This article provides more information on using Flownex for the modelling of hydrogen fuel cells and describes how to use built-in components to create a compound component for the modelling of a PEM fuel cell. |
Does Flownex have a fuel cell component?
Flownex doesn't have a built-in fuel cell component. This is due to the vast amount of different fuel cell designs available in the market, and it is difficult to create a component that would describe each of these designs according to the user's needs. The user does have the freedom to create a fuel cell with different Flownex components and integrate their own intellectual property in the design of the component.
Is Flownex capable of modelling a fuel cell?
Flownex can model all the auxiliary components around the fuel cell with gas mixtures or fluid-and-gas mixtures. Flownex has a vast fluid library and can model the flow, heat transfer and phase change of these fluids and mixtures. Flownex doesn't have a component to model the chemical reactions within a fuel cell stack, but a c# script or integration with a third-party program could be used to achieve this. Thus, it is possible to use Flownex to model a fuel cell. The next section will briefly describe how a PEM fuel cell can be modelled in Flownex.
Modelling a PEM fuel cell in Flownex
Create a compound component in Flownex that will be used for the fuel cell stack. Add a script and some piping components to the compound component. Write the fuel cell stack calculations in the script and link the calculated flows and heat generated to the necessary boundary conditions.
After creating the fuel cell stack, add the rest of the auxiliary components to model the flow of hydrogen and air to and from the fuel cell.
To keep the fuel cell stack at an adequate temperature, add some thermal management to the network. This section will use air, a fan, a pipe and a composite heat transfer component to model the cooling of the fuel cell.
Add PID controllers to the network to control: a) the flow of hydrogen to the fuel cell by changing the valve opening, b) airflow to the fuel cell by changing the speed of the compressor, and c) the temperature of the fuel cell by changing the speed of the fan.
After the network has been built in Flownex, the model can be solved in steady state or transient to investigate the performance of the fuel cell or surrounding auxiliary systems.