FUEL CELL

(Dynamic Modelling and

Harmonic Considerations)

SUBMITTED BY:

BINIT KUMAR SINGH

1120013
E-1

CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION
PRINCIPLE OF OPERATION
TYPES OF FUEL CELLS
DYNAMIC MODELLING OF FUEL CELLS
BACK UP BATTERY SYSTEM
ELIMINATION OF HARMFUL HARMONICS
COST ANALYSIS
CONCLUSION

INTRODUCTION
Fuel cells are electrochemical power

generation systems
producing DC electric power via the chemical reaction of
hydrogen and oxygen in the presence of an electrolyte.
A fuel cell is like a battery because power is produced by
means of electrochemical reaction.
A battery, however holds a closed store of energy within it and
once this is depleted the battery must be discarded, or
recharged .
A fuel cell, on the other hand, uses an external supply of
chemical energy and can run indefinitely, as long as it is
supplied with a source of hydrogen and a source of oxygen
(usually air).

PRINCIPLE OF OPERATION

PRINCIPLE OF OPERATION
The chemical reactions that produce the electric current are

the key to how a fuel cell works.

Hydrogen atoms enter a fuel cell at the anode where a chemical
reaction strips them of their electrons. The hydrogen atoms are
now "ionized," and carry a positive electrical charge. The
negatively charged electrons provide the current through wires
to do work.
Oxygen enters the fuel cell at the cathode and it there combines
with electrons returning from the electrical circuit and
hydrogen ions that have travelled through the electrolyte from
the anode.

TYPES OF FUEL CELLS

Fuel cells are classied based on their electrolyte type.
The main classification depends on whether the electrolyte is
solid or liquid.
FUEL CELL

SOLID ELECTROLYTE

PEM

SO

LIQUID ELECTROLYTE

MC

PA

Proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC):

AT ANODE:
AT CATHODE:

2 H 2 4 H 4e
2O2 4 H 4e 2 H 2 0

OVERALL REACTION:

2 H 2 O2 2 H 2 0

Molten carbonate fuel cell (MCFC):

H 2 H 2O CO2 _ 2e

AT ANODE:

CO3

AT CATHODE:

1 / 2O2 CO2 _ 2e CO32

OVERALL REACTION:

1/ 2O2 CO2 _ H 2 CO2 H 2O

DYNAMIC MODELLING OF FUEL CELLS

The behaviour of a reformer is shown that shows the time

delay occurs between the fuel injection and the outcome pure
hydrogen.

DYNAMIC MODELLING OF FUEL CELLS

Using the Nernsts equation and by inserting the delay time,
the open-circuit voltage of a fuel cell can be expressed as:
VOC Ecell E

0
ocell

where the term

RT
K E (T 298)
ln[
2F

Edcell

{PH 2 *( PO2 ) 0.5 }

PH 2O

] Edcell

inserts the effect of the delay time caused

by the reformer together with the oxidation reaction delay time

DYNAMIC MODELLING OF FUEL CELLS

Edcell

t
e {i t i t * exp( )}
e

where * represents convolution operator, and the values of

e and e are respectively about 0.003 and 80 sec for a
fuel cell that explicitly shows a considerable delay time
resulted from the reformer operation and the oxidation
chemical reaction. It is clear that is zero for steady state case
but it causes a decrease in the open-circuit voltage of the fuel
cell for the transition states resulting from the variations in the
load demand.

