Effects of Environmental and Operational Factors on the Electrochemical Performance of a High-Power PEMFC for 3-MW-class Railway Vehicles

<p>This study was aimed at validating an existing computational model to assess the feasibility of applying polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) to 3-MW-class railway vehicles. The cell output performance under different operating factors was predicted to identify the optimal operating conditions. A PEMFC with a cell area of 225 cm² was used for numerical analysis, examining the effects of operating voltage, relative humidity (RH), operating temperature, and pressure. As the operating voltage decreased from 0.8 V to 0.45 V, the output increased by approximately 28.42 times compared with the initial value. When RH of the anode increased from 10% to 90%, the output improved by 30.66%. However, at 100% RH, the output was lower than at 90%, indicating that the membrane was fully hydrated, which can negatively affect cell performance and stability. As the operating temperature increased from 50°C to 90°C, the power output performance decreased by approximately 93.30%, while increasing the operating pressure from 1 atm to 3 atm increased the power output by 60.62%. This study can help mitigate risks in future production and experiments by predicting performance prior to manufacturing a prototype vehicle.</p>