Electrochemical Modeling and Equivalent Circuit Representation of a Microphotosynthetic Power Cell

Abstract

This paper discusses the electrochemical modeling of a microphotosynthetic power cell ( µ -PSC) in a similar way as the conventional fuel cell model while taking into consideration the electrochemical dynamics of the chemical contents of the cell. It also presents the development of an electrical equivalent circuit that represents the operation of the fabricated cell. The developed equivalent circuit is different from previous works in which they used the equivalent circuit of an ordinary solar cell. The proposed model predicts the performance of this type of power harvesting cell. The study includes the steady-state and transient responses when the cell is connected to an external load. In particular, the focus of this paper is related to the development of an electrical representation with a computationally efficient parameter model for real-time simulation and control. The performance of this model is simulated and results are evaluated and compared with experimental data.