DYNAMIC MODELLING OF FUEL CELLS

The fuel cell voltage under load can be expressed as:
Vout t Ecell conc act ohm Rin i t
where
act

RT
{ln io 2.303 ln i t }
nF

conc

il i
RT

ln[
nF
il

ohm

i i t
nFD
ln[ l
]
(1 ti )
il

Using linearization,
VOUT t Ecell Ract (T )i t Rconc (T )i t Rohm (T )i t Rini t

DYNAMIC MODELLING OF FUEL CELLS

oc ( Ract Rconc Rin )C

oc

( Ract Rconc Rin )( Rohm Rload )C

( Ract Rconc Rin Rohm Rload )

a) Open circuit b) When load is present

BACK UP BATTERY SYSTEM

For adapting well a fuel cell stack to the fast variations in the

load demand, the fuel cell stack should be used together with a
back-up system.
A back-up battery system is proposed to compensate the slow
dynamic response of the fuel cell by providing a bidirectional
path to transmit/absorb the extra instant power according the
load demand.
A fuel cell based power generation system can be used either
as a standalone or a grid-connected system.

BACK UP BATTERY SYSTEM

a) When extra power is required b) When there is a sudden decrease in load demand

BACK UP BATTERY SYSTEM

Internal structure of dc-dc converters

BACK UP BATTERY SYSTEM

ELIMINATION OF HARMFUL HARMONICS

The AC voltages generated by the unidirectional-boost DCDC

converter and bidirectional-boost DCDC converter both

produce an enormous amount of odd- order harmonics.
The primary effect of the mentioned odd-order harmonics is to
produce a considerable amount of heat in the transformer, and
this causes a sudden increase in the transformer temperature.
Increase in power loss and damaging the electrical insulations
are the other effects of the produced harmonics.

ELIMINATION OF HARMFUL HARMONICS

ELIMINATION OF HARMFUL HARMONICS

ELIMINATION OF HARMFUL HARMONICS

The voltage of the unidirectional-boost DCDC
converter in the fuel cell system can be expressed
using the Fourierseries as:
VAB t an cos(nwt ) bn sin(nwt )
n 1

wherean = 0 because
is odd symmetric,
VAB t
and only the odd coefficients of the sine
components are available

VAB t bn sin(nwt )
n 1

bn

V t sin(nwt )d ( wt )
AB

ELIMINATION OF HARMFUL HARMONICS

ELIMINATION OF HARMFUL HARMONICS

The proposed waveform is produced by applying a set of
switching angles, such that
4Vdc
bn
n

k 1
(

1)
cos n k

k 1

where N is the pulse number per half cycle. Now, to eliminate

3rd, 5th and 7th harmonics which have the most harmful
effects we get equations such as:
4Vdc
b1
[cos(1 ) cos( 2 ) cos( 3 ) cos( 3 )] VO1

b3

4Vdc
[cos(31 ) cos(3 2 ) cos(3 3 ) cos(3 3 )] 0
3

ELIMINATION OF HARMFUL HARMONICS

4Vdc
[cos(51 ) cos(5 2 ) cos(5 3 ) cos(5 3 )] 0
5
4V
b7 dc [cos(71 ) cos(7 2 ) cos(7 3 ) cos(7 3 )] 0
7
Thus to completely eliminate the required harmonics the
above set of equations should be satisfied and required values
of switching angles to achieve this are:
b5

1 26.58 deg

2 41.60 deg

3 55.98 deg

4 85.54 deg

ELIMINATION OF HARMFUL HARMONICS

COST ANALYSIS

A fuel cell stack used in practical systems actually needs a

rechargeable battery to provide the initial voltages and powers

which are necessary to start the fuel cell stack.
The back-up battery system proposed in this study does not
need an extra rechargeable battery.
The bidirectional-boost DCDC converter is the only element
that actually is added to the fuel cell system. The cost of the
bidirectional-boost DCDC converter is negligible compared
to the price of a fuel cell stack.

CONCLUSION
The dynamic model of the fuel cell is studied.
The model shows that a fuel cell stack has a very slow

dynamic response, so it cannot adapt itself to the fast variations

in the load demand.
Therefore, a novel back-up battery system is proposed to
compensate the slow dynamic response of the fuel cell stack.
It is also shown that the conventional switching waveforms
used in the converters of the fuel cell and back-up battery
systems produce harmful harmonics, and thus a novel
technique is proposed to completely eliminate the main
harmful harmonics.