A generic fuel cell model for the simulation of fuel cell vehicles

This paper presents a novel approach to fuel cell modeling. The model is developed with the objective to facilitate the simulation of fuel cell power systems and requires only few variables from manufacturer datasheets. The user would need to extract data from the datasheet in order to perform the simulation and does not need to perform experimental tests on a real stack. Based on the amount of information available on a given stack, a simplified model or, alternatively, the detailed model can be used. These models are generic models and able to emulate the behavior of any fuel cell types fed with hydrogen and air. The procedure to extract data from fuel cells datasheet is described along with the method to approximate cell's parameters. The models are validated through comparison with real datasheet performance and with experimental data from an actual fuel cell stack. The simulations results obtained are close to the expected results with an error in the range of ± 1%, that for both steady and transient states and at any condition of operation, provided a controlled stack internal humidity. Finally, the models are included in SimPowerSystems (SPS) and used in the simulation of a Fuel Cell Vehicle (FCV). The vehicle is modeled with the same characteristics as the Honda FCX-Clarity developed by Honda. The performance obtained from the vehicle model is close to reality in terms of fuel consumption, maximum speed and acceleration.