Applications of proton exchange membrane fuel cell systems

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Abstract

Proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) have recently passed the test or demonstration phase and have partially reached the commercialization stage due to the impressive worldwide research effort. Despite the currently promising achievements and the plausible prospects of PEMFCs, there are many challenges remaining that need to be overcome before PEMFCs can successfully and economically substitute for the various traditional energy systems. With the many promising research efforts in overcoming these challenges, the most important tools for the commercialization of PEMFCs will be the technical data and information from a real PEMFC application test. For these reasons, this paper introduces and discusses the remaining challenges and some of the latest research on the application test of PEMFC to real systems such as transportation, residential power generation and portable computers. In addition, this paper describes and summarizes the relative prospects and the competitive force of PEMFCs in these fields.

These prospects primarily depend on stable and economical high-purity hydrogen supplies, the scale of application, the existence of more efficient competitive power sources and the social viewpoints such as the health and environment benefits as well as infrastructural aspects associated with traditional power supply and demand. The review shows that PEMFC have the most promising applications to buses, recreation vehicles, and lightweight vehicles. Without doubt, the technology for a stable supply of high-purity hydrogen along with the corresponding infrastructure is essential for the success of PEMFC in various application fields.

Introduction

Since the applications of proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) systems were initially reported in the New Generation of Vehicles program (PNGV) in the US in 1993 [1], it has taken more than 10 years to reach the current test-phase or partial commercializing stage. In April 2005 in Monaco, five kinds of powered cars with an on-board PEMFC system introduced by GM, Hyundai, Daimler-Chrysler, etc. ran in a road rally and covered a distance of approximately 410 km through Switzerland. In this rally, one re-fuelling stop was allowed for the fuel cell vehicles (FCV) and the journey time was approximately 6 h. The rally was successfully completed to a certain extent. This rally clearly showed the present status of the applications of PEMFC to the FCV field.

PEMFCs have a many advantages such as a low operating temperature, sustained operation at a high current density, low weight, compactness, the potential for low cost and volume, long stack life, fast start-ups and suitability for discontinuous operation [1], [2], [3], [4], [5], [6], [7], [8], [9]. These features make PEMFCs the most promising and attractive candidate for a wide variety of power applications ranging from portable/micropower and transportation to large-scale stationary power systems for buildings and distributed generation. For these reasons, many companies including fuel cell technology (Ballard, UTC, Nuvera, GE-FCS, Plug Power, Intelligent Energy, NovArs, Smart fuel cell, Toshiba, Sanyo, and Hydorgenics), automobile (Daimler-Chrysler, Ford, Renault, Toyota, Nissan, GM, BMW, Hyundai), and electricity (NTT, Sanyo, Samsung and IBM) have announced various applications, new technologies, and prototype vehicles using on-board PEMFCs [10], [11], [12], [13], [14], [15]. In addition, many technologies utilizing PEMFC for different applications are currently under development [7], [16], [17], [18], and are soon expected enter the market in force worldwide [19], [20].

However, despite the promising achievements and plausible prospects of PEMFCs, the remaining problems mean that it is still long way before they can successfully and economically replace the various traditional energy systems. Furthermore, despite the many promising results, the most important tools for the commercialization of PEMFCs are the technical data and information on a real PEMFC application test. Unfortunately, there is very little published data or information on the PEMFC in real application fields. Many fuel cell companies in the world have patented their accumulated experience and technologies for their own benefit. Because the world is faced with energy problems and environmental pollution, it is essential to share information and data regarding these technologies in order to bring on full commercialization quickly.

This review introduces and discusses some of the remaining challenges and some cases of the latest research on the application tests of small and middle ranged (power range from 30 to 50 kW) PEMFCs to real systems such as transportation, residential power generator (RPG), and portable computers. In addition, this paper describes and summarizes the relative prospects and the competitive force of PEMFCs in these fields. This review discusses the papers published since 2001, which is expected to provide useful and helpful information on the development of PEMFC technologies.

Section snippets

Review of the remaining challenges for the commercialization of PEMFC

PEMFCs have recently passed the demonstration phase and have partly reached the commercialization stage on account of the rapid development and an impressive research effort worldwide. However, the remaining challenges that need to be overcome mean that it will be several years before full commercialization can take place. While each challenge has been focused on differently according to each application, there are three main challenges that are common to each application. These are a stable

Review of PEMFC application and its prospect

Basically, fuel cells have been investigated as an innovative system that can be integrated with traditional electrical power plants or to supply electricity as on-site power generators [6]. However, according to the development of industrial and social structure, the diverse applications of fuel cells have been the main focus. While there are several fuel cell types with features applicable to certain fields, PEMFCs are the most promising system in terms of energy efficiency and compactness.

Conclusions

Table 3 summarizes the prospects of PEMFC technology considering their current status and a review of the latest research on their applications.

There are several issues to be solved before PEMFC can be properly commercialized. The first is the stable and economical supply of high-purity hydrogen. The second is on the scale of the application object, i.e. whether there is sufficient space for satisfying the first issue. The third is the existence of more efficient competitive power sources than

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by grants from the Research Institute of Clean Chemical Engineering Systems at Korea University.

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