Abstract:
Due to recent growth in demand for sustainable eco-friendly alternative energy sources, the need for further study into satisfying aforementioned objectives with hydrogen fuel cell technology is presented in this report.
Hydrogen as a fuel is so attractive due to its’ abundance, availability and wide applications such as energy storage. Combining these advantages / potentials with Fuel Cell technology, obtaining a good alternative renewable energy source is somewhat realised as evident from previous studies completed on this subject. However there are many areas that still require quite a considerable amount of research to make it more practical and viable. There are also many applications that haven’t been investigated or still require further attention.
The aim of this research is to utilise fuel cell technology to develop sustainable / eco-friendly power generation methods while promoting renewable energy sources as much as possible through hybrid energy generation methods. It also looks into wider applications that could benefit immensely through latest development / advancements in fuel cell field.
The principle methodology to achieve the set objectives is through modelling and computer simulations. Firstly, it involves developing dynamic models of fuel cell that could be integrated easily into a large model driven simulation environment. Such models can then be integrated into complete system level models that focus on a particular end user application to investigate certain performance aspects / performance criteria by varying its’ operating conditions & parameters. i.e. reactants’ partial pressure, operating temperature, current density, cell configuration etc.
Above activity should enable investigating performance in both hybrid power generation applications and in non-hybrid systems, of which, fuel utilisation, performance limitations, any technological barriers could be identified and investigated further.
