Within the interactive lecture “Design of fuel cell systems” knowledge, methods and procedures are taught on how fuel cell systems for various applications have to be designed. Starting from the general principles of electrochemical converters the design of the fuel cell and the system components with respect to dimension, geometry and material are discussed. Especially, the lecture will focus on the PEM fuel cell which is highly relevant for mobile applications such as trucks, ships or airplanes. Due to the industry experience of the lecturer in the automotive sector the design of the different components of the fuel cell system can be explained by present use cases.

The students have the opportunity within the lecture to design a complete fuel cell system for a specific application on their own. Starting from the dimensions of a single cell the fuel cell stack and the complete fuel cell system will be designed with respect to the power demand of the application. The relevant criteria power density, efficiency, lifetime and costs will be considered for the design. In detail, the single subsystems such as the hydrogen path, the air path and the cooling system as well as its single components will be engineered. Additionally, hybrid concepts of fuel cell and battery as well as operating strategies for different drive systems with respect to the application will be discussed.

The presented topics are as follows:

• Layout of a fuel cell drive system, hybridization of battery and fuel cell
• Layout of fuel cell systems (fuel cell and system components)
• Design of fuel cells with respect to medium flow, heat transport and electrical conduction
• Measurement techniques to analyze fuel cells and control of system components
• Layout and design of fuel cell components and related manufacturing techniques
• Design of fuel cell systems with respect to power and efficiency
• Degradation of fuel cell components and their influence on lifetime of the fuel cell system

Learning objectives:

The students…

• can differentiate between various system topologies of drive trains and fuel cell systems as well as assign it to possible applications
• can name the function of the system components and can relate their influence on the overall design of the fuel cell system
• can illustrate the layout of a PEM fuel cell and alternative fuel cell types and can relate and name the function of the different components
• can design the fuel cell size and geometry with respect to electric power, heat dissipation and mass flow qualitatively and quantitatively

Skript zur Veranstaltung wird über Ilias (https://ilias.studium.kit.edu/) bereitgestellt.

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Johannes Töpler, Jochen Lehmann, Wasserstoff und Brennstoffzelle : Technologien und Marktperspektiven, ISBN: 3-642-37414-X, DOI: 10.1007/978-3-642-37415-9

Peter Kurzweil, Brennstoffzellentechnik : Grundlagen, Materialien, Anwendungen, Gaserzeugung, ISBN: 978-3-658-14935-2, DOI: 10.1007/978-3-658-14935-2