Modelado térmico de una pila de combustible PEM de alta temperatura

Abstract

Two key aspects would rule next energy revolution in the forthcoming decades in order to accomplish Paris Agreement. The first one would be energy storage and the second one pollution decrease. Therefore, hydrogen will have a great role in this field. Fuel cells transforms hydrogen chemical energy into electricity with high efficiency. Despite being a promising technology, improvements should be made in order to make them viable. Fuel cell models are tools that help to achieve these enhancements. This work presents the development of a dynamic three-dimensional model of a high temperature PEM fuel cell stack based at IRI’s Fuel Cell Control Laboratory. The main problem of this fuel cell is the impossibility of working at high current densities because it reaches its maximum working temperature before. To this end, the model is focused on its thermal behavior. The simulation results obtained from the model were compared to experimental data of the same fuel cell stack in order to validate experimentally the numerical simulation. Finally, some suggestions to improve the fuel cell refrigeration system were presented.