Experimental Study and Theoretical Investigation of High Temperature Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell Micro-Cogeneration Application

Abstract

In this study, a house hold micro-cogeneration system is designed using high temperature proton exchange membrane (HTPEM) fuel cell. HTPEM type fuel cells gain the highest interest lately, due to their advantages in terms of increasing efficiency and power quality, reducing harmful emissions and flexibility of operation with respect to the other fuels. The micro-cogeneration system involves producing both electrical energy and hot water and/or vapor together in an economical way, utilizing single fuel (HTPEM fuel cells) for household applications. During the operation of the fuel cell, for high efficiency and stable power production, the access heat of the stack should be removed constantly and the temperature of the stack should be held stable. Heat recovered from the designed innovative cooling system is used for acquiring energy for heating water. This way, thermal efficiency is almost doubled compared to simple cycle. In the scope of this study, 225 W HTPEM fuel cell stack is designed and tested at 160 degrees C operation temperature with hydrogen gas and air. During operation, for homogenous distribution of temperature among the cells, for a short start up period leading to a fast required steady state temperature and for constantly removing the access heat produced in the cell, the cell stack is cooled by using a cooling fluid (Heat Transfer Oil 32- Petrol Ofisi). Selection of insulation material type and thickness for the cell stack is done using natural convection and radiation loss calculations. For the most efficient operating conditions, micro-cogeneration system water inlet and exit temperatures, water and cooling fluid flow rates, convenient pipe diameter and pump power calculations are done to finalize the design. With the cogeneration system designed during the studies, by recovering the access heat of the insulated HTPEM cell stack, district water with initial temperature of 15-20 degrees C is heated around 50 degrees C. Data gathered during studies indicate that fuel cell micro-cogeneration application is highly viable.