• Transactions of the Korean Society of Automotive Engineers
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• v.19 no.6
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• pp.113-118
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• 2011

Fuel Cell Hybrid Vehicle (FCHV) is one of the most promising candidates for the next generation of transportation. It has many outstanding advantages such as higher energy efficiency and much lower emissions than internal combustion engine vehicles. It also has the ability of recovering braking energy. In order to design an FCHV drive train, we need to determine the size of the electric motor, the Fuel Cell System (FCS), and the battery. In this paper, the methodology for the sizing of these components is introduced based on the driveability constraints of the FCHV. A power management strategy is also presented because the battery energy capacity depends on it. The warm-up time of the FCS is also considered in the power management strategy and the simulation result is compared to that without considering the warm-up time.

• Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.1018-1026
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• 2005

The proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell system consisting of stack and balance of plant (BOP) was modeled in a MATLAB/Simulink environment. High-pressure operating (compressor type) and low-pressure operating (air blower type) fuel cell systems were con­sidered. The effects of two main operating parameters (humidity and the pressure of the supplied gas) on the power distribution characteristics of BOP and the net system efficiency of the two systems mentioned above were compared and discussed. The simulation determines an optimum condition regarding parameters such as the cathode air pressure and the relative humidity for maximum net system efficiency for the operating fuel cell systems. This study contributes to get a basic insight into the fuel cell stack and BOP component sizing. Further research using muli­object variable optimization packages and the approach developed by this study can effectively contribute to an operating strategy for the practical use of fuel cell systems for vehicles.

• Journal of Hydrogen and New Energy
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.175-186
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• 2004

In this paper, we developed the dynamic model of a fuel cell system suitable for controller design and system operation. The transient phenomena captured in the model include the flow characteristics and inertia dynamics of the compressor, the intake manifold filling dynamics, oxygen partial pressures and membrane humidity on the fuel cell voltage. In the simulations, we paid attention to the transient behavior of stack voltage and compressor pressure, stoichiometric ratio. Simulation results are presented to demonstrate the model capability. For load current following, stack voltage dynamic characteristics are plotted to understand the Electro-chemistry involved with the fuel cell system. Compressor pressure and stoichiometric ratio are strongly coupled, and independent parameters may interfere with each other, dynamic response, undershoot and overshoot.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Automotive Engineers
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.44-51
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• 2011

Polymer Electrolyte Fuel Cells (PEFCs) operate in wide-range changes in temperature, humidity, and electric current for automotive applications. In order to operate automotive PEFC efficiently, optimal air supply is required to adjust to these changes. This paper presents an air-supply optimization process that consists of experiments, modeling of the PEFC system, and optimization. The objective is to establish an air supply suitable for the required power for PEFC system and optimized with a Lagrange multiplier. Our simplified PEFC system model is used as a constraint for optimization problem. The result of this paper presents that efficient operation of PEFC system can be achieved by air-supply optimization.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Automotive Engineers
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.65-71
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• 2014

As an important component of a fuel cell, the bipolar plate comprises a large proportion in the fuel cell's volume, weight and price. The bipolar plate is the most widely used; however, graphite bipolar plate is large in volume, brittle and therefore easily broken during assembling. In addition, due to its poor machinability, production costs a lot, unless mass production. Compared with the graphite bipolar plate, the metal bipolar plate has good machinability, high electric conductivity and strong mechanical strength; however, it corrodes easily and has a high contact resistance, so in order to prevent corrosion and reduce the contact resistance, the basic metal needs to be processed by use of electro polishing and coating. The water which is produced by electrochemical reactions in the fuel cell must be discharged smoothly. In this study, in order to prevent corrosion the processes of electro polishing and CrN coating were used. According to the presence or absence of these processes, the contact angles can be measured and different metal bipolar plates can be made, these plates can be used for comparing and analyzing the performance of the fuel cell.

