An innovative hybrid 3D analytic-numerical approach for system level modelling of PEM fuel cells

Tavčar, Gregor (author), Katrašnik, Tomaž (author)

The PEM fuel cell model presented in this paper is based on modelling species transport and coupling electrochemical reactions to species transport in an innovative way. Species transport is modelled by obtaining a 2D analytic solution for species concentration distribution in the plane perpendicular to the gas-flow and coupling consecutive 2D solutions by means of a 1D numerical gas-flow model. The 2D solution is devised on a jigsaw puzzle of multiple coupled domains which enables the modelling of parallel straight channel fuel cells with realistic geometries. Electrochemical and other nonlinear phenomena are coupled to the species transport by a routine that uses derivative approximation with prediction-iteration. A hybrid 3D analytic-numerical fuel cell model of a laboratory test fuel cell is presented and evaluated against a professional 3D computational fluid dynamic (CFD) simulation tool. This comparative evaluation shows very good agreement between results of the presented model and those of the CFD simulation. Furthermore, high accuracy results are achieved at computational times short enough to be suitable for system level simulations. This computational efficiency is owed to the semi-analytic nature of its species transport modelling and to the efficient computational coupling of electrochemical kinetics and species transport.

• Language: English
• Keywords: fuel cells, species transport, electrochemical kinetics, analytic modelling, numerical modelling
• Work type: Article
• Typology: 1.01 - Original Scientific Article
• Organization: FS - Faculty of Mechanical Engineering
• Publication status: Published
• Publication version: Version of Record
• Year: 2013
• Number of pages: Str. 5426-5485
• Numbering: Vol. 6, iss. 10
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-129248
• UDC: 621.352.6
• ISSN on article: 1996-1073
• DOI: 10.3390/en6105426
• COBISS.SI-ID: 13193243
• Publication date in RUL: 31.08.2021

Record is a part of a journal

• Title: Energies
• Shortened title: Energies
• Publisher: Molecular Diversity Preservation International
• ISSN: 1996-1073
• COBISS.SI-ID: 518046745

Licences

• License: CC BY 3.0, Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported
• Link: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en
• Description: You are free to reproduce and redistribute the material in any medium or format. You are free to remix, transform, and build upon the material for any purpose, even commercially. You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use. You may not apply legal terms or technological measures that legally restrict others from doing anything the license permits.
• Licensing start date: 21.10.2013

Secondary language

• Language: Slovenian
• Keywords: gorivne celice, transport snovi, elektrokemični procesi, numerično modeliranje