Simulation of the transient behavior of fuel cells by using operator splitting techniques for real-time applications

The functioning of fuel cells, in which simultaneous processes having different kinetics and different time constants occur, can be simulated by applying rather complex models. For the sake of better modeling larger numbers of sub-processes and their couplings have to be considered, which leads to complex and multi-step simulation frameworks. In this work new methods are introduced for the simulation of the behavior of fuel cells, which are based on operator splitting techniques. These methods can be applied for the simulation of rather complex problems, consequently they open up new vistas in respect to the real-time simulation. The errors of the schemes are analyzed while applying different kinetic approaches. The effects of constant current, current sweep and pulsed current are calculated. The qualitative and quantitative errors are analyzed and compared with measured data. It is proven that the method developed is suitable for describing the fast transient behavior, therefore it makes the real-time monitoring and controlling of the functioning of fuel cells possible.