Experiment-based analysis of dynamic characteristic of the ejector for the hydrogen recirculation system of the PEM fuel cell using active periodic pressure excitation

Abstract

The ejector-driven hydrogen recirculation system plays an important role in enhancing efficiency of the PEM fuel cell. It's necessary to have deep knowledge of dynamic characteristic of the ejector for optimizing system state, but until now related research is not adequate. In this paper, dynamic characteristic of the ejector for the hydrogen recirculation system of the PEM fuel cell is studied using active periodic pressure excitation. Test plant is set up and active periodic pressure excitation with small amplitude is superimposed on steady pressure at the ejector primary flow inlet. Experiment result shows that in frequency domain, amplitude ratio of dynamic pressure at primary flow inlet to the dynamic delta-pressure, equal to pressure at mixing outlet minus that at backflow inlet, is independent of excitation frequency for each steady operating point. In the complex coordinate, vector of dynamic pressure at primary flow inlet is in parallel with that of dynamic delta-pressure, for all frequencies and for all stable operating points. Furthermore, amplitude ratio of dynamic pressure at primary flow inlet to dynamic delta-pressure exhibits linearity with entrainment ratio of the ejector for all stable operating points. Experiment on the 120 kW fuel cell system validates the same dynamic characteristic.