Abstract
A PEMFC system model for FCEV was constructed and simulated numerically to examine the heat/water flow of the system and air/fuel humidification process for various operation conditions (ambient pressure /temperature/humidity, operating temperature, power load). We modeled PEMFC stack which can generate maximum electricity of about 80 kW. This stack consists of 400 unit cells and each unit cell has $250cm^2$ reacting area. Uniform current density and uniform operating voltage per each cell was assumed. The results show the flow characteristics of heat and water at each component of PEMFC system in macro-scale. The capacity shortage of the radiator occurred when the ambient was hot $(over\;40^{\circ}C)$ and power level was high (over 50 kW). In spite of some heat release by evaporation of water in stack, heat unbalance reached to 20kW approximately in such a severe operating condition. This heat unbalance could be recovered by auxiliary radiators or high speed cooling fan with additional cost. In cold environment, the capacity of radiator exceeded the net heat generation to be released, which may cause a problem to drop the operating temperature of stack. We dealt with this problem by regulating mass flow rate of coolant and radiator fan speed. Finally, water balance was not easily broken when we retrieved condensed and/or unused water.
