An open-source toolbox for PEM fuel cell simulation

Kone, Jean-Paul; Zhang, Xinyu; Yan, Yuying; Adegbite, Stephen

Abstract

In this paper, an open-source toolbox that can be used to accurately predict the distributionof the major physical quantities that are transported within a proton exchange membrane (PEM)fuel cell is presented. The toolbox has been developed using the Open Source Field Operationand Manipulation (OpenFOAM) platform, which is an open-source computational fluid dynamics(CFD) code. The base case results for the distribution of velocity, pressure, chemical species,Nernst potential, current density, and temperature are as expected. The plotted polarization curvewas compared to the results from a numerical model and experimental data taken from the literature.The conducted simulations have generated a significant amount of data and information about thetransport processes that are involved in the operation of a PEM fuel cell. The key role played by theconcentration constant in shaping the cell polarization curve has been explored. The development ofthe present toolbox is in line with the objectives outlined in the International Energy Agency (IEA,Paris, France) Advanced Fuel Cell Annex 37 that is devoted to developing open-source computationaltools to facilitate fuel cell technologies. The work therefore serves as a basis for devising additionalfeatures that are not always feasible with a commercial code.

Citation

Kone, J.-P., Zhang, X., Yan, Y., & Adegbite, S. (2018). An open-source toolbox for PEM fuel cell simulation. Computation, 6(2), Article 38. https://doi.org/10.3390/computation6020038

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: May 2, 2018
• Online Publication Date: May 10, 2018
• Publication Date: May 10, 2018
• Deposit Date: Aug 27, 2019
• Publicly Available Date: Aug 27, 2019
• Journal: Computation
• Electronic ISSN: 2079-3197
• Publisher: MDPI
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 6
• Issue: 2
• Article Number: 38
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/computation6020038
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/2505246
• Publisher URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2079-3197/6/2/38
• Contract Date: Aug 27, 2019