International Journal of Hydrogen Energy 31 (2006) 1879 – 1896

www.elsevier.com/locate/ijhydene

Modeling and control of air stream and hydrogen flow with

recirculation in a PEM fuel cell system—I.
Control-oriented modeling
Cheng Baoa , Minggao Ouyanga,∗ , Baolian Yib
a State Key Laboratory of Automotive Safety and Energy, Tsinghua University, Tsinghua 100084, PR China
b Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, CAS, Dalian 116023, PR China

Received 30 December 2005; received in revised form 13 February 2006; accepted 27 February 2006
Available online 24 May 2006

Abstract
Transient behavior is one of the key requirements for the vehicular application of proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel
cell. The goal of this study is to develop a dynamic model of PEM fuel cell system (FCS) that is capable of characterizing the
mixed effects of gas flow, pressure and humidity. In addition to the model of air supply system, the anode recirculation is also
presented in this paper by an analytical model of injection pump. A steady-state, isothermal analytical fuel cell model is adopted
to analyze the mass transfer in the diffusion layer and water transportation in the membrane. The liquid water accumulation
in the cathode flow channel is described by a finite-rate phase-change model and the cathode flooding in the diffusion layer
is also discussed. The transient phenomena in FCS are captured by the mechanical inertia of compressor and flow filling in
lumped-parameter volumes of manifolds, anode and cathode.
䉷 2006 International Association for Hydrogen Energy. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords: PEM; Fuel cell; Dynamic model; Air system; Injection pump; Anode recirculation

1. Introduction There are three major subsystems in a typical pure-

Fuel cells provide an environmentally friendly high-
efficiency power source without Carnot’s limitation of
efficiency. The proton exchange membrane fuel cell
(PEMFC) is considered to be the most promising can-
didate for electric vehicles by virtue of its high power
density, zero pollution, low operating temperature,
quick startup capability and long lifetime. The Ameri-
can “Freedom CAR” and Chinese “Fuel Cell City Bus
Project” are two examples for the mobile applications
of fuel cells.
∗ Corresponding author. Tel.: +86 10 62782524;
fax: +86 10 62789699.
E-mail address: ouymg@tsinghua.edu.cn (M. Ouyang).
0360-3199/$30.00 䉷 2006 International Association for Hydrogen Energy. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.ijhydene.2006.02.031
hydrogen fuel cell system: air supply system, fuel
supply and recirculation system, water and thermal
management system (including humidification). Rea-
sonable flow rate and pressure are controlled to avoid
oxygen starvation and excessive auxiliary power con-
sumption in the air supply subsystem. Anode recircula-
tion is used to reduce the hydrogen waste, maintain the
pressure difference between the anode and the cathode,
and run the fuel in the anode to get better water man-
agement. Water and thermal management is essential
to the health of FCS. The dynamic response of fuel cell
system is important for vehicular applications, where
power demand fluctuates, and the fuel cell and all other
subsystems do not usually operate at the optimal steady
1880 C. Bao et al. / International Journal of Hydrogen Energy 31 (2006) 1879 – 1896

Nomenclature
a vapor activity V voltage, V or volume, m3
Acell active area of electrochemical reaction, m2 W mass flow rate, kg s−1
c molar concentration, mol m−3 x molar fraction of species in the gas mix-
cp specific heat at constant pressure, ture
J kg−1 K −1 y mass fraction of species in the gas mixture
D gas diffusivity, m2 s−1 z spatial dimension normal to the MEA
fP1 minimum section area of the nozzle in the
Greek symbols
injection pump, m2
fP2 outlet section area of the imaginary Laval
net water transport coefficient
nozzle in the injection pump, m2  overpotential, V, or efficiency
f3 section area of the mixing chamber in the m membrane conductivity,
−1 m−1
injection pump, m2  water content in PEM (mol
F Faraday constant, 96487 C mol−1 H2 O/equivalent HSO−1 3 ) or converted
Fpurge pulse of purge operation adiabatic velocity
I current density, A m−2  dynamic viscosity, kg m−1 s−1
I0 exchange current density, A m−2  porosity of GDL or relative density
Istack stack current, A  thickness, m
J moment of inertia, kg m2  electro-osmotic drag coefficient of water
k adiabatic index, or flow coefficient, transport in PEM
kg s−1 Pa−1 relative pressure or pressure ratio
kc condensation constant, s−1
density, kg m−3
ke evaporation constant, Pa−1 s−1  angular velocity, rad s−1
kp hydraulic permeability of water in the
Superscripts and subscripts
membrane, m−2
m mass, kg a or an anode
ṁphase evaporation or condensation rate, kg s−1 act activation polarization
M molecular weight, kg mol−1 atm atmosphere
N flux in the outer normal direction of the avg average
boundary, mol m−2 c or ca cathode
npump number of the injection pumps cp compressor
p pressure, Pa C compressed flow in the injection pump
P power, W humd humidifier
q converted mass flow rate in the injection H pumped flow in the injection pump
pump in inlet
R universal gas constant, 8.3143 J liq liquid
mol−1 K −1 m mixture or mechanical
RH relative humidity oc open circuit
s liquid water saturation in the cathode dif- ohm ohmic polarization
fusion layer out outlet
S effective area of the nozzle in nozzle flow P pumping flow in the injection pump
equation, m2 ref reference
SR stoichiometric ratio sat saturation
T temperature, K, or torque, N m vap vapor
u injection coefficient of the injection pump, ∗ target value or critical condition
kg kg−1 , or control input, V

