Experimental study on hydrogen utilization of proton exchange membrane fuel cell system

doi:10.19799/j.cnki.2095-4239.2020.0043

Abstract

Abstract:

This study experimentally evaluated an open air-cooled proton-exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) system to improve its hydrogen utilization under overall working conditions. When operated in dead-end anode mode, the PEMFC demonstrated faster cell voltage decay at higher discharge currents. Therefore, the PEMFC anode end must be periodically opened to ensure its stable running. Moreover, lowering the hydrogen utilization increased the anode inlet pressure. To improve the hydrogen utilization and stabilize the running of the PEMFC, the anode purge period should be prolonged in low-current operation and shortened otherwise. At PEMFC discharge currents of 2, 5, and 8 A with a uniform purge period, the hydrogen utilizations were 0.6421, 0.9280, and 0.9746, respectively. That is, reducing the discharge current lowered the hydrogen utilization. The optimal anode purge period varied with discharge current, being prolonged to 30 and 20 s at 2 and 5 A, respectively, and it was unchanged between 5 and 8 A. The hydrogen utilization always exceeded 0.95. After approximately 1 h, the actual hydrogen consumptions were 0.1241 and 0.1317 g, respectively; approximately 5.77% of hydrogen amount was saved under optimized purge mode.

Key words: proton exchange membrane fuel cell, hydrogen utilization, overall working condition

CLC Number:

TM 911.4

ZHAI Junxiang, HE Guangli, XIONG Yalin. Experimental study on hydrogen utilization of proton exchange membrane fuel cell system[J]. Energy Storage Science and Technology, 2020, 9(3): 684-687.

Figures/Tables 9

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Table 1

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References 8

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电流	排氢间隔	斜率	变化
2	10 s/0.1 s	-0.0007
2	30 s/0.1 s	-0.0008	增大0.0001
5	10 s/0.1 s	-0.0007
5	20 s/0.1 s	-0.0006	减小0.0001

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