Performance enhancement of fuel cells for standalone systems

Abstract

The increase in electricity demand is not met by the existing power newlineplants and this point towards the demand for use of alternate power sources. newlineThe recent power crisis, coupled with existing gaps in electrification around newlinethe world for more than two billion people lacking access to electricity, newlineresults in the need of additional power generation to meet the power demand. newlineSo many additional power sources are available and more concentration is for newlinea source whose power efficiency is high. A fuel cell, one of the recently newlineidentified electrical energy resource, provides clean power with high newlineefficiency which undergoes certain chemical reactions to produce electrical newlinepower using hydrogen as the fuel and oxygen as an oxidizing agent. Apart newlinefrom its high efficiency, the fuel cell does not require charging and recharging newlinelike batteries since they use the chemical energy without combustion. newlineHydrogen is the most commonly used fuel for fuel cell where hydrocarbon newlinesuch as natural gas and alcohols like methanol is also used as the fuel. Every newlinefuel cell has an electrolyte, which carries electrically charged particles from newlineanode to cathode, and a catalyst, which speeds the reactions at the electrodes. newlineBased on the classification of fuel used there are different types of fuel cells. A comparative analysis and digital simulation of two well-known newlinefuel cells Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells (PEMFC) and SOFC (Solid newlineOxide Fuel Cells) for grid applications and standalone systems are done. The newlinefuel control influences the cell performance. A suitable control strategy using newlineFuzzy Logic for the fuel flow is modeled, designed and simulated. The newlinesimulation study is carried out with the development of a suitable power newlineelectronic interface and control schemes, to regulate the fuel-cell voltage, both under steady and transient conditions. newline