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Innovative Design of Solid-State Hydrogen Storage and Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell Coupling System with Enhanced Cold Start Control Strategy

Authors :
Jianhua Gao
Su Zhou
Lei Fan
Gang Zhang
Yongyuan Jiang
Wei Shen
Shuang Zhai
Source :
Applied Sciences, Vol 14, Iss 10, p 4068 (2024)
Publication Year :
2024
Publisher :
MDPI AG, 2024.

Abstract

This paper presents an innovative thermally coupled system architecture with a parallel coolant-heated metal hydride tank (MHT) designed to satisfy the hydrogen supply requirements of proton exchange membrane fuel cell s(PEMFCs). This design solves a problem by revolutionising the cold start capability of PEMFCs at low temperatures. During the design process, LaNi5 was selected as the hydrogen storage material, with thermodynamic and kinetic properties matching the PEMFC operating conditions. Afterwards, the MHT and thermal management subsystem were customised to integrate with the 70 kW PEMFC system to ensure optimal performance. Given the limitations of conventional high-pressure gaseous hydrogen storage for cold starting, this paper provides insights into the challenges faced by the PEMFC-MH system and proposes an innovative cold start methodology that combines internal self-heating and externally assisted preheating techniques, aiming to optimise cold start time, energy consumption, and hydrogen utilisation. The results show that the PEMFC-MH system utilises the heat generated during hydrogen absorption by the MHT to preheat the PEMFC stack, and the cold start time is only 101 s, which is 59.3% shorter compared to that of the conventional method. Meanwhile, the cold start energy consumption is reduced by 62.4%, achieving a significant improvement in energy efficiency. In conclusion, this paper presents a PEMFC-MH system design that achieves significant progress in terms of time saving, energy consumption, and hydrogen utilisation.

Details

Language :
English
ISSN :
20763417
Volume :
14
Issue :
10
Database :
Directory of Open Access Journals
Journal :
Applied Sciences
Publication Type :
Academic Journal
Accession number :
edsdoj.88c59dffac342e9848128da2aead9b6
Document Type :
article
Full Text :
https://doi.org/10.3390/app14104068