states designed by the manufacturer. Creating a understanding of the system behavior but also for
control-oriented dynamic model of the overall sys- the development and design of model-based control
tem is an essential first step not only for the methodologies.
 C. Bao et al. / International Journal of Hydrogen Energy 31 (2006) 1879 – 1896
Up to now, a number of fuel cell models have been
built to predict the polarization [1–7]. While supplying
good understanding of the fuel cell fundamental, these
contributions in cell level are not suitable for the con-
trol study. Models of fuel cell system are mainly de-
signed for component sizing and parameter optimization
[8–10]. Compared to these steady-state works, a few dy-
namic models of fuel cell systems are published. Xue’s
lumped-parameter model [11] is a dynamic system-
level model for the stack body. Golbert’s distributed-
parameter model [12] in single-cell level is focused on
the effect of the temperature on the electric power. Am-
phlett [13] predicted the transient response of the stack
temperature for thermal management. Lukas [14] built a
dynamic model for internally reformed molten carbon-
ate fuel cell stack. Pischinger [15] raised a lot of inter-
ests on the system dynamics including compressor, fuel
cell and reformer but not a clear set of equations are in
open literature in his study. Rodatz [16] built a reduced
model for the control of flow rate and pressure in the air
supply system. Pukrushpan [17] developed a system-
level model that includes compressor, supply and return
manifolds, humidifier, and anode and cathode channel.
This state-of-the-art work is for the air system without
including the anode recirculation.
Compared to the above dynamic models which are
mainly only for a certain subsystem, this paper is fo-
cused to develop a control-oriented dynamic model for
integrated control study of the air stream, fuel flow with
recirculation in a pure-hydrogen PEM fuel cell system.
In addition to the requirement of the essential control
of stream pressures and flow rates, the water transport
is also needed to be described in this dynamic model
for the future humidity estimation and control. Consid-
ering the phenomena of electrochemical reaction, me-
chanical revolution and mass and heat transfer, there
are multi-scale time constants in a fuel cell system. The
time constant in the range of 10−1 .101 s is taken into
account in this paper, which is the typical time range of
manifold filling dynamics, flow control of devices and
variation of mechanical revolution. So, the stack tem-
perature is considered as constant because of its relative
slow response. On the other hand, the electrochemical
reaction, mass transfer and water transport in the cell
1881
captured. By introducing an analytical fuel cell model,
another advantage of this system-level model is that it
can also be easily polished to reflect the water flooding
in the cathode gas diffusion layer.
2. Fuel cell system model
Fig. 1 shows the schematic configuration of air supply
subsystem, hydrogen supply and recirculation subsys-
tem in a PEMFCS. This is the prototype of high-pressure
FCS in a Chinese fuel cell city bus. A screw compres-
sor driven by a motor is used to obtain the proper air
flow. At the end of outlet manifold in the cathode, a pro-
portional back-pressure valve supplies the freedom to
regulate the cathode pressure. In the anode loop, three
injection pumps cooperate to realize the anode recircu-
lation. The characteristics of the injection pump can be
changed by regulating the pressure of the pumping flow
with a proportional pressure regulator. At the end of the
anode outlet, there is a purge valve.
As shown in Fig. 1, the filled blocks including the
compressor, the cathode inlet and outlet manifolds, and
the lumped anode and cathode volumes dominate the
transient behavior. Considering the relatively small vol-
ume of the anode inlet and outlet manifolds, and the
small pressure drop in the anode loop, all these vol-
umes are integrated into a lumped anode volume. The
compressor in the real system is sealed with water,
where compression, cooling and humidification of air
are achieved simultaneously. In order to simply the anal-
ysis, it is assumed that the compression and humidi-
fication of dry air is processed in sequence. Without
considering the dynamics of humidifier, both the hu-
midification of fuel and air are considered perfect. And
the stack temperature, T is assumed constant 353 K by
an independent thermal management subsystem. All the
gases are considered as ideal gases. For simplicity, the
temperature variation of gases is also neglected.
2.1. Compressor model
The dynamic behavior of the motor and compressor
can be described as
dm 1
body are considered fast and described by a steady-state = · (Tm − feq · m −  · Tcp ), (1)
dt Jeq
analytical fuel cell model. In addition to the mathemat-
ical models of main components including compressor where m is the angular velocity of the motor,  the
and motor, supply and return manifolds, humidifier and
lumped-parameter anode and cathode channel, a static
model of injection pump is embedded to describe the
anode recirculation. So, all the transient behaviors of re-
actant partial pressure and water content in PEM can be
speed ratio between the motor and the compressor ( =
cp /m ). The equivalent moment of inertia, Jeq , and
equivalent friction coefficient, feq , include the part of
motor and that converted from the compressor shaft to
the motor shaft.
1882 C. Bao et al. / International Journal of Hydrogen Energy 31 (2006) 1879 – 1896

