Modeling and Simulation of a Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell Alongside a Waste Heat Recovery System Based on the Organic Rankine Cycle in MATLAB/SIMULINK Environment

The proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) is the fastest growing fuel cell technology on the market. Due to their sustainable nature, PEMFCs are widely adopted as a renewable energy resource. Fabricating a PEMFC is a costly process; hence, mathematical modeling and simulations are necessary in order to fully optimize its performance. Alongside this, the feasibility of a waste heat recovery system based on the organic Rankine cycle is also studied and power generation for different operating conditions is presented. The fuel cell produces a power output of 1198 W at a current of 24A. It has 50% efficiency and hence produces an equal amount of waste heat. That waste heat is used to drive an organic Rankine cycle (ORC), which in turn produces an additional 428 W of power at 35% efficiency. The total extracted power hence stands at 1626 W. MATLAB/Simulink R2016a is used for modeling both the fuel cell and the organic Rankine cycle.

Automated summary

Proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) are widely adopted as a sustainable energy resource, with a costly manufacturing process requiring mathematical modeling and simulations for performance optimization. The waste heat generated by the fuel cell can be utilized to drive an organic Rankine cycle system, producing additional power.