INTRODUCTION

Technology is increasing our energy needs, but it is also showing in new ways to generate
power more effetely with less impact on the environment. One of the most promising options
for supplementing future power supplies is the fuel cells. they have the potential to create
much more reliable power, with lower levels of undesirable emissions and noise and higher
overall efficiency than more traditional power generation systems with existing and projected
applications ranging from space craft to private automobiles, large stationary power
generator systems to small electronic devices, fuel cells are poised to play an increasingly
critical role in meeting the world’s plowing demand for clean, reliable power.

WHAT IS FUEL CELL?

Fuel cell is an electro chemical energy device which converts chemical hydrogen
and oxygen to produce electricity by slipping electrons from hydrogen. Hydrogen is
exceeded from natural gun, propane and other common fuel cell and oxygen is from air.
Electricity is generated from the reaction between a fuel supply and an oxidizing
agent. The reactance flow into the cell and the reaction products flow out of it, while the
electrolyte remains within it. Fuel cells can operate continuously as long as the necessary
reactant and oxidant flow are maintained.

Hydrogen fuel cell

These are different from conventional electro chemical cell batteries in that they
consume reactant from an external source, which must be replenished – a thermo
dynamically open system. By contrast, batteries store electric energy chemically and
hence represent a thermo dynamically closed system.

Many combinations of fuels and oxidants are possible. A hydrogen fuel cell uses
hydrogen as its fuel and oxygen (usually from air) as its oxidant. Other fuels include
hydrocarbons and alcohols. Other oxidants include chlorine and chlorine dioxide.
TYPES OF FUEL CELL
There are different types of fuel cells –

 Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Fuel cell

 Molten Carbonate Fuel Cell
 Solid Oxide Fuel Cell
 Phosphoric Acid Fuel Cell

1. Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Fuel cell:

PEMFC consists of a proton conducting membrane. This polymer membrane is
very thin, 20-200 micrometers, flexible and transparent. The membrane is coated on both
sides with platinum (Pt) impregnated porous carbon electrode. The membrane electrode
assembly (MEA) is approximately 1mm thick. The operating temperature of the PEMFC
is to 90 deg C or lower because the polymer membrane must be hydrated with liquid
water to maintain adequate conductivity. Because of this low operating temperature, the
Platinum based catalyst is the only viable option.

The PEMFC has the highest power density with a range of 300-1000mW/cm2 and
offers the most reliable fast start and on-off cycling. These characteristics make this fuel
cell type highly suitable for transport applications and portable power although there are
power generation applications currently available on the market.

2. Molten Carbonate Fuel Cell:

The MCFC is a mixture of alkali (Na and K) carbonates Li2CO3 And K2CO3
retained in a ceramic matrix of LiOAlO2. The cell operates at temperature of 1100 to
1300 deg F or 600to 700 deg C in order to keep the alkali carbonates in a highly
conductive molten salt form, the carbonate ions providing ionic conduction. The
electrodes are typically nickel based. Where the anode is a nickel/chromium alloy and the
cathode is a lithiated nickel oxide. As CO2 is generated at the anode it is typically
recycled to the cathode where it is consumed and since it is preheated by combustion this
improves the overall efficiency of the cell.
Because of the high temperature the MCFC can take a variety of fuel types such as
methane, hydrogen, alcohols, and CO poisoning is nonexistent in fact the carbon
monoxide acts as a fuel. The MCFC is the best used in stationary applications like power
generation and can achieve electrical efficiencies of goes up to 50%. In combined heat
and power applications the efficiencies go up to 90%.

3. Solid Oxide Fuel Cell:

Solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) offer substantial potential for heat and power
generation. They promise to be useful in large, high-power applications such as full-scale
industrial and large scale electricity generating stations. Some fuel cell developers see
SOFCs being used in motor vehicles. A SOFC system usually utilizes a solid ceramic as
the electrolyte and operates at high temperatures (973–1,273 K) and this high temperature
is beneficial for co-generation of both electricity and high-grade heat at user sites, thus,
increasing total system efficiency to about 85%.