Fig. 1. A schematic configuration of air supply subsystem, hydrogen supply and recirculation subsystem in a high-pressure FCS. The filled
blocks designate dynamic components in this study and orifices mean the flow resistances.

Fig. 2. The efficiency MAP of screw compressor treated by a BP neural network with seven neurons in the hidden layer. Dashed lines are
the original data, solid contours are the trained interpolated results and dotted contours represent the extrapolated network outputs.

The motor torque, Tm , is obtained from a static model
of direct current motor
Tm = m · ct (km · um − ce · m · 30/
)/Rm , (2)
where km , Rm , ct = 9.55 · ce are all the motor constants,
cp = pcp /patm and the air flow rate Wcp = f (cp ,
cp ),
um is the control input of motor and m the mechanical
cp ) can be ob-
efficiency.
The performance of compressor in this model is de-
scribed by the MAP in Ref. [18] because of lacking data.
The nonlinear relationship among flow rate, pressure
ratio, speed and efficiency is trained by neural network
cp − 1]
technology [9]. Fig. 2 shows the good interpolation and
extrapolation performance of a back-propagation (BP)
neural network for the compressor efficiency contours.
Considering the original data√in [18] are for a stack of
250 kW, an analog ratio of 1.3 is chosen to match
the stack size in this study [9]. Given the pressure ratio
the compressor efficiency cp = f (Wcp ,
tained by the corresponding neural network and analog
relationship.
Then, the compressor torque is obtained by [18]
(k−1)/k
Wcp · cp,air · Tatm · [
Tcp = , (3)
cp · cp
 C. Bao et al. / International Journal of Hydrogen Energy 31 (2006) 1879 – 1896
Fig. 3. The miniature of an injection pump with expansion section. The dashed line means an imaginary Laval nozzle for the expansion of
supersonic flow.
where k is the adiabatic index, cp,air the specific heat
and Tatm the atmosphere temperature.
2.2. Humidifier model
The steady-state mass and heat transfer in a mem-
brane humidifier has been analyzed in a spatial
distributed-parameter model [10]. For simplicity, the
humidification of gases is considered to be perfect
in this paper. So the static model based on the mass
conservation is used in the humidifiers.
Whumd,out = Whumd,in · yhumd,in /yhumd,out ,
where Whumd,in and Whumd,out are the mass flow rate
of mixture at the inlet and outlet of humidifier, yhumd,in
and yhumd,out are the mass fraction of the gas (air or
hydrogen) in the mixture. In the system configuration
as shown in Fig. 1, air is humidified in the water-
sealed compressor and hydrogen is warmed and hu-
midified by the stack cooling water in a membrane
humidifier [10]. Considering the cooling water tem-
perature is a little lower than the stack temperature,
the relative humidity (RH) of the mixture in the an-
ode and cathode humidifier is assumed 80% and 100%,
respectively.
Not considering the pressure drop between the
humidifier and the stack, the total pressure in the
cathode humidifier phumd is equal to the pressure of
the cathode inlet manifold pca,in or the compressor
outlet pressure (pcp = pca,in ). And the total pressure
in the anode humidifier is equal to the anode inlet
pressure. So,
Mg ·(1−xvap,humd )
yhumd,out = , (5)
Mg ·(1−xvap,humd )+MH2 O ·xvap,humd
1883
where Mg is the molecular weight of hydrogen or air,
xvap the vapor molar fraction in the mixture which is
related to the vapor saturation pressure at the stack tem-
perature, psat (T ),
xvap,humd = psat (T ) · RH/phumd . (6)
2.3. Injection pump model
Fig. 3 shows the miniature of an injection pump
with expansion section. While the pumping flow
crosses via the nozzle, the pumped flow is inhaled
(4)
into the receiving chamber. During the mix of the
pumping flow and the pumped flow, they exchange
energy and momentum and become the compressed
flow in the mixing chamber. Then the kinetic en-
ergy is further turned into the pressure energy in
the expansion section. Because of the low tem-
perature of the pumping flow, convergent nozzle
is usually designed for the anode recirculation in
PEM fuel cell system. The representative thermo-
dynamic parameters of a gas injector are the mass
flow rate, pressure and temperature of the pump-
ing flow (subscripted as P ), the pumped flow (H )
and the compressed flow (C). And the key ge-
ometric sizes are the minimum section area of
the nozzle,fP1 and the section area of the mixing
chamber, f3 .
Because the pressure difference between pH and
pC in the anode loop is small, the pumped flow
and the compressed flow can both be considered
as inelastic flows. In the case of subsonic flow
(pH /pP > [2/(k + 1)]k/(k−1) ), the nonlinear relation-
ship in the following equation can be obtained by the
conservation of mass and energy and the momentum
1884 C. Bao et al. / International Journal of Hydrogen Energy 31 (2006) 1879 – 1896

