering and Technology ◽

10.1115/fuelcell2013-18108 ◽

2013 ◽

Author(s):

Andres Munoz ◽

Abhijit Mukherjee

Keyword(s):

Fuel Cell ◽

Proton Exchange Membrane ◽

Air Flow ◽

Pem Fuel Cell ◽

Proton Exchange ◽

Droplet Growth ◽

Flow Rates ◽

Air Supply ◽

Supply Channel ◽

Exchange Membrane

Water management still remains a challenge for proton exchange membrane fuel cells. Byproduct water formed in the cathode side of the membrane is wicked to the air supply channel through the gas diffusion layer. Water emerges into the air supply channel as droplets, which are then removed by the air stream. When the rate of water production is higher than the rate of water removal, droplets start to accumulate and coalesce with each other forming slugs consequently clogging the channels and causing poor fuel cell performance. It has been shown in previous experiments that rendering the channels hydrophobic or super-hydrophobic cause water droplets to be removed faster, not allowing time to coalesce, and therefore making channels less prone to flooding. In this numerical study we analyze water droplet growth and detachment from a simulated hydrophobic air supply channel inside a proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell. In these numerical simulations the Navier-Stokes equations are solved using the SIMPLER method coupled with the level set technique in order to track the liquid-vapor interface. The effect of the gravity field acting in the −y, −x, and +x directions was examined for an array of water flow rates and air flow rates. Detachment times and diameters were computed. The results showed no significant effect of the gravity field acting in the three different directions as expected since the Bond and Capillary numbers are relatively small. The maximum variations in detachment time and diameter were found to be 8.8 and 4.2 percent, respectively, between the horizontal channel and the vertical channel with gravity acting in the negative x direction, against the air flow. Droplet detachment was more significantly affected by the air and water flow rates.

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