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Distributed parameter model-based control of water activity and concentration of reactants in a polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell

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journal contribution
posted on 2018-01-26, 16:16 authored by Maria Sarmiento-Carnevali, Maria Serra, Carles Batlle
Water management is still a key challenge for optimal performance and durability of polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) fuel cells. Water levels along the channel in a PEM fuel cell present important spatial variations that should be taken into account to avoid both local flooding and local drying. In this work, a decentralised model predictive control scheme is designed to maintain the water activity on both anode and cathode sides of the PEM at appropriate levels. The proposed strategy tackles the accumulation of liquid water on the surface of the catalyst layers, and the possibility of local drying, by controlling observed water activity spatial profiles. Classic PEM fuel cell issues like reactant starvation are also considered. High control performance is achieved. The strategy is applied to a validated distributed parameter PEM fuel cell model. Results show increased cell power density in comparison to non-spatial control strategies.

Funding

This work was partially funded by Spanish MEC-FPU [grant number AP-2010-3969]; and the Spanish national project MICAPEM (DPI2015-69286-C3-2-R, MINECO/FEDER).

History

School

  • Mechanical, Electrical and Manufacturing Engineering

Published in

International Journal of Hydrogen Energy

Volume

42

Issue

42

Pages

26389 - 26407

Citation

SARMIENTO-CARNEVALI, M.L., SERRA, M. and BATLLE, C., 2017. Distributed parameter model-based control of water activity and concentration of reactants in a polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell. International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, 42 (42), pp. 26389-26407.

Publisher

Elsevier © Hydrogen Energy Publications

Version

  • AM (Accepted Manuscript)

Publisher statement

This work is made available according to the conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) licence. Full details of this licence are available at: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/

Publication date

2017

Notes

This paper was published in the journal International Journal of Hydrogen Energy and the definitive published version is available at https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhydene.2017.08.191.

ISSN

0360-3199

Language

  • en