theorem [19]: the working principle of the pressure regulator is sim-

ilar to a thermostat with a small hysteresis bandwidth
p C − pH pP fP1 2
= k P∗ q [20]. When the setting pressure of the pressure regu-
pH pH f3 PH

lator is higher than the pressure of the pumped flow,

fP1 pP∗ = f (upv ) > pH , SV opens and RV closes, and the
× P∗ (2 4 − 0.5) P u2

H f3 − fP1 injector works normally. When pP∗
pH , SV closes
PH and RV opens, and the injector fails to pump. As pP
+ 1 2 − P∗
qPH decreases to be lower than pH , the negative pressure
  
1
P fP1 difference will lead to the counter flow of the anode
× − 0.5 (1 + u)2 , (7) mixture through the nozzle of the injector. Here,
3
C f3
where
is the density, 1 .4 are four velocity correc- u = 0, WP = 0, WH = knozzle (pH − pP ), (12)
tion coefficients, u is the injection coefficient defined as
where knozzle is the linear flow coefficient of the nozzle
the ratio of mass flow rate of the pumped flow to that
in this abnormal case. Because the volume between the
of the pumping flow
pressure regulator and the injection pump is small, so the
u = WH /WP (8) filling dynamics is neglected and the negative pressure
drop (pH −pP ) in Eq. (11) is simply assumed as constant
and P∗ , qPH , PH and P∗ are some thermodynamic 0.03 bar in the counter flow condition.
functions explained in Appendix A. As the injection pump works normally, the mass flow
In the case of sonic flow (pH /pP
[2/(k + rate of the pumping flow can be obtained by the nozzle
1)]k/(k−1) ), the critical condition appears at the physi- flow equation explained in Appendix B. Here, the up-
cal minimum section area of the nozzle and the steam stream flow is the pumping flow (pup = pP , Tup = TP ),
line continues to expand along an imaginary Laval the downstream flow is the pumped flow (pdn = pH ),
nozzle as shown in Fig. 3. And the virtual section area and the effective area of the nozzle is the minimum sec-
is obtained by tion area of the nozzle in the injector (S = fP1 ).
As shown in Fig. 1, the anode humidifier after the
fP2 = fP1 /qPH . (9) injection pump is optional. In the case of no anode
Then Eq. (7) should be modified to [19] humidifier, the compressed flow of the injector is the
inflow of the anode. So,
pC − p H pP fP1
= k P∗ WC = WP (1 + u) = Wan,in /npump , (13)
pH p H f3



fP1 where Wan,in is the mass flow rate of the anode inflow,
× P∗ (2 4 − 0.5) P u2

