MODELLING AND CONTROL SYSTEM DEVELOPMENT OF A TURBOCHARGED PROTON-EXCHANGE MEMBRANE FUEL CELL SYSTEM

Pressurized Polymeric Electrolyte Membrane Fuel Cell (PEMFC) systems are growing among electrical power generation systems, as a zero-emissions technology. In this framework, the University of Genoa have been modelling an innovative concept for the application of low-temperature fuel cells. A turbocharged proton exchange membrane fuel cell (TC-PEMFC) plant layout with design output power higher than 200 kW is investigated. Pressurizing air before entering the stack can increase the stack efficiency and recovering the exhaust air within a turbocharger leads to better system performance. A crossflow flat pack membrane humidifier has been introduced between the air turbocharger and the PEMFC to guarantee proper operating condition into the stack. Finally, a Gas-to-Gas (GtG) heat exchanger enables cooling of the charging air while recovering the thermal energy through the turbine. In this paper, the authors present a dynamic model of an innovative turbocharged PEMFC system developed in Matlab/Simulink environment. The "RealTime" library, built by the University of Genoa, has been adopted: most of the models have been previously validated and a few new models have been customized for this application. The Matlab/Simulink model shown in this paper is used to aid the design process of the future plant, to evaluate the performance of the plant in many operating conditions and to design and test its control system. At the current stage, the model is ready to be used for on-design, off-design and transient analyses. It can be used to investigate the effect of different design choices, as well as to determine the specifications of the plant components. Some preliminary steady-state simulations are presented: the performance of the system in a wide operative range (cell currents between 150 A and 500 A), with net power higher than 300 kW and system efficiency up to 58%.