NCES PRACTICAL

By M.K.Varma
Experiment 1.
Objective- Study of Fuel cell and determination of its power output.
1. INTRODUCTION
Fuel cells are devices that convert chemical energy (often in the form of
hydrogen) into electricity, without passing through a combustion stage. Fuel cells
are classified primarily by the kind of electrolyte they employ. This classification
determines the kind of electro-chemical reactions that take place in the cell, the
kind of catalysts required, the temperature range in which the cell operates, the
fuel required, and other factors. These characteristics, in turn, affect the
applications for which these cells are most suitable.
2. THE BASIC PRINCIPLE OF A FUEL CELL
Basically, a fuel cell is a device that converts directly the chemical energy stored
in gaseous molecules of fuel and oxidant into electrical energy. When the fuel is
hydrogen the only by-products are pure water and heat. The overall process is the
reverse of water electrolysis. In electrolysis, an electric current applied to water
produces hydrogen and oxygen; by reversing the process, hydrogen and oxygen
are combined to produce electricity and water (and heat).
A fuel cell can be seen with profit as a “chemical factory” that continuously
transforms fuel energy into electricity as long as fuel is supplied. However, unlike
internal combustion engines that can be regarded as factories as well, fuel cells
rely on an electrochemical reaction involving the fuel, and not on its
combustion.
During combustion, molecular hydrogen and oxygen bonds are broken and
electrons reconfigure into molecular water bonds at a picosecond length scale.
There is no possible way to “catch up” these free electrons and the net energy
difference between molecular bonds in products vs. reactants can only be
recovered in the most degraded form of energy, i.e. heat. A Carnot cycle
involving the transformation of heat into mechanical and electrical energy is then
involved in conventional methods for generating electricity: these successive
steps of transformation of energy severely limit the overall efficiency of the
process (which is by definition the product of the efficiency of the different steps).
In a fuel cell, the direct conversion of the chemical energy of covalent bonds into
electrical energy is made possible through the spatial separation of the hydrogen
and oxygen reactants by the electrolyte also called the “separator”. The electron
transfer necessary to complete the bonding reconfiguration into water molecules
occurs over a much longer length scale. This allows direct collection of electrons
as a current in fuel cells and leads to fuel efficiencies two to three times higher
than in internal combustion engines (depending on the fuel cell technology).
Unlike batteries, there is no chemical transformation of any component of the fuel
cell device during operation and it can generate power without recharging, as long
as it is being fed with fuel.
The unit fuel cell structure called the membrane electrode assembly (MEA)
typically consists of an electrolyte in contact on its both sides with
two electrodes, one negative electrode (anode) and one positive electrode
(cathode). Fuel is continuously fed to the anode side and oxidant is continuously
fed to the cathode side.
Fuel cell reactants are classified as fuels and oxidants on the basis on their
electron donor and electron acceptor properties. Fuels include pure hydrogen and
hydrogen-containing gases, e.g. methanol, ethanol, hydrazine, natural gas,
gasoline, biogas, diesel, etc. Oxidants mainly include pure oxygen and oxygen-
containing gases e.g. air, or halogens e.g. chlorine.
In the most straightforward case, i.e. the hydrogen fuel cell the combustion of
hydrogen into water is split into two electrochemical reactions occurring at
the anode and cathode, respectively, which are termed as the two half-cell
reactions:
Hydrogen oxidation reaction (HOR) at the anode H2 = 2H+ + 2e–
Oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) at the cathode ½ O2 + 2H+ + 2e– = H2O
Combination of the two half-cell reactions gives the overall combustion reaction:
H2 + ½O2 = H2O
Hydrogen ions combine with oxygen ions and produce water and heat.
In any fuel cell configuration, the role of the electrolyte is crucial because it must
insulate the two half-cell reactions electrically in a strict sense, while allowing
the ionic passage of protons produced at the anode to the cathode side where
they will combine and form a molecule of water. Hence, electrolytes are both
proton conductors and electric insulators.
CONCLUSION-
We studied the construction and working of the fuel cell , its efficiency and V-I
characteristics.
EXPERIMENT 2-

Objective- Study of Fuel cell control panel.