• Journal of Hydrogen and New Energy
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• v.24 no.5
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• pp.393-400
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• 2013

The air supply system has a significant effect on the efficiency of polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) systems. The performance and efficiency of automotive PEMFC systems are greatly influenced by their air supply system configurations. This study deals with the system simulation of automotive PEMFC systems using MATLAB/Simulink framework. In this study, a low-pressure operating PEMFC system adopting blower sub-module (turbo-blower) is modeled to investigate the effects of stack operating temperature and air stoichiometry on the parasitic power and efficiency of automotive PEMFC systems. In addition, the PEMFC net system efficiency and parasitic power of air supply system are mainly compared for the two types (low-pressure operating and high-pressure operating) of automotive PEMFC systems under the same net power conditions. It is suggested that the obtained results from this system approach can be applied for establishing the novel operating strategies for FC vehicles.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Automotive Engineers
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.34-40
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• 2015

A stack in the proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) consists of bipolar plates, a membrane electrode assembly, a gas diffusion layer, a collector and end plates. High current density is usually obtainable partially from uniform temperature distribution in the fuel cell. A size optimization method considering the thermal expansion effect of stacked plates was developed on the basis of finite element analyses. The thermal stresses in end, bipolar, and cooling plates were calculated based on temperature distribution obtained from thermal analyses. Finally, the optimization method was applied and optimum thicknesses of the three plates were calculated considering both fastening bolt tension and thermal expansion of each unit cell (72 cells, 5kW). The optimum design considering both thermal and mechanical loads increases the thickness of an end plate by 0.64-0.83% the case considering only mechanical load. The effect can be enlarged if the number of stack increases as in an automotive application to 200-300 stacks.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Automotive Engineers
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.174-182
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• 2007

Fuel reforming technology for the fuel cell vehicles could be applied to internal combustion engine for the reduction of engine out emissions. Since syngas which is reformed from fossil fuel has hydrogen as a major component, it has abilities to enhance the combustion characteristics with wide flammability and high speed flame propagation. In this study, syngas was added to a gasoline engine to improve combustion stability and exhaust emissions of idle state. Syngas fraction is varied to 0%, 50%, 100% with various ignition timing and excess air ratio. Combustion stability, exhaust emissions, fuel consumption and exhaust gas temperature were measured to investigate the effects of syngas addition on idle performance. Results showed that syngas has ability to widely extend lean operation limit and ignition retard range with dramatical reduction of engine out emissions.

• 한국태양에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2012.03a
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• pp.382-387
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• 2012

Water balance has a significant impact on the overall fuel cell system performance. Proper water management should provide an adequate membrane hydration and avoidance of water flooding in the catalyst layer and gas diffusion layer. Considering the important of advanced water management in PEM fuel cell, this study proposes a simple one dimensional water transportation model of PEM fuel cell for use in a dynamic condition. The model has been created by assumption that the output is the water liquid saturation difference. The liquid saturation change is the total difference between the additional water and the removal water on the system. The water addition is obtained from fuel cell reaction and the electro osmotic drag. The water removal is obtained from capillary transport and evaporation process. The result shows that the capillary water transport of low temperature fuel cell is high because the evaporation rate is low.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2011.11a
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• pp.89.2-89.2
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• 2011

In automotive applicatons or water vehicles, the polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell(PEMFC) stack is keep moving while their operation. Especially the inclination environment can take a effect to fuel cell stack perfromance, because this condition can cause a bad effect to water exhaust of fuel cell stack. In this study, a large scale stack(over 100kW power) is inclined upto 30 degree in lengthwise and crosswise using stack lift equipment. And the stack is operated in 10~100% load. No significant change has appeared in crosswise inclined condition and lenthwise low angle. But in lenthwise large angle tilting condition, the fuel cell performance has significantly decreased. And this performance decrease is aggravated in low load. An active water exhaust device is applied to the stack to prevent the performance decrease. And in lenthwise large angle tilting condition, this device cause a good effect to fuel cell stack performance.