IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/renene/v244y2025ics0960148125003210.html

Dynamic modeling and comprehensive analysis of proton exchange membrane fuel cell systems with complete auxiliary system

Author

Listed:
  • Fu, Hao
  • Kong, Fang
  • Wu, Feng
  • Wu, Xiao
  • Shen, Jiong

Abstract

Proton exchange membrane fuel cells are gaining attention as sustainable energy options due to their high efficiency and low emissions. However, the complex interaction of integrated auxiliary equipment poses challenges in achieving efficient and flexible system operation. To this end, this paper establishes an integrated mechanism of electrical, thermal, and humidity interactions in the fuel cell system, accounting for auxiliary energy consumption. Based on it, the steady state and dynamic flexibility of the system are investigated. Moreover, to analyze the changing law of energy consumption and system efficiency, the system's operating conditions were enumerated by varying the input variables, such as compressor voltage, humidification power, and coolant mass flow rate. Simulation results and comparative analysis indicate that appropriate load regulation and high-temperature operation significantly enhance the system's flexibility. With the increasing temperature at constant current, the energy consumption of the compressor increases by 0.6–4 %, whereas the proportion of cooling fans drops by 3–6 %. Moreover, although operating at high temperatures enhances the system's flexibility and load tracking capability, it also lowers its net efficiency by around 1 %. This research provides insights into improving flexible adjustment capability and efficiency of fuel cell systems, offering practical guidance for their application and development.

