Fuel cell modelling and test: Experimental validation of model accuracy

In the last few years, renewable energies have been encouraged by worldwide governments to meet energy saving policies. Among renewable energy sources, fuel cells have attracted much interest for a wide variety of research areas. Fuel cell-based residential-scaled power supply systems take advantage of simultaneous generation of power and heat, reducing the overall fossil fuel consumption and utilities cost. Modeling is one of the most important topics concerning fuel cell use. In this paper, a measurement-based steady-state and dynamic fuel cell model is presented. The proposed modelling approach is implemented on a 5kW Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell. The parameters identification procedure is analyzed and the MATLAB/Simulink implementation is shown. As shown by simulation and experimental results, the model error is restricted to ±1%, corresponding to a maximum absolute model error of 0.4V.