Compact Design of 10 kW Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell Stack Systems with Microcontroller Units

Hsiaokang Ma, Weiyang Cheng, Fuming Fang, Chinbing Hsu and Chengsheng Lin
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Hsiaokang Ma: Department of Mechanical Engineering, National Taiwan University, Taipei 10617, Taiwan
Weiyang Cheng: Department of Mechanical Engineering, National Taiwan University, Taipei 10617, Taiwan
Fuming Fang: Department of Mechanical Engineering, National Taiwan University, Taipei 10617, Taiwan
Chinbing Hsu: FIELD Energy Ltd., Zhudong 31061, Taiwan
Chengsheng Lin: FIELD Energy Ltd., Zhudong 31061, Taiwan

Energies, 2014, vol. 7, issue 4, 1-17

Abstract: In this study, fuel, oxidant supply and cooling systems with microcontroller units (MCU) are developed in a compact design to fit two 5 kW proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) stacks. At the initial stage, the testing facility of the system has a large volume (2.0 m × 2.0 m × 1.5 m) with a longer pipeline and excessive control sensors for safe testing. After recognizing the performance and stability of stack, the system is redesigned to fit in a limited space (0.4 m × 0.5 m × 0.8 m). Furthermore, the stack performance is studied under different hydrogen recycling modes. Then, two similar 5 kW stacks are directly coupled with diodes to obtain a higher power output and safe operation. The result shows that the efficiency of the 5 kW stack is 43.46% with a purge period of 2 min with hydrogen recycling and that the hydrogen utilization rate µ f is 66.31%. In addition, the maximum power output of the twin-coupled module (a power module with two stacks in electrical cascade/parallel arrangement) is 9.52 kW.

Keywords: fuel cell; microcontroller units; compact design; electrical coupling (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2014
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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