Design and Optimization of Fuel Cells: A Case Study on Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Fuel Cell Power Systems for Portable Applications

Table 1

Design and operation parameters.

Parameter	Value	Unit	Description
	0.5	—	Anode current transfer coefficient
	0.6	—	Cathode current transfer coefficient
	1.5		Anode exchange current density
	0.005		Cathode exchange current density
	348.4		Active cell area
	0.05		Anode thickness
	0.1		Cathode thickness
	0.51		Electrolyte thickness
	2.49		Anode conductivity
	2.90		Cathode conductivity
	8.3		Electrolyte conductivity
	0.03		Total contact resistance
	0.045		Anode empirical constant
	0.045		Cathode empirical constant
	15		Anode maximum current density
	2.5		Cathode maximum current density
	1.18		Reversible Nernst voltage at standard conditions
	8.314		Universal gas constant
	Varies		Operation temperature
	2	—	Number of electrons transferred per mole
	0.95	—	Fuel utilization factor
	0.95	—	Efficiency of power conditioning devices
	0.0499		BoP efficiency empirical constant
	0.05	—	BoP efficiency empirical constant
	285,250		Enthalpy of formation for PEM reaction
	96485		Faraday’s constant
	1	—	Air stoichiometry