• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.236-244
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• 2021

Fuel cell systems for medium duty truck require high power demands under driving. Since high power demands results in significant heat generation, thermal management is crucial for the performance and durability of medium duty truck. Therefore, various configurations of dual stacks with cooling systems are investigated to understand appropriate thermal management conditions. The simulation model consists of a dynamic fuel cell stack model, a cooling system model equipped with a controller, and the mounted controller applies a feedback controller to control the operating temperature. Also, In order to minimize parasitic power, the comparison of the cooling systems involved in the arrangement was divided into three case. As a result, this study compares the reaction of fuel cells to the placement of the cooling system under a variety of load conditions to find the best placement method.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.33 no.6
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• pp.819-826
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• 2022

Fuel cell systems are being supplied to households and buildings to reduce greenhouse gases. The fuel cell systems have problems of high cost and slow startup due to fuel processors. Greenhouse gas reduction of the fuel cell systems is also limited by using natural gas. The problems can be solved by using a hydrogen generator consisting of a reformer and pressure swing adsorption (PSA). However, part load operation of the hydrogen generator is required depending on the hydrogen consumption. In this paper, PSA operation strategies are investigated for part load of the hydrogen generator. Adsorption and purge time were changed in the range of part load ratio between from 0.5 to 1.0. As adsorption time increased, hydrogen recovery increased from 29.09% to 48.34% at 0.5 of part load ratio. Hydrogen recovery and hydrogen purity were also improved by increasing adsorption and purge time. However, hydrogen recovery dramatically decreased to 35.01% at 0.5 of part load ratio.

• Journal of Power Electronics
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.194-201
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• 2011

The air flow supplied to a fuel cell system is one of the most significant factors in determining fuel efficiency. The conventional method of controlling the air flow is to fix the oxygen supply at an estimated constant rate for optimal efficiency. However, the actual optimal point can deviated from the pre-set value due to temperature, load conditions and so on. In this paper, the maximum efficiency point tracking (MEPT) algorithm is proposed for finding the optimal air supply rate in real time to maximize the net-power generation of fuel cell systems. The fixed step MEPT algorithm has slow dynamics, thus it affects the overall efficiency. As a result, the variable step MEPT algorithm is proposed to compensate for this problem instead of a fixed one. The complete small signal model of a PEM Fuel cell system is developed to perform a stability analysis and to present a design guideline. For a design example, a 1kW PEM fuel cell system with a DSP 56F807 (Motorola Inc) was built and tested using the proposed MEPT algorithm. This control algorithm is very effective for a soft current change load like a grid connected system or a hybrid electric vehicle system with a secondary energy source.

• Journal of Electrochemical Science and Technology
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.183-196
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• 2017

The research efforts directed at advancing water electrolysis technology continue to intensify together with the increasing interest in hydrogen as an alternative source of energy to fossil fuels. Among the various water electrolysis systems reported to date, systems employing a solid polymer electrolyte membrane are known to display both improved safety and efficiency as a result of enhanced separation of products: hydrogen and oxygen. Conducting water electrolysis in an alkaline medium lowers the system cost by allowing non-platinum group metals to be used as catalysts for the complex multi-electron transfer reactions involved in water electrolysis, namely the hydrogen and oxygen evolution reactions (HER and OER, respectively). We briefly review the anion exchange membranes (AEMs) and electrocatalysts developed and applied thus far in alkaline AEM water electrolysis (AEMWE) devices. Testing the developed components in AEMWE cells is a key step in maximizing the device performance since cell performance depends strongly on the structure of the electrodes containing the HER and OER catalysts and the polymer membrane under specific cell operating conditions. In this review, we discuss the properties of reported AEMs that have been used to fabricate membrane-electrode assemblies for AEMWE cells, including membranes based on polysulfone, poly(2,6-dimethyl-p-phylene) oxide, polybenzimidazole, and inorganic composite materials. The activities and stabilities of tertiary metal oxides, metal carbon composites, and ultra-low Pt-loading electrodes toward OER and HER in AEMWE cells are also described.