Suggested Citation

  • Fu, Hao & Kong, Fang & Wu, Feng & Wu, Xiao & Shen, Jiong, 2025. "Dynamic modeling and comprehensive analysis of proton exchange membrane fuel cell systems with complete auxiliary system," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 244(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:renene:v:244:y:2025:i:c:s0960148125003210
    DOI: 10.1016/j.renene.2025.122659
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960148125003210
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.renene.2025.122659?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Wu, Horng-Wen, 2016. "A review of recent development: Transport and performance modeling of PEM fuel cells," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 165(C), pages 81-106.
    2. Liu, Lintong & Zhai, Rongrong & Hu, Yangdi, 2023. "Performance evaluation of wind-solar-hydrogen system for renewable energy generation and green hydrogen generation and storage: Energy, exergy, economic, and enviroeconomic," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 276(C).
    3. Calili-Cankir, Fatma & Ismail, Mohammed S. & Ingham, Derek B. & Hughes, Kevin J. & Ma, Lin & Pourkashanian, Mohamed, 2023. "Air-breathing polymer electrolyte fuel cells: A review," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 213(C), pages 86-108.
    4. Ozen, Dilek Nur & Timurkutluk, Bora & Altinisik, Kemal, 2016. "Effects of operation temperature and reactant gas humidity levels on performance of PEM fuel cells," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 1298-1306.
    5. Zhang, Xin & Zhang, Chunlei & Zhang, Zhijin & Gao, Sen & Li, He, 2024. "Coordinated management of oxygen excess ratio and cathode pressure for PEMFC based on synthesis variable-gain robust predictive control," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 367(C).
    6. Pathapati, P.R. & Xue, X. & Tang, J., 2005. "A new dynamic model for predicting transient phenomena in a PEM fuel cell system," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 30(1), pages 1-22.
    7. Tang, Xingwang & Zhang, Yujia & Xu, Sichuan, 2023. "Experimental study of PEM fuel cell temperature characteristic and corresponding automated optimal temperature calibration model," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 283(C).
    8. Esbo, M. Rahimi- & Ranjbar, A.A. & Rahgoshay, S.M., 2020. "Analysis of water management in PEM fuel cell stack at dead-end mode using direct visualization," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 162(C), pages 212-221.
    9. Hou, Xukai & Sun, Rongfeng & Huang, Jikai & Geng, Wenguang & Li, Xiaoyan & Wang, Luyuan & Zhang, Xiaotong, 2024. "Energy, economic, and environmental analysis: A study of operational strategies for combined heat and power system based on PEM fuel cell in the East China region," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 223(C).
    10. Lin, Chen & Yan, Xiaohui & Wei, Guanghua & Ke, Changchun & Shen, Shuiyun & Zhang, Junliang, 2019. "Optimization of configurations and cathode operating parameters on liquid-cooled proton exchange membrane fuel cell stacks by orthogonal method," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 253(C), pages 1-1.
    11. Melnik, Daniel & Bürger, Inga & Mitzel, Jens & Käß, Julian & Sarkezi-Selsky, Patrick & Jahnke, Thomas & Knöri, Torsten, 2024. "Energy efficient cold start of a Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Fuel Cell coupled to a thermochemical metal hydride preheater," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 359(C).
    12. Daud, W.R.W. & Rosli, R.E. & Majlan, E.H. & Hamid, S.A.A. & Mohamed, R. & Husaini, T., 2017. "PEM fuel cell system control: A review," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 113(C), pages 620-638.
    13. Yang, Zirong & Du, Qing & Jia, Zhiwei & Yang, Chunguang & Jiao, Kui, 2019. "Effects of operating conditions on water and heat management by a transient multi-dimensional PEMFC system model," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 183(C), pages 462-476.
    14. Barelli, L. & Bidini, G. & Gallorini, F. & Ottaviano, A., 2012. "Dynamic analysis of PEMFC-based CHP systems for domestic application," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 91(1), pages 13-28.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Qiu, Yuqi & Chen, Leyuan & Ren, Yong & Zhang, Caizhi & Li, Feiqiang & Zeng, Tao & Wang, Gucheng & Li, Yuansong, 2026. "Minimum cell voltage clamping control of proton exchange membrane fuel cells based on intelligent methods," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 256(PA).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Su, Hongye & Xu, Haisong & Wang, Lei & Liu, Zhiyang & Xie, Lei, 2025. "A review on thermal management strategy for liquid-cooling proton exchange membrane fuel cells: Temperature regulation and cold start," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 393(C).
    2. Yang, Zirong & Du, Qing & Jia, Zhiwei & Yang, Chunguang & Xuan, Jin & Jiao, Kui, 2019. "A comprehensive proton exchange membrane fuel cell system model integrating various auxiliary subsystems," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 256(C).
    3. Barzegari, Mohammad M. & Dardel, Morteza & Alizadeh, Ebrahim & Ramiar, Abas, 2016. "Dynamic modeling and validation studies of dead-end cascade H2/O2 PEM fuel cell stack with integrated humidifier and separator," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 177(C), pages 298-308.
    4. Hou, Junbo & Yang, Min & Ke, Changchun & Zhang, Junliang, 2020. "Control logics and strategies for air supply in PEM fuel cell engines," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 269(C).
    5. Luo, Lizhong & Jian, Qifei & Huang, Bi & Huang, Zipeng & Zhao, Jing & Cao, Songyang, 2019. "Experimental study on temperature characteristics of an air-cooled proton exchange membrane fuel cell stack," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 143(C), pages 1067-1078.
    6. Gao, Wenxue & Dong, Pokun & Hu, Yingjie & Wang, Yan & Yang, Haotian & Yang, Lin & Yang, Mingchang, 2026. "Progress on residential fuel cell combined heat and power systems: A technological review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 226(PA).
    7. Su, Guoqing & Yang, Daijun & Xiao, Qiangfeng & Dai, Haiqin & Zhang, Cunman, 2021. "Effects of vortexes in feed header on air flow distribution of PEMFC stack: CFD simulation and optimization for better uniformity," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 173(C), pages 498-506.
    8. Tomislav Capuder & Bojana Barać & Matija Kostelac & Matej Krpan, 2023. "Three-Stage Modeling Framework for Analyzing Islanding Capabilities of Decarbonized Energy Communities," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(11), pages 1-24, May.
    9. Deng, Zhihua & Miao, Bin & Cui, Yunjia & Chen, Jian & Pan, Zehua & Liu, Hao & Deendarlianto, Deendarlianto & Suwarno, Suwarno & Chan, Siew Hwa, 2025. "Towards high-performance fuel cell systems: Comprehensive review of methods for modeling, control, and optimization," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 224(C).
    10. Lu, Chihua & Li, Chenyu & Liu, Zhien & Li, Yongchao & Zhou, Hui & Zheng, Hao, 2025. "A review on applications of optical visualization technologies for water management in proton exchange membrane fuel cells," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 208(C).
    11. Tolj, Ivan & Penga, Željko & Vukičević, Damir & Barbir, Frano, 2020. "Thermal management of edge-cooled 1 kW portable proton exchange membrane fuel cell stack," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 257(C).
    12. Lei, Han & Deng, Chengwei & Si, Yaohui & Liu, Zhiqiang & Yang, Sheng, 2026. "Quantitative assessment of voltage nonuniformity in 20 cell PEMFC stack for degradation mapping and health monitoring," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 402(PB).
    13. Zhao, Jian & Li, Xianguo & Shum, Chris & McPhee, John, 2023. "Control-oriented computational fuel cell dynamics modeling – Model order reduction vs. computational speed," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 266(C).
    14. Xiao, Fei & Chen, Tao & Gan, Zhongyu & Zhang, Ruixuan, 2023. "The influence of external operating conditions on membrane drying faults of proton-exchange membrane fuel cells," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 285(C).
    15. Asensio, F.J. & San Martín, J.I. & Zamora, I. & Saldaña, G. & Oñederra, O., 2019. "Analysis of electrochemical and thermal models and modeling techniques for polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 113(C), pages 1-1.
    16. Calili-Cankir, Fatma & Ismail, Mohammed S. & Berber, Mohamed R. & Alrowaili, Ziyad A. & Ingham, Derek B. & Hughes, Kevin J. & Ma, Lin & Pourkashanian, Mohamed, 2022. "Dynamic models for air-breathing and conventional polymer electrolyte fuel cells: A comparative study," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 195(C), pages 1001-1014.
    17. Fu, Hao & Shen, Jiong & Sun, Li & Lee, Kwang Y., 2021. "In-depth characteristic analysis and wide range optimal operation of fuel cell using multi-model predictive control," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 234(C).
    18. Sun, Xilei & Zhang, Guanjie & Fu, Jianqin & Xi, Dexiang & Long, Wuqiang, 2025. "Hybrid ensemble learning model for predicting external characteristics of proton exchange membrane fuel cells under various operating conditions," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 323(C).
    19. Na, Woonki & Gou, Bei & Kim, Jonghoon & Mojica, Felipe & Abel Chuang, Po-Ya, 2020. "Complementary cooperation dynamic characteristics analysis and modeling based on multiple-input multiple-output methodology combined with nonlinear control strategy for a polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 149(C), pages 273-286.
    20. Zhao, Junjie & Tu, Zhengkai & Chan, Siew Hwa, 2022. "In-situ measurement of humidity distribution and its effect on the performance of a proton exchange membrane fuel cell," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 239(PD).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:renene:v:244:y:2025:i:c:s0960148125003210. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.journals.elsevier.com/renewable-energy .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.