H f3 − fP2 npump the number of injection pumps and pan,in the
 
1 anode inlet pressure. When there is an anode humidifier,
+ 1 2 PH − P∗ − 0.5
 the hydrogen mass conservation should be obeyed.
 3

fP1
× P (1 + u)2 . (10) WP + WH · yH2 ,an = Wan,in · yH2 ,humd /npump , (14)

C f3
where yH2 ,an is the hydrogen mass fraction in the anode,
In general, the performance of the injection pump can be and yH2 ,humd the hydrogen mass fraction in the anode
modified by regulating the pressure of the pumping flow humidifier which can be obtained by Eq. (5). Whether
or the section area of the nozzle, and the latter is hard to there is an anode humidifier or not, it satisfies
be realized in practice. In this paper, the pressure of the
pumping flow is dominated by the control input of the pC = pan,in , pH = pan ,
proportional pressure regulator, upv , and the pressure of Wan,in = kan,in (pan,in − pan ), (15)
the pumped flow where pan is the mixture pressure in the anode, kan,in
pP = max[pP∗ , pH
− 0.03] the flow coefficient of the anode inlet. Given the known
= max[1.8upv + 1, pH − 0.03]. (11) structural parameters fP1 , f3 and the thermodynamic
parameters TP , TH = T , the other variables can be ob-
The above equation contains two working conditions tained from the values of upv , pan and yH2 ,an .
of the injector, and the unit of pressure is bar. Switching Note that vapor may condense during the mix of the
between a supply valve (SV) and a relief valve (RV), low-temperature fresh hydrogen and the recycled anode
 C. Bao et al. / International Journal of Hydrogen Energy 31 (2006) 1879 – 1896 1885

Fig. 4. Corresponding to the variations of the stack current and pressure of the compressed flow, (a) is the surface plot of hydrogen injection
coefficient using dry hydrogen; (b), (c) are the total and hydrogen injection coefficient in the case of wet mixture; (d) is the vapor partial
pressure in the compressed flow, which decides the anode inlet relative humidity if there is no anode humidifier.

outlet mixture. Here, the temperature of the compressed
flow will be higher than that calculated without con-
sidering condensation. Fig. 4 shows the performance of
the injection pump when only the anode loop is con-
sidered. As the stack current (corresponding to the flow
rate of the pumping flow) and the pressure of the com-
pressed flow vary, Fig. 4(a) shows the surface plots of
the injection coefficient when the dry hydrogen is used.
Here, the flow resistances and volume in the anode are
kept unchanged. It is obvious that there is good recir-
culation capability (u > 2) and the performance of the
injection pump declines when the flow rate or pressure
is depart from the designing point. Fig. 4(b), (c) show
the variation of injection coefficient (u) and hydrogen
injection coefficient (uH2 = WH yH2 ,an /WP ) in the case
of wet hydrogen. For a constant stack current, higher
pressure of the compressed flow leads to lower value
of u and higher value of uH2 because of higher hydro-
gen mass fraction. The surface plot of the vapor partial
pressure in the compressed flow is shown in Fig. 4(d).
For the saturation pressure 0.47 bar at the stack temper-
ature, it is obvious that the humidification capability of
the anode outlet mixture is not enough for the require-
ment of the anode inlet. So, laying an anode humidi-
fier after the injector is the default configuration in this
paper.
2.4. Manifold model
The transient responses of the inlet and outlet mani-
folds in the air side are included in this paper. The fill-
ing dynamics of manifold can be described according
to the ideal gas law.
dp Wm,in − Wm,out RT
= , (16)
dt Mm V
where Mm is the molecular weight of mixture, V the
manifold volume, p the mixture pressure, Wm,in and
Wm,out are the inflow and outflow mass flow rates, re-
spectively. For the cathode inlet manifold, the inflow is
from the cathode humidifier and the outflow is equal to
the cathode inflow mass flow rate, Wca,in ,
Wm,in = Whumd,out ,
Wm,out = Wca,in = kca,in (pca,in − pca ), (17)
where pca,in is the mixture pressure of the cathode inlet
manifold, pca the mixture pressure of the cathode, and
kca,in the flow coefficient of the cathode inlet.
For the cathode outlet manifold, the inflow mass flow
rate is equal to the cathode outflow mass flow rate,
Wca,out ,
Wm,in = Wca,out = kca,out (pca − pca,out ), (18)
1886 C. Bao et al. / International Journal of Hydrogen Energy 31 (2006) 1879 – 1896

