Ecological Performance Analysis of an Integrated Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell and Thermoelectric Devices

Proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) are promising fuel cells, however, they exhaust waste heat while operating. In order to recycle the waste heat, a novel model coupling a thermoelectric generator (TEG) and a thermoelectric cooler (TEC) with a PEMFC is established. The thermodynamic and electrochemical irreversible losses including Thomson effect are considered. A set of analytical formulas are derived for overall equivalent power output under different scenarios. Parametric study is presented in this work. The ecological coefficient of performance (ECOP) which represents the equivalent output power of the unit loss of availability is employed as an objective function for system evaluation. The results show that, compared with the individual fuel cell, the maximum power density and ECOP of the hybrid system are increased by 1.42% and 4.47%, respectively. Comparing two cases with or without considering Thomson effect, it can be concluded that the Thomson effect has negative impacts on system performance to a certain extent.