Exergy Efficiency Profile of A 1kW Open Cathode Fuel Cell with Pressure and Temperature Variations

A proposed electric vehicle using proton exchange membrane (PEM) as clean energy have been attracting due to their high efficiency, high energy density and zero emissions. Standard exergy analysis of a mini urban vehicle powered by a 1 kW Proton Exchange Membrane (PEM) fuel cell engine system has been presented in this manuscript. A sensitivity analysis has been studied in order to evaluate the effect of variable operating temperatures and pressures on the physical exergy and efficiency of a 1 kW PEM fuel cell engine. The calculation of the physical and chemical exergies, mass flow rate and exergy efficiency are performed at temperature ratio (T/T0) and pressure ratio (P/P0) ranging from 1 to 1.15 and 1 to 4, respectively. The findings of the exergy analysis reveal that the overall efficiency of the fuel cell system was observed to be 61.3%. The result of the parametric study show that an increase in operating temperature and pressure results in an increase in exergy efficiency of the system.