Dynamic Model of High Temperature PEM Fuel Cell Stack Temperature

The present work involves the development of a model for predicting the dynamic temperature of a high temperature PEM (HTPEM) fuel cell stack. The model is developed to test different thermal control strategies before implementing them in the actual system. The test system consists of a prototype cathode air cooled 30 cell HTPEM fuel cell stack developed at the Institute of Energy Technology at Aalborg University. This fuel cell stack uses PEMEAS Celtec P-1000 membranes, runs on pure hydrogen in a dead end anode configuration with a purge valve. The cooling of the stack is managed by running the stack at a high stoichiometric air flow. This is possible because of the PBI fuel cell membranes used, and the very low pressure drop in the stack. The model consists of a discrete thermal model dividing the stack into three parts: inlet, middle and end and predicting the temperatures in these three parts, where also the temperatures are measured. The heat balance of the system involves a fuel cell model to describe the heat added by the fuel cells when a current is drawn. Furthermore the model also predicts the temperatures, when heating the stack with external heating elements for start-up, heat conduction through stack insulation, cathode air convection and heating of the inlet gasses in manifold. Various measurements are presented to validate the model predictions of the stack temperatures.