• International Journal of Computer Science & Network Security
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.37-44
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• 2022

Plug-in Hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV) show great potential to reduce gas emission, improve fuel efficiency and offer more driving range flexibility. Moreover, PHEV help to preserve the eco-system, climate changes and reduce the high demand for fossil fuels. To address this; some basic components and energy resources have been used, such as batteries and proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cells (FCs). However, the FC remains unsatisfactory in terms of power density and response. In light of the above, an electric storage system (ESS) seems to be a promising solution to resolve this issue, especially when it comes to the transient phase. In addition to the FC, a storage system made-up of an ultra-battery UB is proposed within this paper. The association of the FC and the UB lead to the so-called Fuel Cell Battery Electric Vehicle (FCBEV). The energy consumption model of a FCBEV has been built considering the power losses of the fuel cell, electric motor, the state of charge (SOC) of the battery, and brakes. To do so, the implementing a reinforcement-learning energy management strategy (EMS) has been carried out and the fuel cell efficiency has been optimized while minimizing the hydrogen fuel consummation per 100km. Within this paper the adopted approach over numerous driving cycles of the FCBEV has shown promising results.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.26-34
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• 2008

This study presents an aerodynamic design and an experimental performance test of a turbo air compressor consisted of mixed-flow impeller and curved diffuser for the PEM fuel cell vehicle application. Many studies compare the efficiency, cost or noise level of high-pressure and low-pressure operation of PEM fuel cell systems. Pressure ratio 2.2:1 is considered as design target The goal of compressor design is to enlarge the flow margin of compressor from surge to choke mass flow rate to cover the operational envelope of FCV. Large-scale rig test is performed to evaluate the compressor performance and to compare the effects of compressor exit pipe volume to stall or surge characteristics. The results show that the mixed-flow compressor designed has large flow margin, and the flow margin of compressor configuration with small exit volume is larger than that with large exit volume.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.271-279
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• 2014

A 25kW-class polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) fuel cell system has been developed for the propulsion of a leisure boat. The fuel cell system was designed to satisfy various performance requirements, such as resistance to shock, stability under rolling and pitching oscillations, and durability under salinity condition, for its marine applications. Then, the major components including a 30kW-class PEM fuel cell stack, a DC-DC converter, a seawater cooling system, secondary battery packs, and balance of plants were developed for the fuel cell system. The PEM fuel cell stack employs a unique design structure called an anodic cascade-type stack design in which the anodic cells are divided into several blocks to maximize the fuel utilization without hydrogen recirculation devices. The performance evaluation results showed that the stack generated a maximum power of 31.0kW while maintaining a higher fuel utilization of 99.5% and an electrical efficiency of 56.1%. Combining the 30-kW stack with other components, the 25kW-class fuel cell system boat was fabricated for a leisure. As a result of testing, the fuel cell system reached an electrical efficiency of 48.0% at the maximum power of 25.6kW with stable operability. In the near future, two PEM fuel cell systems will be installed in a 20-m long leisure boat to supply electrical power up to 50kW for propelling the boat and for powering the auxiliary equipments.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Illuminating and Electrical Installation Engineers
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.26-31
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• 2014

High temperature fuel cell system, such as molten carbonate fuel cells(MCFC) and solid oxide fuel cells(SOFC), are capable of operating at MW rated power output. The power output change of high temperature fuel cell imposes the thermal and mechanical stresses on the fuel cell stack. To minimize the thermal-mechanical stresses on the stack and increase the systems reliability, we should divide the power plant configuration to several banks. However, the improvement of reliability in fuel cell power plant system causes an increase of the investment cost, for example, replacement costs, labor costs, and so on. For this reason - the balance between investment and reliability improvement - many studies about the appropriate level of investment have been conducted. In this paper, we evaluate the cost for operation and installation, the benefit for electric energy and thermal energy sales, and the system reliability for several cases : these cases relate with the bank configuration.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.279-285
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• 2006

Recirculation for the unreacted fuel is necessary to improve the overall efficiency of the fuel cell system and to prevent fuel starvation since the fuel cell for a vehicle application is a closed system. In case of the automotive fuel cell, the ejector which does not require any parasitic power is good for the performance improvement and easy operation. It is essential to design the customized ejector due to the lack of the commercial ejector corresponding to the operating conditions of the fuel cell systems. In this study, the design methodology for the ejector customized to an automotive fuel cell is proposed. The model based sensitivity analysis prevents the time-consuming redesign and reduces the cost of developing ejector. As a result, the customized ejector to meet the desired performance within overall operating range has developed for the PEMFC automotive system.

• Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
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• 1991.07a
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• pp.3-12
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• 1991

Fuel cells are electrochemical devices that convert the chemical reaction energy directly into the electrical energy. In a typical fuel cell, gaseous fuel is fed continuously to the anode(negative electrode) compartment and the oxidant(i.e, oxygen from air) is fed continuously to the cathode(positive electrode) compartment; the electrochemical reactions take place at the electrodes to produce an electric current. Many of the operational characteristics of fuel cell systems are superior to those of conventional power generation system because of good efficiency, environmental protection, safty, modularity etc. From those reasons, the fuel cells are considered to be the solution to the future problem of energy conversion. The objective of this paper is to introduce the technical status of fuel cell technologies and our national project for the development of the phosporic acid fuel cell.