Experimental Performance Comparison of a Single Cell and Multi-Cell Stack of High Temperature PEM Fuel Cell Prototype

2010 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susanta K. Das ◽  
Etim U. Ubong ◽  
Antonio Reis ◽  
K. Joel Berry
Keyword(s):  
High Temperature ◽  
Fuel Cell ◽  
Single Cell ◽  
Operating Temperature ◽  
Operating Conditions ◽  
Experimental Results ◽  
Design Parameters ◽  
Fuel Cell Stack ◽  
Current Voltage ◽  
Current Voltage Characteristics

In this study, we experimentally studied our newly designed and built single cell and multi-cell high temperature (140°C∼180°C) polymer electrolyte membrane (HTPEM) fuel cell stack prototype at different operating conditions to investigate the effects of operating temperature, pressure and CO concentration on the cell performance. In particular, the effects of these parameters on the current-voltage characteristics of the fuel cell stack are investigated extensively. Experimental results obtained from both the single cell and multi-cell stack with high temperature PBI-based membrane show that the high CO tolerance at high operating temperature of HTPEM fuel cell stack makes it possible to feed the reformate gas directly from the reformer without further CO removal. In order to develop design parameters for fuel reformer, experimental data of this type would be very useful. The experimental results revealed the fact that a fuel reformer is a consumer of heat and water, and the HTPEM fuel cell stacks are a producer of heat and water. Therefore, the integration of the fuel cell stack and the reformer is expected to improve the entire system’s performance and efficiency. The results obtained from this study showed significant variations in current-voltage characteristics of HTPEM fuel cell stack at different temperatures with different CO poisoning rates. The results are promising to understand the overall system performance development strategy of HTPEM fuel cell in terms of current-voltage characteristics while fed with on-site reformate with different CO ratios in the anode fuel stream.

Experimental Performance Evaluation of a High Temperature PEM Fuel Cell Prototype Under Various Operating Conditions

2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susanta K. Das
Keyword(s):  
High Temperature ◽  
Fuel Cell ◽  
Operating Temperature ◽  
Pem Fuel Cell ◽  
Operating Conditions ◽  
Co Poisoning ◽  
Current Voltage ◽  
Current Voltage Characteristics ◽  
Fuel Stream ◽  
High Temperature Pem

In this study, we experimentally evaluated our newly designed high temperature PEM fuel cell (HTPEMFC) prototype performance at different operating conditions. In particular, we investigated the effects of operating temperature, pressure, air stoichiometry and CO poisoning in the anode fuel stream on the current-voltage characteristics of the HTPEMFC prototype. Experimental results obtained from the single HTPEM fuel cell show that the performance is quite steady with high CO-level reformate at high operating temperature which makes it possible to feed the reformate gas directly from the reformer to the stack without further CO removal. In order to develop design parameters for fuel reformer, experimental data of this type would be very useful. The results obtained from this study showed significant variations in current-voltage characteristics of HTPEMFC at different temperatures with different CO poisoning rates. The results are promising to understand the overall system performance development strategy of HTPEMFC in terms of current-voltage characteristics while fed with reformate with different CO ratios in the anode fuel stream.

Experimental Evaluation of CO Poisoning of a 5-Cell Stack High Temperature PEM Fuel Cell Prototype

2009 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susanta K. Das ◽  
Antonio Reis ◽  
K. Joel Berry
Keyword(s):  
High Temperature ◽  
Fuel Cell ◽  
System Performance ◽  
Pem Fuel Cell ◽  
Operating Conditions ◽  
Co Poisoning ◽  
Fuel Cell Stack ◽  
Current Voltage ◽  
Current Voltage Characteristics ◽  
High Temperature Pem

In this study, we experimentally studied our newly designed and built 5-cell stack high temperature PEM fuel cell prototype at different operating conditions to investigate the effects of CO poisoning on the cell performance. The effects of temperature variations with different amount of CO poisoning on the current-voltage characteristics of the fuel cell stack are investigated. Experimental data of this type would be very useful to develop design parameters for fuel reformer. The high CO tolerance of high temperature PEM fuel cell stack makes it possible to feed the reformate gas directly from the reformer without further CO removal. Thus, upon considering the fact that a steam reformer is a consumer of heat and water, and the fuel cell stacks are a producer of heat and water, the integration of the fuel cell stack and the reformer is expected to improve the entire system performance. The results obtained from our 5-cell stack test showed variations in current-voltage characteristics at different temperatures with different CO poisoning rates. The results are promising to understand the overall system performance development strategy of high temperature PEM fuel cell in terms of current-voltage characteristics while fed with on-site reformate hydrogen gas with different CO concentrations in the anode feed stream.

