Modeling and analysis of air supply system of polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell system

Abstract

Compressor/expander module (CEM) has a great effect on the power density, system efficiency, water and heat transport characteristics of polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) fuel cells. However, the air supply characteristics for CEM design have not been thoroughly investigated. In this paper, a PEM fuel cell system model is developed by coupling the AMESim with MATLAB/Simulink. Air supply system of the PEM fuel cell system is thus analyzed. Simulation results show that, under the NEDC driving cycle, the centrifugal compressor works at a narrow area near to the surge line, which is quite different from the centrifugal compressor in internal combustion engine (ICE) applications. Coupling with an expender, the parasitic power of CEM is reduced apparently, especially at high output power conditions.