Polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells (PEMFC) are electrochemical devices that can be used in micro Combined Heat and Power Cogeneration systems (m-CHP) in order to obtain an advanced m-CHP fuel cell system for decentralized off-grid applications. Project FluidCELL aims to develop an m-CHP based on a novel bio-ethanol fluidized bed catalytic membrane reformer. It is essential, in this, system, to choose the adequate components for the fuel cell, including membrane, gas diffusion layer and catalyst layer, taking into account the range of operating conditions and the reformate composition. The optimization of the fuel cell components through experimental testing could be time consumable and extremely costly. A complementary approach is the use of mathematical modeling as tool to study the effect of each parameter individually [1-2], reducing the number of the experiments needed for components selection and optimization. Therefore developing and validating a complete model is critically important for the improvement and optimization of the fuel cell performance. In this study, an unsteady non-isothermal multiphase model was developed for simulating PEMFC single cell. The model considers the transport and phase change of water in fuel cell, catalyst loading and CO poisoning. The model was validated against experimental results.
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