Improved parametric PSpice model of a PEM fuel cell

Abstract

Today fuel cells are finding use in everything from cell phones to automobiles. Regardless of their application the fuel cell must be accurately modeled in the system it will be used. Such model has to be simple, easy to use and fast to simulate. Chemistry, material science and physics should be transformed in electrical components and systems that can be easily implemented in programs like SPICE, Saber, Labview, Proteus or similar. In this paper some improvements of a generalized circuit model for a PEM fuel cell that can be used for design and analysis of fuel cell power systems is presented. The PSpice-based model uses bipolar junction transistors and resistors available in the PSpice library. The model includes the phenomena like activation polarization, ohmic polarization and concentration polarization (mass transport effect) present in a PEM fuel cell. The temperature dependence has been included in the model characteristics according to the Nernst equation. Using the parametric modeling the model of a basic fuel cell can be extended to a fuel cell stack. The static characteristics obtained through simulation are compared with some experimental results, given in the literature, obtained on a commercial PEM fuel cell modules.