Description of PEM Fuel Cells System

Abstract

This chapter provides a description of PEM fuel cell-based system and different modeling approaches. First, it shows the structure of a single cell, the advantages and disadvantages of this type of fuel cell, the expressions of the generated voltage and the efficiency, and the generic structure of a generation system based on PEM fuel cell. Second, the chapter provides a review of the principals models presented in the literature to describe the behavior of the system. Different types of PEM fuel cell models are presented, focusing in dynamic models suitable to control purposes. Particularly, this chapter describes in detail the dynamic model used as a base to represent the system in the next chapters of the book. Then, the described model is used to study the optimal operation of a the fuel cell at different loads, showing the benefits of an optimal operation in terms of hydrogen reduction and greater peak power.