Modelling Approaches for relevant technologies Index: 1. Fuel cell modelling a. SOFC b. PEMFC 2. Balance of Plant models 3.

TEG modelling 4. Pyroelectric 5. Electric models a. Battery b. Solar Panel c. DC converters d. Brushless DC motor 6. Summary

1. Fuel cell Modelling As with any mathematical model, a number of approaches can be followed to produce models of different fidelity and complexity. A pure black box model will require a large amount of training and experimental data, but can be relatively simple. More physical models describe the individual sub processes to represent the overall system.

In a physical fuel cell model some of the relevant sub processes that need to be considered may be: Charge balance / Mass balance / Energy balance / Momentum balance / Chemical reaction balances. A modelling 1-D steady state approach for a SOFC cell is highlighted from [ref]. The assumptions made are: - Uniform distribution of fuel gas to each cell - Fully developed laminar flow in gas channels - Lumped temperature of solid cell structure - Adiabatic boundaries at the cell inlet/outlet - Electrodes/current collector act iso-potentially - 100% current efficiency (no gas crossover) - Extrapolation of a single cell to whole stack (no cell interferences) - Area of interconnect is 100% electro-active

a. Electrochemical Processes

The maximum work extracted by this process is given by the change in Gibbs free energy of the process, which in a way describes the potential of the system to do work.

G = The change in Gibbs free energy ne = Number of moles of electrons transferred in the reaction F Faraday constant En Nernst potential Where the Nernst potential is the difference between the chemical potentials of the reactant and product gases and the product of neF the amount of charge transferred. The charge/ potential balance then describes the incurred losses of the cell, reducing the output voltage below the Nernst potential.

Where h refers to the activation or concentration voltage losses, i the current transferred and Rcell is the cell resistance. To model these losses and produce the important V I relationship of the cell the following relationship has been proposed:

Since it is often appropriate to neglect the last 2 terms (fuel cell operates in the linear region of the V-I graph) the equation can be simplified to:

b. Thermo chemical Model To establish the behaviour of the chemical reactions, determined by gas concentration and pressure rises 2 separate models are dealt with. One focuses on the balance of gaseous matter (fuel and air) and the second on solid (cell and interconnect)

These models are solved for slices of x providing a varying solution in one dimension (x-axis)

a. Material balances Here the flow rate changes due to chemical reactions and the mass transfer of oxygen from the cathode to the anode side. Assuming steady state of the process the relevant equation is rewritten to:

Where v is the stoichiometric coefficient, r dot the reaction rates and n dot is the volumetric change in molar flow of hydrogen. This equation can be re written as a summation of the elements of each chemical in the reaction integrated of the relevant area and the final mass balance equations for Oxygen, Hydrogen and, Carbon can be established. b. Energy balances A representation of the relevant energy processes in an axial direction slice x.

The modelling split into 4 parts, the Fuel gas (anode) compartment, Air gas (cathode) compartment, the solid cell and the cell interconnect.

(Fuel gas compartment)

(Air gas compartment)

(Solid Cell)

(Interconnect Air side)

(Interconnect Fuel side)

c. Gas Phase Hydrodynamics The flow through the small cells is commonly assumed to be laminar and fully developed. Pressure losses between the entrance 1 and exit 2 are proposed to be estimated according to:

Exit and entrance effects can be dropped if interior flows are analyzed. Additionally the flow acceleration terms are negligible compared to the core friction term, further reducing the equation. d. Numerical Solution techniques The summarized governing equations are solved via a finite difference scheme, where the cell is divided into sub slices x. Each slice has an own equilibrium potential, temperature and pressure, but since the voltage is assumed to be constant along the whole cell, the slice current can be solved for.

The equations themselves are coupled since outputs, such as gaseous temperatures and partial pressure are inputs to equations, such the solution procedure will need to incorporate an iterative solver. 2. PEMFC modelling considerations Although the procedures for the PEM model are similar as described earlier, the correct representation of the water content of each stage is essential, since the membrane hydration affects efficiency. a. Membrane Conductivity Highly dependent on water content and difficult to model theoretically, this sub model is essential for an overall effective PEMFC representation. The low accuracy of theoretical models often makes it more appropriate to use experimental data from the literature.

refers to the water content and rages between 0 and 14 (22) for Nafion (Common PEM membrane material) b. Gas transport in the diffusion layer

Where N dot refers to the reactant fluxes and N is the oxygen content fraction. The 3 processes involved are a migration of the gas to the gas channel (GC) by convection and diffusion into the Gas diffusion layer (GDL). Oxygen further diffuses into the membrane and dissolves in the water rich environment. The same type of process can be applied to the anode side with hydrogen.

c. Water transport The water management of a FC is critical since the membrane resistivity to ion transfer is dependent on the water content. High water content in the membrane is therefore desirable; however on the other hand high content in the GC and GDL can lead to condensation and blocking of the pores reducing the efficiency of the cell. Water is the only substance that is free to move through the whole cell in both directions, and its transport is subject to a number of factors.

