Evaluation of cooling system in an industrial fuel cell setup by effectively managing exhaust water
Typ
Examensarbete för masterexamen
Master's Thesis
Master's Thesis
Program
Sustainable energy systems (MPSES), MSc
Publicerad
2024
Författare
Bandara, Janitha
Karthikeyan, Umashankar
Modellbyggare
Tidskriftstitel
ISSN
Volymtitel
Utgivare
Sammanfattning
Fuel cells are an emerging portable energy source known for their high energy density
and ability to produce clean, sustainable energy. Unlike traditional combustion
processes that directly burn fuels to release energy, fuel cells harness energy from
the reaction between the fuel and the oxidizer while producing minimal pollutants
and greenhouse gases. When it comes to the industrial scale, a more significant
drawback is managing the exhaust water. One primary application is the capture
and reuse of exhaust water for cooling purposes within the fuel cell system. By
utilizing the waste heat generated during the electrochemical reaction, the exhaust
water can serve as a cooling agent, reducing the need for external cooling systems
and enhancing the overall energy efficiency of the fuel cell.
This study aims to investigate various aspects of fuel cell systems, such as quality
analysis of exhaust water samples from Volvo Penta fuel cell setup, a literature
survey on various applications that can be used for exhaust water, and developing
1D and 3D models for two of the identified applications. The first application is to
vaporize the water using a chimney/muffler, which is most suitable for mobile applications
such as trucks and marine applications. Chimney size is optimized through
the Matlab Simulink model. The other application is proposed to use water as a
cooling agent for a radiator setup which can be used for both stationary and mobile
applications. CFD analysis is done to simulate and optimize the setup using
Creo-ANSYS by considering water storage, spraying patterns, and system dynamics.
Results are shown that there is a 4.8 percent increase in overall efficiency. As a
summary, this report will try to clarify how to improve the industrial fuel cell setups,
which can be considered a feasible alternative to substitute conventional mobility
methods.