Evaluating low-temperature fuel cell performance for power generation: fluid dynamics study of phosphoric acid fuel cell systems at the cell level

Abstract

The development of a detailed mathematical modelling approach for phosphoric acid fuel cells (PAFCs) is described and typical results are presented, discussed, and compared with experimental data found in the literature. A three-dimensional, integrated electrochemical computational-fluid dynamic analysis of a steady-state operation was attempted. The developed model was applied for validation purposes to a specific electrochemical system found in the literature; however, it can be applied to a variety of fuel cell systems. The model has been applied to investigate the effects of various parameters on system performance, justifying the claim that such studies can be very useful tools for optimizing the operation of a PAFC unit or stack. The predictions obtained of the average cell and stack voltage as well as of the generated power show good agreement with the limited experimental data found in the literature.

Keywords

fuel cell phosphoric acid fuel cells mathematical model simulation power generation

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