Development of a Multi-physical 2-D model of PEM Fuel Cell for Real-Time Control

In this paper, a two-dimensional modeling approach for a proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) for real-time control implementation. The proposed model considers multi-physical domains in both electrochemical and fluidic. The developed 2-D model considers in particular the fuel cell flow field geometric form. The characteristics of reactant gas flow in the serpentine pipeline and diffusion phenomena through the gas diffusion layer (GDL) are thoroughly considered in the proposed model, based on which the spatial quantity distribution can be further obtained in real-time, for example the current density distribution. An implicit iterative solver has been developed and implemented in C language in real-time processor for real-time control purpose. The developed real-time model is then experimentally validated using a 1.2kW Ballard NEXA 47-cells PEMFC system. The practical feasibilities for real-time model-based diagnostic of PEMFC have been demonstrated by experimental results.