1. Introduction-
The price of fossil fuel is increasing step by step because of absence of
accessibility. The power system industries are restructuring to renewable energy
based power generation as an alternate solution. By considering environmental
factors, the fuel cell based energy generation is a most suitable renewable system
than solar and wind energy system . Recently, fuel cells are rapidly developed
and commercially available with high, medium and low power range
applications.
The first fuel cell was accidentally invented in 1839 by Sir William Robert Grove,
however, no down to earth's utilization was found for one more century. General
Electric Company (GE) started creating fuel cell in the 1950s and was granted the
agreement for the Gemini space mission in 1962. The 1 kW Gemini energy unit
framework had a platinum stacking of 35 mg Pt/cm2 and execution of 37 mA/cm2
at 0.78 V. Fuel cell technology has many advantages as compared with the other
conventional renewable energy sources. Table 1 shows the comparison of fuel
cell technology with wind and solar technology. From the Table 1 it is clear that
fuel cell based power system has an upper hand over other renewable energy
technology.
2. Types of fuel cell
Fuel cells are mainly classified according to the electrolyte and types of fuel used.
The main categories of fuel cells available in the market are explained below.
2.2.1. Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells (PEMFC)
Acid polymer is used as the electrolyte and pure hydrogen is used as fuel. The
operating temperature of the PEMFC is below 100°C. Now a day, this fuel cell is
popular and widely used in vehicle application.
2.2.2. Direct Methanol Fuel Cell (DMFC)
In DMFC, the polymer membrane used as an electrolyte, and the fuel used is
methanol. The operating temperature of DMFC is below 60 °C and it is mainly
used for portable power applications below 259 W.
2.2.3. Phosphoric Acid Fuel Cell (PAFC)
In PAFC, The liquid phosphoric acid is used as the electrolyte and pure hydrogen
is used as the fuel. The operating temperature is around 180 °C. These types of
fuel cell are particularly used as stationary power generators and which is not
efficient electrically.
2.2.4. Alkaline Fuel Cell (AFC)
Here, alkaline solutions are used as electrolyte of fuel cell and pure hydrogen is
used as fuel. The operating temperature is about 70 °C and which is more stable.
This type fuel cell is mainly used as standalone power generators.
2.2.5. Solid Oxide Fuel Cell (SOFC)
This type of fuel cells is widely used as stationary power generator and its
operating temperature is around 1000 °C. The solid ceramic electrolyte like
zirconium oxide and syngas type of fuels are used in this fuel cell.
2.2.6. Molten Carbon Fuel Cell (MCFC)
Here, Molten carbonate salt suspended in a porous ceramic matrix is used as the
electrolyte and hydrocarbon is used as fuel. The operating temperature is around
650 °C and which is mainly used for high power application.
3. Controller for the fuel processor-
The main objective of this controller has to regulate the flow of hydrogen to the
anode and to control the temperature of the oxidizing chamber. Fig. 1 shows the
typical control block diagram used for fuel processor. Here, as shown in Fig. 2, a
feed forward system can be used and which proves necessary commands to the
valve and blower. Breather control is necessary for the operation. The fast and
reliable operation of model predictive controller will increase the battery life by
decreasing the battery current variation of fuel cell to protect from oxygen
starvation during sudden changes in load.

The four major items of equipment in addition to the fuel cell include:
 A reformer to convert non-hydrogen fuels to hydrogen and prevent CO
poisoning of the fuel cell catalysts. Reforming may be incorporated inside
 high temperature fuel cells or the reformer may be a separate device.
Reformers are described in greater detail in a previous review.
 A power conditioner, possibly with a transformer, to convert the DC output
from the fuel cell to the required AC output voltage.
 A heat exchanger to transfer heat from the hot exhaust air from the fuel cell
(and power conditioner), to the heat distribution medium (water, oil, or
steam).
A control system linking fuel cell and reformer monitoring instruments, the
power conditioner, and flow control devices.
Voltage regulation and fuel flow control
Very little information is published on this subject, other than identifying that
a power conditioner including an inverter is required to convert the DC ouput
of the fuel cell to AC power.
As discussed in the previous review, a constant voltage AC output is normally
required, and the simplest way to achieve this is to dump excess voltage at low
loads through a dropping resistor. Alternatively, more efficient but more
expensive possibilities include using power electronics to convert excess
voltage to current (AND gates), or using a variable voltage transformer on the
AC output. These options are only likely to be viable on large scale systems.
Fuel flow is likely to be controlled proportional to current to avoid stability
problems as discussed previously.
Fuel cell cooling
This is achieved using an excess quantity of air flow (above that required for
the fuel cell reaction) over the cathode. The air flow is forced using a fan, and
the flow rate controlled to maintain the optimum operating temperature for the
fuel cell reaction and materials.
The air then passes through a heat exchanger as described above.
Preheaters and start up
The fuel entering the reformer or fuel cell is preheated, possibly in a number
of stages, to achieve the required reforming or fuel cell reaction. Preheating
uses burners fueled by the incoming fuel supply or unutilised fuel recirculated
from the fuel cell.
Incoming fuel must be used for preheating prior to start up, or for standby
periods. PAFC and the high temperature fuel cells are normally maintained at
a high temperature during idle periods to reduce the warm up time or damage
due to thermal cycling.

Desulphurisers
Even when natural gas is used, this contains enough H2S additive to require a
desulphuriser on the fuel inlet to prevent corrosion of the fuel cell catalysts.

4. Conclusion-
The experimental study introduced with Different typologies of the power
electronic converters that can be used for fuel cell applications.
 Experiment 3-
Objective-Study of Renewable energy.
1. Introduction-
Developing economies are heavily investing on alternative and renewable
energy technologies to meet their future energy demand. Our nation has
abundant solar, water, wind, and geothermal energy resources, and many
companies are developing, manufacturing, and installing cutting-edge, high-
tech renewable energy systems. The Office of Energy Efficiency and
Renewable Energy (EERE) leads a large network of researchers and other
partners to deliver innovative technologies that will make renewable
electricity generation cost competitive with traditional sources of energy.
Conclusion- In this experiment we studied the various Renewable sources (
non conventional sources )of energy.