A coefficient can be introduced describing the flow of water from the anode to the cathode.

Substituting average molar fractions of water , yields a new relationship for an average

are the stoichometric flow rates. The transfer through the membrane is dependent on: - Electro osmotic drag - Back diffusion - Convection

The overall water transportation equations can be solved by considering all regions of interest (Gas channel, ADL and CDL with the membrane region). Some simplifications may be introduced to solve this iteratively. Approach 1: Neglect water transport due to pressure difference Electro osmotic drag is independent of membrane water content. Water diffusivity is a linear function of water content.

This yields an expression for only dependent on water sorption values at the gas channels (Anode and Cathode) Approach 2: Assume a linear concentration profile (water content variation with membrane) Results in representation of as a function of gas channel values and average water content. Approach 3: Here an analytical expression of the water content is sought - Membrane water sorption characteristics are linear - Water diffusivity in the membrane phase is constant - No membrane swelling - Water content in membrane is linear This results in a cube relationship for alpha: -

d. Overall fuel cell stack model

The water transfer coefficient drives the anode and cathode mass balance, which in turn affect the losses, reducing the Nernst potential and so the cell output. The water transport coefficient is also important to output, to monitor the health of the membrane 3. Balance of Plant Models The following systems are proposed for the FC plant: Air supply system & Humidifier o Supply air to the Fuel cell and make sure the membrane is kept at appropriate water content. A pressure release valve is used to regulate the inlet pressure to the cell Hydrogen supply system o Reduce the high pressure of hydrogen from the storage medium to the required inlet pressure at the cell and assure required delivery flow rates. Cooling liquid circuit o Circulate cooling liquid through the cell and remove waste heat keeping the cell at an appropriate temperature. Additionally an heating element is incorporated to provide temperature control during starting and low power operations.

a. Air delivery system A voltage input to a motor regulates the compressed air mass flow rate in the air delivery circuit. The rest air is the exhausted in an outlet to ambient pressure.

Such a system has 3 time constants, referring to the electrical, mechanical and hydraulic part. The Voltage in the air compressor is defined by the motor constant the resistance and inductance.

The mechanical description focuses on the torque requirements, where the motor load is proportional to the required pressure jump

The common assumption of a linear relationship between mass flow rate and compressor speed results in a 3rd relationship

b. Hydrogen delivery system Similar to the air delivery system, an input voltage to a motor drives a pump, which controls the hydrogen flow rate. At the same a pressure regulator is employed between the high pressure H2 reservoir and the delivery circuit.

The same type of equations as previously stated can be derived and represent this subsystem. c. Thermal management system The waste heat generated in the FC processes has to be dumped in a cold reservoir. A pump circulates liquid through the cell which picks up the heat and losses it in a heat exchanger. A liquid reservoir is used with a build in heating element to provide extra energy and liquid if needed. The heat exchange can be liquid to liquid or liquid to air, depending on the application. In this particular work it was a l to l exchanger.

Cooling Pump There are again 3 parts to this system ( 3 time constants), however since the electrical and mechanical constants are very small, they may be neglected and a steady state expression can be established

Since heat production by the fuel cell is required, a thermal representation needs to be established. The assumptions for a simple lumped capacitance model are: Fuel cell is considered isothermal Condensation not accounted for Gasses are supplied at cell temperature Conduction is much less than convection (negligible)

With these assumptions the lumped model takes the following form:

Taken the natural convection, fuel cell losses and forced internal convection into account. The Temperature at the exhaust T2 is then:

Where Trv is the temperature at the reservoir and Tfc at the fuel cell

Reservoir temperature Similar to the fuel cell temperature, the reservoir can be described by

Where Q-heat is the added heat through the heating element and Krv, the natural heat convection coefficient includes effects from the reservoir, heat exchange and liquid tubing. Liquid Liquid heat exchanger The ability of a heat exchanger to cool a liquid may be expressed by the NTU analogy. The number of transfer units is a characteristic for a given Hx an given as:

With a given NTU value the efficiency of the Hx can be calculated and the corresponding overall heat transfer with given chill water and inlet temperatures.

The mass flow rate of chill water and cooling liquid are important parameters to consider since they dictate the validity of the above relationships. Liquid Air heat exchanger With this system ambient air is used a cool reservoir. The air main be moved by a fan giving some kind of control over the dumping procedure. Simple on off design or variable speed fans can be incorporated. The assumption that the heat transfer is proportional to the temperature difference between ambient air and cooling liquid leads to a proportionality factor Khx

4. Thermo Electric Generators Modelling These devices may be modelled on a modular or junction level. Both will need extensive material parameters to describe the heat flow, current generation and voltage. A possible electrical and thermal modular modelling scheme is shown below:

Considering a single junction the following equations can be used to estimate the Voltage and current for a load connected to the circuit.