Performance of a 1kW (16-Cell) High Temperature PEM Fuel Cell Stack Prototype: An Experimental Evaluation

2009 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susanta K. Das ◽  
Antonio Reis ◽  
K. Joel Berry
Keyword(s):  
High Temperature ◽  
Fuel Cell ◽  
Individual Cell ◽  
Pem Fuel Cell ◽  
Operating Conditions ◽  
Pure Hydrogen ◽  
Fuel Cell Stack ◽  
Current Voltage ◽  
Current Voltage Characteristics ◽  
High Temperature Pem

In this study, we designed and built a 1 kW (16-cells) stack prototype of high temperature PEM fuel cell with 440cm2 active area of each individual cell. The purpose of this research is to experimentally study the performance of our newly built high temperature PEM fuel cell stack at different operating conditions and to judge the performance for possible commercialization aspects. The performance of the fuel cell stack in terms of current-voltage characteristics has been experimentally measured for each of the cells in the 16-cell stack (1kW). Experimental data of this type is required to develop and validate the fuel cell models to understand and optimize the operation of the stack and further stack design improvements. The fuel cell stack is fed with industry-grade (99.999%) pure hydrogen. The fuel cell stack was extensively tested at 145°C and the current-voltage characteristics were determined by varying the current loads. The results will be very helpful to understand the cell performance in terms of current-voltage characteristics of 1kW PEM fuel cell stack.

Experimental Evaluation of CO Poisoning of an Air-Breathing High Temperature PEM Fuel Cell Stack

2008 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susanta K. Das ◽  
Antonio Reis ◽  
Etim U. Ubong ◽  
K. Joel Berry
Keyword(s):  
High Temperature ◽  
Fuel Cell ◽  
System Performance ◽  
Pem Fuel Cell ◽  
Co Poisoning ◽  
Fuel Cell Stack ◽  
Current Voltage ◽  
Different Temperatures ◽  
Current Voltage Characteristics ◽  
High Temperature Pem

In this paper, we experimentally studied an air breathing high temperature PEM fuel cell at steady operating conditions to investigate the effects of CO poisoning at different temperatures ranges between 120°C∼180°C. The effects of changes in temperatures with different amount of CO poisoning on the current-voltage characteristics of the fuel cell are investigated. Experimental data of this type would be very useful to develop design parameters of fuel processor based on reformate hydrocarbons. The high CO tolerance of high temperature PEM fuel cells makes it possible to use the reformate gas directly from the reformer without further CO removal. Here we considered the fact that a steam reformer is a consumer of heat and water, and fuel cell stacks are a producer of heat and water. Thus, integration of the fuel cell stack and the reformer is expected to improve the system performance. The results obtained from the experiments showed variations in current-voltage characteristics at different temperatures with different CO poisoning rates. The results will help to understand the overall system performance development strategy of high temperature PEM fuel cell in terms of current-voltage characteristics, when fed with on-site reformate hydrogen gas with variable CO concentrations.

Experimental Performance Evaluation of a High Temperature PEM Fuel Cell at Different Temperatures and Pressures

2008 ◽  
Author(s):  
Etim U. Ubong ◽  
Susanta K. Das ◽  
K. J. Berry ◽  
Antonio Reis
Keyword(s):  
High Temperature ◽  
Fuel Cell ◽  
Pem Fuel Cell ◽  
Proton Exchange ◽  
Operating Conditions ◽  
Pure Hydrogen ◽  
Current Voltage ◽  
Current Voltage Characteristics ◽  
Temperature And Pressure ◽  
High Temperature Pem

