Fuel cell powered vehicle model

Make a MATLAB model of fuel cell-powered electric vehicle and comment on results

Answer:

Fuel Cell

Fuel cells are electrochemical devices that convert chemical energy from the reactants directly into electricity and heat. The device consists of an electrolyte layer in contact with a porous anode and cathode on either side. An illustration of a fuel cell with reactant/product gasses and the ion conduction flow directions through the cell is shown in Figure 1.

Figure 1: A single PEM fuel cell configuration

In a standard fuel cell, gaseous fuels are fed continuously to the anode (negative electrode), while an oxidant (oxygen from the air) is fed continuously to the cathode (positive electrode). Electrochemical reactions take place at the electrodes to produce an electric current. Some of the advantages of fuel cell systems are:

• A high operating efficiency is not a function of system size.
• A highly scalable design.
• Several types of potential fuel sources are available.
• Zero or near-zero greenhouse emissions.
• There are no moving parts in the fuel cell stack, which provides reliable, vibration-free operation. (There may be pumps or compressors in some fuel cell plant subsystems).
• Nearly instantaneous recharge capability when compared to batteries.

Some of the limitations common to all fuel cell systems include:

• Cost-effective, mass-produced pure hydrogen storage, and delivery technology.
• Fuel Reformation technology may need to be considered if pure fuel is not used.
• Fuel cell performance may gradually decrease over time due to catalyst degradation and electrolyte poisoning if pure fuel is not used.

Comparison with Batteries

Fuel cells are like batteries, but also have some significant differences. Both technologies are electrochemical devices that produce energy directly from an electrochemical reaction between the fuel and the oxidant. Some of the unique characteristics of a battery include:

1. It is an energy storage device.
2. The maximum amount of available energy is based on the amount of chemical reactant stored in the battery itself.
3. A battery has the fuel and oxidant reactants built into itself (onboard storage), in addition to being an energy conversion device.
4. In a secondary battery, recharging regenerates the reactants. This involves putting energy into the battery from an external source. 

The fuel cell is an energy conversion device that can produce electrical energy as long as the fuel and oxidant are supplied to the electrodes. Figure 2 shows a comparison between a fuel cell and a battery.

Figure 2. Comparison of a fuel cell and a battery

The lifetime of a primary battery is limited due to the following:

1. The battery stops producing electricity when the chemical reactants stored in a battery runs out.
2. When a battery is not being used, a very slow electrochemical reaction takes place that limits the lifetime of the battery.
3. The battery life is dependent on the lifetime of the electrode.

In comparison, a fuel cell is an energy conversion device where the reactants are supplied. The fuels are stored outside the fuel cell. A fuel cell can supply electrical energy as long as fuel and oxidant are supplied. Also, no “leakage” occurs in a fuel cell, and no corrosion of cell components occurs when the system is not in use.

Comparison with Heat Engine

A heat engine also converts chemical energy into electric energy, but through intermediate steps:

1. The chemical energy is first converted into thermal energy through combustion;
2. Thermal energy is then converted into mechanical energy by the heat engine; and
3. Finally, the mechanical energy is converted into electric energy by an electric generator.

This multistep energy process requires several devices to generate electricity. The maximum efficiency is limited by Carnot’s law because the conversion process is based upon a heat engine, which operates between a low and high temperature. The process also involves moving parts, which implies that they wear over time. Regular maintenance of moving components is required for proper operation of the mechanical components. Figure 3 shows a comparison between a fuel cell and a heat engine/electrical generator.

Figure 3. Comparison of a fuel cell to a heat generator

Since fuel cells do not have any moving parts during operation, they are more reliable than heat engines and have less noise. This results in lower maintenance costs, which make them especially advantageous for space and underwater missions. Electrochemical processes in fuel cells are not governed by Carnot’s law; therefore, high operating temperatures are not necessary for achieving high efficiency. Also, the efficiency of fuel cells is not strongly dependent on operating power. It is their inherently high efficiency that makes fuel cells an excellent option for a broad range of applications, including automobiles, buses, distributed electricity, and portable systems.

Simulink Model

1.Ramp: The Ramp block generates a signal that starts at a specified time and value and changes by a specified rate. The block's Slope, Start Time, and Initial output parameters determine the characteristics of the output signal. All must have the same dimensions after scalar expansion.

2.Flow rate selector:

It selects and provides the required output, for any input to understand this block more clearly.

3.Switch:

The Switch block models a switch controlled by an external physical signal. If the external physical signal PS is greater than the value specified in the Threshold parameter, then the switch is closed, otherwise, the switch is open.

4.Saturation:

saturation creates a default saturation nonlinearity estimator object for estimating Hammerstein-Wiener models. The linear interval is set to [NaN NaN]. The initial value of the linear interval is determined from the estimation data range during estimation using now.

5.Fuel cell stack:

The Fuel Cell Stack block implements a generic model parameterized to represent most popular types of fuel cell stacks fed with hydrogen and air.

6.DC/DC boost converter:

The Average-Value DC-DC Converter block represents a controlled average-value DC-DC converter. You can program the block as a buck converter, boost converter, or buck-boost converter by providing the duty cycle. The diagram shows the equivalent circuit for the block with a duty cycle as input. The converter contains a controlled current source and a controlled voltage source. Use the duty cycle, the current reference, or the voltage reference ports as a control input to convert the electrical energy between the connected components on either side of the converter.

 

7.scope:

8.Powergui:

The powergui block allows you to choose one of these methods to solve your circuit:

• Continuous, which uses a variable-step solver from Simulink

• Discretization of the electrical system for a solution at fixed time steps

• Continuous or discrete phasor solution

RESULTS:

Scope1:

1.Flow rate: From 0 to 10 sec of the time, the flow rate starts increasing and remains constant, until it reaches 50 lpm.After 10sec of the time, the flow rate increases up to 95 lpm which is attained in 3.5 sec of the time.

We are controlling the voltage and current required for the system by changing the flow rate of the hydrogen and oxygen.

2.Utilization: As the flow rate is increased to 95lpm, there can be seen a reduction in the utilization of hydrogen 100% to 42% where as oxygen remains constant with the value of 60%.

3.Stack consumption(lpm): We can see in the plot that up to 10 sec, the oxygen and hydrogen consumption gradually increases and remains constant up to 10 sec again after 10 sec the hydrogen and oxygen consumption decreases and remains constant.

4.Stack efficiency(%): At time t=0 due to transient state the efficiency first increases and then decreases and remains constant, with the constant stack consumption, efficiency again, decreases and remains constant after 10 sec.

 Scope 2:

 1.Voltage and Current: Both voltage and current change its value due to a transient state. We can see the voltage gets down and remains constant, whereas the current goes up gradually and remains constant up to 10 sec of simulation. After 10 sec with the increase in flow rate voltage of the system increases and to compensate for that current value got decreased.

2.DC bus Voltage and Current: The only change in voltage and current can be seen at the transient state of the system. Otherwise, there is no change in the DC bus voltage as DC/DC converter of 100 V dc is taken into consideration.