DYNAMIC MODELLING OF A MEGAWATT PEM FUEL CELL SYSTEM WITH HYDROGEN SUPPLY FROM AN LH2 TANK SYSTEM

Abstract

Nowadays energy supply and environmental protection are one of the great challenges. The combination of using liquid hydrogen (LH2) and polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells (PEMFC) have recently attracted significant attention in the aviation industry due to its advantages such as the potential of zero greenhouse gases emission and high specific power compared to battery-based solutions. In this study, a system design to reuse the heat losses from fuel cell system for the vaporization and heating of LH2 is proposed in order to improve the overall energy efficiency of the fuel cell system. A control and optimization oriented dynamic model of a multi-modular PEMFC system and a LH2 tank system model in megawatt range are developed. By coupling of the PEMFC cooling system with the LH2 tank system, H2 preconditioning is simulated and analyzed. The goal of this work is to predict the supply temperature and pressure of hydrogen and investigate its effect on the fuel cell system performance and durability.