Technical study of a PEM fuel cell on the Psychrometric chart

In this work, for the first time, the effects of air feeding conditions on the performance of a polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) are illustrated on the Psychrometric chart. The presented Psychrometric view allows for finding out the net result of simultaneous changes in the different operating parameters (pressure, temperature, and humidity). For our case study, the current density varies within 981 A/m2-1445 A/m2 over the Psychrometric chart at the atmospheric pressure, and within 1377 A/m2-1874 A/m2 at the pressure of 2 atm. These observations imply the considerable influence of operating parameters on the PEMFC performance. The results show that the PEMFC performance improves as a result of increasing temperature at a constant relative humidity (RH), increasing humidity at a constant temperature, and increasing pressure. However, it is observed that the PEMFC performance deteriorates with increasing temperature at a constant specific humidity (SH) due to the PEMFC dehydration. Moreover, it is found that the effects of the Psychrometric parameters (i.e., temperature and humidity) decrease with increasing the operating pressure.