Modeling of an automotive fuel cell thermal system

• Published in: Journal of power sources Vol. 195; no. 15; pp. 4743 - 4752
• Main Authors: Nolan, John, Kolodziej, Jason
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Amsterdam Elsevier B.V 01.08.2010; Elsevier
• Subjects: Applied sciences; Automotive; Direct energy conversion and energy accumulation; Electrical engineering. Electrical power engineering; Electrical power engineering; Electrochemical conversion: primary and secondary batteries, fuel cells; Energy; Energy. Thermal use of fuels; Equipments for energy generation and conversion: thermal, electrical, mechanical energy, etc; Exact sciences and technology; Fuel cells; Ground, air and sea transportation, marine construction; Modeling; PEM fuel cells; Road transportation and traffic; Thermal system; PEM fuel cells; Thermal system; Modeling; Automotive; Motor car; Fuel systems; Polymer electrolytes; Road vehicle; Polymer solid electrolyte; Cell system; Proton exchange membrane fuel cells; Fuel cell
• ISSN: 0378-7753; 1873-2755
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jpowsour.2010.02.074

This work develops an 8th order, non-linear thermal model of an automotive proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell system. Subsystem models are developed from first principals where ever possible and validated against data from a physical system. The system model is validated against data from an automotive 120 kW fuel cell system, with good agreement. Next, a reduced order model is constructed from the full model and the performance of the two models are compared. The reduced order linear model provided an acceptable representation of the full non-linear model.