Basic parametric study of a proton exchange membrane fuel cell

In a proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell, there are many parameters that could significantly contribute to its overall performance such as the operating temperature and pressure, membrane conductivity, humidification, and air stoichiometric ratio. In this paper, a basic parametric analysis of a PEM fuel cell at different operating cell temperatures and pressures and air stoichiometric ratios is conducted. At lower cell temperatures and higher cell pressures, better cell performance curves are achieved in terms of cell voltage and power density. Furthermore, the results demonstrated that a higher air stoichiometric ratio would create a greater air utilization rate, which leads to a better fuel cell performance. Nevertheless, the results showed that the magnitude of heat generation in the fuel cell at low cell number is unaffected by the variation in the operating temperature.