Further, this high operating temperature allows internal reforming, promotes rapid electro
catalysis with non-precious metals, and produces high quality byproduct heat for co-
generation.
4. Phosphoric Acid Fuel Cell:

The electrolyte consists of highly concentrated or pure, liquids phosphoric acid

(H3PO4) saturated in a silicon carbide matrix (SiC); on either side of the electrolyte
structure are catalysts made from platinum coated, porous, graphite electrodes. The
operating temperature is maintained between 150 to 210 deg C, at lower temperatures,
phosphoric acid tends to be a poor ionic conductor and at temperatures exceeding the
maximum phosphoric acid undergoes an unfavorable phase change rendering it
unsuitable as an electrolyte.
During operation the H3PO4 is evaporated to the environment and must therefore be
replenished. Heat generated during cell operation is removed by either liquid or gas
coolants which are routed through cooling channels in the cell stack. Electrical
efficiencies are typically in the range of 40 to 47% with combined heat and power
applications reaching into the 70% range.
 MAJOR COMPONETS
A fuel cell system consists of 3 major components

1. A fuel cell stack.

2. A processor to extract pares hydrogen from the fuel source.

3. A storage and conditioners system to adapt the fuel cell’s continuous power only
out to fluctuating demand.

4. A mechanism for recovering heat from electro chemical process.

The reminder of the system consists of pump compressors and controls.

In fuel cell stack, purified hydrogen and oxygen from air pass through linked
platter similar to those in battery. The electro chemical reaction generator electricity and
heat. An energy storage and power conditioners system adapts the fuel cells maximum
power flour to fluctuating power loads. A battery storage system with DC-AC inventor
stores power from low demand periods for use during peak demand.

DESIGNING of Fuel Cell

Fuel cells come in many varieties; however, they all works in the same general
manner. They are made up of tree segments which are sandwiched together: the anode,
the electrolyte, and the cathode. Two chemical reactions occur at the interferances of the
three different segmens. The net result, and an electric current is created, which can be
used to power electrical devices, normally reffered to as the load.

At the anode a catalyst oxidizes the fuel, usually hydrogen, turning the fuel into a
positively charged ion and a negatively charged electron. The electrolyte is a substances
specifically designed so ions can pass through it, but the electrons cannot. The ions travel
through the electrolyte to the cathode, the ions are reunited with the electrons and the two
react with a third chemical, usually oxygen, to create water or carbon dioxide.

A block diagram of a fuel cell

The most important design features in a fuel cell are:

 The electrolyte substance. The electrolyte substance usually defines the type of
fuel cell.
 The fuel that is used. The most common fuel is hydrogen.
 The anode catalyst, which breaks down the fuel into electrons and ions. The anode
catalyst is usually made up of very fine platinum powder.
 The cathode catalyst, which turns the ions into the waste chemicals like water or
carbon dioxide. The cathode catalyst is often made up of nickel.
 A typical fuel cell produses a voltage from 0.6V to 0.7V at full load. Voltage
decreases as current increases, due to several factors:
 Activation loss
 ohmic loss (voltage drop due to resistance of the cell components and
interconnects).
 Mass transport loss (depletion of reactants at catalyst sites under high loads,
causing rapid loss of voltage.)
To deliver the desired amount of energy, the cells can be combined in series and parralel
circuits, where series yields higher voltag, and parrallel allows a higher current to be
supplied.Such a design is called a fuel cell stack. The cell surface area can be increased,
to allow stronger current from each cell.
PROTON EXCHANGE MEMBRANE FUEL CELLS

Proton exchange membrane fuel cell

In the archetypical hydrogen- oxygen PEMFC design, a proton conducting

polymer membrane, (the electrolyte), seperates the anode and cathode sides.S This was
called a “solid polymer electrolyte fuel cell” (SPEFC)in the early 1970s, before the
proton exchange mechanism was well-understood.
On the anode side, hydrogen diffuses to the anode catalysts where it later dissociates into
protons and electrons. These protons often react with oxidants causing them to become
what is commonly referred to as multi-facilitated proton membranes. The proton
conducted through the membrane to the cathode, but the electrons are forced to travel in
external catalysts, oxygen molecules react with the electrons (which have traveled
through the external circuits) and protons to form water-in this example, the only waste
product, either liquid or vapor.

