Thermodynamic Evaluation of PEM Fuel Cells

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Chapter-V
THEORITICAL ANALYSIS
The performance of the PEM fuel cell is evaluated by a thermodynamic analysis, which is of two types, viz., energy analysis and exergy analysis. The energy analysis is made by applying the first law of thermodynamics to the fuel cell. The efficiency is defined by considering the heat input to the fuel cell and the work output from the fuel cell. In the exergy analysis the fuel cell and the surrounding environment are considered together. The efficiency is defined based on the maximum or available energy which is calculated by considering the entropy lost to the environment. Thus the exergy analysis takes into account the second law of thermodynamics in addition to the first law. In this chapter a theoretical analysis …show more content…

Total exergy transfers by heat, work and mass from the PEM fuel cell are, respectively, defined as:
Σ(Ex) ̇_heat=(1-T_o/T_FC )×r_HL×Q ̇_FC (28)
Σ(Ex) ̇_work=W ̇_FC (29)
Σ(Ex) ̇_(mass,in)=(Ex) ̇_(H_(2,in) )+(Ex) ̇_(O_(2,in) )=(n ̇×ex)_(H_(2,in) )+(n ̇×ex)_(O_(2,in) ) (30)
It is noted that the inlet oxygen and hydrogen gases are normally humidified before entering the cell. However, the mass flow rate of the water used to humidify the oxygen and hydrogen streams is negligible. This simplification will have only negligible effects on the exergy analysis results presented subsequently because the flow rate of humidification water is small and it is at near-environmental conditions (implying its specific exergy is small) [21].
Σ(Ex) ̇_(mass,out) =( Ex) ̇_(H_(2,out) )+(Ex) ̇_(O_(2,out) )+(Ex) ̇_(H_2 O,pro)=〖 (n ̇×ex)〗_(H_(2,out) )+(n ̇×ex)_(O_(2,out) )+(n ̇×ex)_(H_2 O,pro) (31)
The general thermodynamic irreversibility equation for a PEM fuel cell can be also written as:
Or as a general algebraic

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