Modeling of a fuel cell

The development of alternates to the internal combustion (IC) engine is widespread these days. Electric vehicles and hybrid electric vehicles are promising alternatives to the IC engine. Electric vehicles are completely battery operated while HEVs consists of at least one auxiliary source of electrical energy that drives a set of motors, apart from the battery. Proton exchange membrane fuel cell is one such auxiliary source.

This thesis is focused on developing a simple model for the proton exchange membrane hydrogen-oxygen fuel cell. This report deals with the theory behind the fuel cell from electrochemical, thermodynamic and mathematical point of view. And documents the simple model of the fuel cell developed using Simulink®. This is followed by a detailed analysis of this model and comparison with the practical fuel cell.