The high temperature proton exchange membranes (HT-PEM) attract growing interests due to its enhanced electrochemical kinetics, simplified pinch technology and utilization of higher CO-rich reformed hydrogen as the fuel. From the technological point of view, using pure hydrogen as fuel seems highly restrictive because hydrogen with high purity may not always be readily available. As an attractive alternative to compressed hydrogen, it is preferred to use hydrogen-rich gases as fuel. On-site generation of hydrogen using reformed fuels can be directly fed to the high temperature proton exchange membrane fuel cells (HT-PEMFCs) without first preheating the cell with external heat source to raise the temperature to its operating temperature. Since the HT-PEMFCs performance depends strongly on temperature, the cell temperature plays an important role in its operation. The purpose of this research is to experimentally study a high temperature PEM fuel cell at steady operating conditions. In this work, the performance of the fuel cell has been experimentally examined to unravel the steady-state effects of changes in temperature and pressure at a fixed hydrogen stoichiometry and variable air stiochiometries In particular, the effects that changes in temperature and pressure have on the voltage-current characteristics. Experimental data of this type is needed to develop and validate the fuel cell models, and to help understand and optimize the operation of these devices. In this study, a cell with an active cell area of 45 cm2 based on polybenzimidazole (PBI), doped with phosphoric acid is examined over the entire temperature range of 120°C–180°C with hydrogen of 99.999% purity. The quantitative results obtained from the experiments showed variations in current-voltage characteristics at different pressure and temperatures. The results will be used as a baseline value to under-study the performance of a high temperature PEM fuel cell in terms of current-voltage characteristics, when fueled with a reformate with higher CO concentrations in our future study.

scholarly journals Single cell induced starvation in a high temperature proton exchange membrane fuel cell stack

2019 ◽  
Vol 250 ◽  
pp. 1176-1189 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cinthia Alegre ◽  
Antonio Lozano ◽  
Ángel Pérez Manso ◽  
Laura Álvarez-Manuel ◽  
Florencio Fernández Marzo ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
High Temperature ◽  
Fuel Cell ◽  
Single Cell ◽  
Proton Exchange Membrane ◽  
Proton Exchange ◽  
Fuel Cell Stack ◽  
Exchange Membrane

Experimental Performance Evaluation of a Catalytic Flat Plate Fuel Reformer for Fuel Cell Grade Reformate

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susanta K. Das ◽  
K. Joel Berry
Keyword(s):  
Fuel Cell ◽  
Flat Plate ◽  
Reaction Rates ◽  
Design Parameters ◽  
Channel Height ◽  
Inlet Temperature ◽  
Cfd Model ◽  
Current Voltage ◽  
Study Results ◽  
Current Voltage Characteristics

Compact and efficient fuel reforming system design is a major challenge because of strict requirements of efficient heat distribution on both the reforming and combustion side. As an alternative to traditional packed bed tubular reformers, catalytic flat plate fuel reformer offers better heat integration by combining the combustion reaction on one side and reforming reaction on the other side. In this study, with the help of a two-dimensional computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model, a catalytic flat plate fuel reformer is built and investigated its performance experimentally. The CFD model simulation results help to capture the effect of design parameters such as catalyst layer thickness, reaction rates, inlet temperature and velocity, and channel height. The CFD model study results also help to design and built the actual reformer in such a way that eliminate the limitations or uncertainties of heat and mass transfer coefficients. In our study, we experimentally evaluated the catalytic flat plate fuel reformer performance using natural gas. The effect of reformate gas on the current-voltage characteristics of a 5kW high temperature PEM fuel cell (HTPEMFC) stack is investigated extensively. The results shows that the overall system performance increases in terms of current-voltage characteristics of HTPEMFC while fed with reformate directly from the catalytic flat plate reformer.

Deposition of a Thin-Film CGO Electrolyte for Solid Oxide Fuel Cells

2016 ◽  
Vol 685 ◽  
pp. 776-780
Author(s):  
Andrey A. Solovyev ◽  
Anastasya N. Kovalchuk ◽  
Igor V. Ionov ◽  
S.V. Rabotkin ◽  
Anna V. Shipilova ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Fuel Cells ◽  
Fuel Cell ◽  
Magnetron Sputtering ◽  
Solid Oxide Fuel Cells ◽  
Operating Temperature ◽  
Solid Oxide ◽  
Oxide Fuel ◽  
Current Voltage ◽  
Current Voltage Characteristics ◽  
Ysz Electrolyte