Where the s are the Seebeck coefficients of the n and p semiconductors used, m is the number of thermocouples per module and N is the number of modules. Rtem is the internal resistance of the generator and Rl the load resistance. There is a difference in temperature between the surface of the element and the surface of the junction (separated by a ceramic plate). For an open circuit, this temperature difference can be estimated as:

Where T is the temperature at the junction and T at the surface of the element. With these temperatures given Vcc and I can be calculated. The values of K and Kh , Kc refer to thermal conductances of the hot and cold junction and the pair.

The Heat input for steady state operation to the junction and the whole module can be described by the material properties of the junction and the module.

R refers to the electrical resistance of the thermo element pair and is given by

This depends on the Area of the legs, the length and electrical resistivity.

The thermal model accounts for losses between the applied thermal energy Qj and the heat input to the module Qin

Qb is the heat leakage through the assembly, Qins is the heat flow through the insulation matter. 5. Pyroelectric Modelling 6. Electrical systems modelling Since most current and future systems will involve some form of electrical system, for a multitude of functions (main propulsion / control/avionic/payload systems) some relevant modelling approaches for important energy/power related components are presented. a. Photo voltaic cells. A first and simple way to model a cell is with the use of a current source model.

Where Iph - current source (pv source), Id diode current, I l is the load resistance. Rsh is the shunt resistance and Rs the series resistance of the material. Since Rsh is much greater than Rs its effect on the current can be neglected. q is the charge of an electron, K the Boltzmann constant, A the ideality factor and T the temperature of the cell. Io is the reverse saturation current defined by

Where Tr is the reference temperature, Egap the band gap energy and T the temperature. The charge generation of the PV cell can be described by

Si is the insolation on the panel (mW/cm^2). Of course a separate model is required to estimate this value accurately, including the many factors which affect it. (global position, time of day / year, incidence angle , Altitude ) Since Temperature generally affects the cells efficiency, a thermal model is required. The following approach assumes a constant cell temperature.

Reflected: With S Area , r reflection factor and insolation

Converted:

incidence angle cell efficiency and area efficiency. With the cell efficiency depending on temperature:

Thermal radiation:

Involving emissivity, Boltzmanns constant and the ambient and cell temperatures Cell conduction:

Lamba is the thermal conductivity and d is the thickness of the cell. Convection: With the heat transfer coefficient. b. Battery modelling The simplest model will represent the battery as an ideal source, with constant open circuit voltage and internal resistance. This however is not the real case, since the state of charge of a battery dictates these values and their relation needs to be estimated. Additionally other factors, such as slow discharging procedures during no load operation and over-charge/discharge resistances. The Thevenin model includes effects, such as overvoltage resistance and battery plate capacitance, but still assumes constant values for all battery conditions.

An improved model was supposed to describe the dynamic behaviour of such a model and takes the following form:

2 resistors and diodes are used to describe the charge and discharge behaviour. The Dynamic change in Vp can be described by:

V o is the open circuit voltage, Vb the terminal battery voltage, Vp the internal capacitor voltage. The open circuit voltage and SOC had to be estimated by measurements. A simpler empirical model for Li-Ion batteries was presented, and gives the variation in Voc and Rint as a function of SOC:

The SOC can be estimated by the integral of the current flow over the time, as a fraction of total charge capacitance of the battery. Finally the voltage of the battery is then simply:

Where ns is the number of batteries in series. c. DC/DC/AC Converters DC-DC Buck converter Instead of using a simple resistor to reduce the voltage of a signal (high power loss, due to heat dissipation) a duty cycle device can be used to reduce the voltage by rapid on/off switching.

Buck

Boost

The duty cycle (on time / total Time) then defines the ratio of reduction (Vout over Vin)

DC-DC Boost converter Here a higher output voltage is desired, which is achieved by reducing the output current accordingly. Again a switching device with diode and conductor is used. The output/input voltage ratio is now given by the following relationship.

d. Brushless DC motors These highly efficient new generation of electric motors have seen a rapid increased usage over the past years. The main novelty is the commutation, which is now done by electronic switching of the external stator coils. By following a set sequence, magnetic field of the permanent magnet rotor interacts with the coils fields and a torque is induced. Complex control and measurements of the rotor position is required to run such an engine. A diagram of the components of a 3 phase BLDC motor is shown below, using Hall sensors in the stator to measure the rotor position.

The microprocessor handles the correct switching of the diodes to run current through the correct coils of the start in the correct moments. A simpler model of an ideal DC motor may be of the following form:

The armature resistances and inductances are included. A mechanical model of the torque is of the form:

With B, as the viscous friction coefficient and the motor Inertia J. Assuming that output torque is linear to applied current, and emf Voltage is linear to motor speed, we get the following coupled equations:

With the relevant proportional coefficients Kt and Ke This ideal model may be quite inaccurate, and can be improved by including the coulomb resistance:

7. Summary