FUEL CELL EFFICIENCY

The efficiency of a fuel cell is dependent on the amount of power drawn from it.
Drawing more power means drawing more current, this increases the losses in the fuel
cell. As a general rule, the more power (current) has drawn the lower efficiency. Most
losses manifest themselves as a voltage drops in the cell, so the efficiency of a cell almost
proportional to its voltage. .for this reason, it is common to show graphs of voltage Vs
current (so called polarization curves) for fuel cells. A typical cell running at 0.7V has an
efficiency of the hydrogen is converted in to heat.
 For a hydrogen cell operating at standard conditions with no reactant leaks, the
efficiency is equal to the cell voltage divided by 1.48V, based on the enthalpy, or heating
value, of the reaction. For the same cell, the second law of efficiency is equal to cell
voltage divided by 1.23V. The difference between these numbers represents the difference
between the reaction’s enthalpy and Gibbs free energy. This difference always appears as
heat, along with any losses in electrical conversion efficiency.

Limited carbon monoxide tolerance of some (non-PEDOT) cathodes.

APPLICATIONS
 Proving power for base stations or sites.
 Off-grid power supply.
 Distributed generation.
 Emergency power systems are type of fuel cell systems, which may include
lighting, generators and other apparatus, to provide backup resources in a crisis or
when regular system fail. They find uses in a wide variety of settings from
residential homes to hospitals, scientific laboratories, data centers,
telecommunication equipment and naval ships.
 An uninterrupted power supply (UPS) provides emergency power and depending on
topology, provide line regulation as well to connected equipment by supplying power
from a separate source when utility power is not available. Unlike a stand by
generator, it can provide instant protection from a momentary power interruption.
 Base load power plants.
 Electric and hybrid vehicles.
 Notebook computers for applications where AC charging may not be available for
be available for weeks at a time.
 Portable charging docks for small electronics (example: - a belt clip that charges
your cell phone or PDA)
 Smart phones with high power consumption due to large displays and additional
features like GPS might be equipped with micro fuel cells.
 Small heating appliances.
 Space shuttles.
ADVANTAGES

Fuel cells are clean, highly efficient, scalable power generators that may be fueled by
a variety of fuel feeds stocks and therefore be used in an assortment of power generation
applications. In particular, they offer several advantages over other technologies:

 Fuel cells produce electricity without combustion, which means that, unlike
internal combustion, air pollution, or green house gasses and operate at high
efficiencies over a wide range of loads.
 Fuel cells, unlike batteries, avoid the need to replace the cell or undergo a lengthy
recharging cycle when its fuel is spent. Additionally, since fuel cells store their
fuel in external storage tanks, the maximum operating range of a fuel cell-
powered device is limited only by the amount of fuel that can be carried.
 In distributed power generation applications, fuel cells reduce the load on the
need for the grid and also eliminate (or reduce) the need for over head or
underground transmission lines, which are expensive to install and maintain and
result in power losses/efficiency reductions
 Since fuel cells are scalable and can be installed on site, they reduce the need for
large power generation plants (and environmental impacts of such large scale
plants).
 Because fuel cells have substantially fever moving parts than internal combustion
engines (ICE), it is anticipated that maintenance costs for fuel cell vehicles will be
lower than those ICE vehicles.
 Most fuel cell components are recyclable or reusable.
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN FUEL CELL AND BATTERY

Batteries are considered a power “storage” device as they store their fuel-the chemicals
that react to produce electricity-internally. Thus, when a battery’s fuel is spent, the battery
must be disposed of or reached. In contrast, fuel from an external source such as a
hydrogen cylinder- and generate electricity for as long as fuel is supplied.

CONCLUSION
Fuel cells are an attractive technology option for India, because of their economic,
environmental, and energy management advantages. In India context, they have the
following benefits.

 High efficient, can deliver more power per units of fuel consumption.
 Least polluting for coal-based power generation.
 Low gestation periods due to modularity for setting up new power plants.
 No transmission and distribution losses because of dispersed generation.
 Suitable for powering vehicles (especially busses) to reduce urban pollution and
diesel import.