Reducing the operating temperature of solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) from 800-1000°C is one of the main SOFC research goals. It can be achieved by lowering the thickness of an electrolyte (ZrO2:Y2O3 (YSZ) is widely used as electrolyte material). On the other hand the problem can be solved by using of another electrolyte material with high ionic conductivity at intermediate temperatures. Therefore the present study deals with magnetron sputtering of ceria gadolinium oxide (CGO), which has a higher conductivity compared to YSZ. The microstructure of CGO layers deposited on porous NiO/YSZ substrates by reactive magnetron sputtering of Ce:Gd cathode is investigated. Current voltage characteristics (CVC) of a fuel cell with NiO/YSZ anode, CGO electrolyte and LSCF/CGO cathode were obtained. It was shown that the power density of a fuel cell with CGO electrolyte weakly depends on the operating temperature in the range of 650-750°C in contradistinction to YSZ electrolyte, and is about 600-650 mW/cm2.

Modeling and Experimental Analyses of a Two-Cell Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Fuel Cell Stack Emphasizing Individual Cell Characteristics

2008 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sang-Kyun Park ◽  
Song-Yul Choe
Keyword(s):  
Fuel Cell ◽  
Polymer Electrolyte ◽  
Individual Cell ◽  
Polymer Electrolyte Membrane ◽  
Pem Fuel Cell ◽  
Operating Conditions ◽  
Experimental Results ◽  
Fuel Cell Stack ◽  
Electrolyte Membrane ◽  
The Individual

Performance of individual cells in an operating polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) fuel cell stack is different from each other because of inherent manufacturing tolerances of the cell components and unequal operating conditions for the individual cells. In this paper, first, effects of different operating conditions on performance of the individual cells in a two-cell PEM fuel cell stack have been experimentally investigated. The results of the experiments showed the presence of a voltage difference between the two cells that cannot be manipulated by operating conditions. The temperature of the supplying air among others predominantly influences the individual cell voltages. In addition, those effects are explored by using a dynamic model of a stack that has been developed. The model uses electrochemical voltage equations, dynamic water balance in the membrane, energy balance, and diffusion in the gas diffusion layer, reflecting a two-phase phenomenon of water. Major design parameters and an operating condition by conveying simulations have been changed to analyze sensitivity of the parameters on the performance, which is then compared with experimental results. It turns out that proton conductivity of the membrane in cells among others is the most influential parameter on the performance, which is fairly in line with the reading from the experimental results.

Robust Design Techniques for Evaluating Fuel Cell Thermal Performance

2006 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kenneth J. Kelly ◽  
Gregory C. Pacifico ◽  
Michael Penev ◽  
Andreas Vlahinos
Keyword(s):  
Fuel Cell ◽  
Heat Generation ◽  
Thermal Performance ◽  
Gas Flow ◽  
Internal Heat ◽  
Flow Path ◽  
Coolant Flow ◽  
Design Parameters ◽  
Fuel Cell Stack ◽  
Path Design

The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and Plug Power Inc. have been working together to develop fuel cell modeling processes to rapidly assess critical design parameters and evaluate the effects of variation on performance. This paper describes a methodology for investigating key design parameters affecting the thermal performance of a high temperature, polybenzimidazole (PBI)-based fuel cell stack. Nonuniform temperature distributions within the fuel cell stack may cause degraded performance, induce thermo-mechanical stresses, and be a source of reduced stack durability. The three-dimensional (3-D) model developed for this project includes coupled thermal/flow finite element analysis (FEA) of a multi-cell stack integrated with an electrochemical model to determine internal heat generation rates. Sensitivity and optimization algorithms were used to examine the design and derive the best choice of the design parameters. Initial results showed how classic design-of-experiment (DOE) techniques integrated with the model were used to define a response surface and perform sensitivity studies on heat generation rates, fluid flow, bipolar plate channel geometry, fluid properties, and plate thermal material properties. Probabilistic design methods were used to assess the robustness of the design in response to variations in load conditions. The thermal model was also used to develop an alternative coolant flow-path design that yields improved thermal performance. Results from this analysis were recently incorporated into the latest Plug Power coolant flow-path design. This paper presents an evaluation of the effect of variation on key design parameters such as coolant and gas flow rates and addresses uncertainty in material thermal properties.

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