where pca,out is the mixture pressure of the cathode mixture pressure can be expressed according to the ideal
outlet manifold, and kca,out the flow coefficient of the gas law.
cathode outlet. And the outflow mass flow rate, Wm,out  
can be obtained by nozzle flow equation. Here, the mix- RT mH2 mvap,an
pan = + , (23)
ture in the cathode outlet manifold is the upstream flow Van MH2 MH2 O
(pup = pca,out ), the downstream flow is the atmosphere
where Van is the anode volume. The mass fraction of
(pdn = patm ), and the effective area of nozzle is the
species in the anode can be expressed as
effective area of the back-pressure valve, At , which is
related to the control input uA , mH2 mvap,an
yH2 ,an = , yvap,an = .
At = At0 · (5 − uA )/3. (19) mH2 + mvap,an mH2 + mvap,an
(24)
2.5. Cathode and anode model In the cathode, oxygen reacts and water generates.
Unlike to the anode, phase change of water in the cath-
The filling dynamic of lumped anode and cathode ode is considered in this paper. The species variation in
is similar to that of manifold. However, the chemical the cathode can be described by
reaction and water transport between the anode and the
cathode cause the variation of components. So, every dmO2 Istack Ncell
= Wca,in yO2 ,in − MO2
species should be treated independently. dt 4F
The mass conservation of hydrogen and water in the − Wca,out yO2 ,ca , (25)
anode can be described as
dmN2
dmH2 Istack Ncell = Wca,in yN2 ,in − Wca,out yN2 ,ca , (26)
= Wan,in yH2 ,in − MH2 dt
dt 2F
− (Wan,out + Wpurge )yH2 ,an , (20) dmvap,ca Istack Ncell
= Wca,in yvap,ca,in + (1 + 2
) MH2 O
dmvap,an Istack Ncell dt 2F
= Wan,in yvap,an,in −
MH2 O − Wca,out yvap,ca − ṁphase , (27)
dt F
− (Wan,out + Wpurge )yvap,an , (21) dmliq,ca
= ṁphase − Wliq,out , (28)
where Istack is the stack current, Ncell the number of dt
cells and F the Faraday constant, mH2 and mvap,an are where mO2 , mN2 and mvap,ca are the mass of oxygen, ni-
the mass of hydrogen and vapor in the anode, respec- trogen and vapor in the cathode, respectively. Here, the
tively. The second item in the right-hand side of Eq. (21) water generated and transported from the anode are both
represents water content transported from the anode to considered in the gaseous phase, and the mass of liquid
the cathode. The symbol
is the so-called net water water in the cathode, mliq,ca , is introduced to reflect the
transport coefficient [3], which is defined as the ratio accumulation of liquid water in the cathode flow chan-
of the net water flux in PEM to the ion flux. The water nel. The inlet species mass fractions yO2 ,in , yN2 ,in and
in the anode is considered only in the gaseous phase. yvap,in are decided by the thermodynamic condition of
The inflow mass flow rate, Wan,in , has been described the mixture in the cathode humidifier. According to the
by Eq. (15). And the outflow mass flow rate, Wan,out , is ideal gas law, the cathode mixture pressure should be
related to the mass flow rate of the compressed flow in
 
the injection pump RT mO2 mN2 mvap,ca
pca = + + , (29)
Wan,out = WH · npump . (22) Vca MO2 MN2 MH2 O

The mass flow rate out of the anode because of purge op- where Vca is the cathode volume. And the mass fraction
eration, Wpurge , can be obtained by nozzle flow equation. of gas-phase species in the cathode can be expressed as
Here, the upstream flow is the anode mixture, the down- 

stream environment is the atmosphere, and the nozzle yi,ca = mi mj (i, j = O2 , N2 , vap). (30)
area is the effective area of purge orifice, At,purge . j
The mass fractions of species yH2 ,in and yvap,in are
decided by the thermodynamic condition in the injection In this paper, a finite-rate phase-change model is
pump outlet when there is no anode humidifier, or by used to describe the water condensation and evapora-
Eq. (5) when there is the anode humidifier. The anode tion. When the vapor partial pressure is higher than the
 C. Bao et al. / International Journal of Hydrogen Energy 31 (2006) 1879 – 1896 1887

saturation pressure, i.e. pca xvap,ca psat , condensation to the stack current divided by the cell effective area,
appears [6] Acell .
In order to neglect the influence of channel length
kc Vca
ṁphase = xvap,ca (pca xvap,ca − psat )MH2 O , (31) in 1D model and avoid underestimating the effect of
RT air stoichiometric ratio, the logarithmic average of oxy-
where kc is the condensation rate. As pca xvap,ca < psat , gen molar fractions between the inlet and the outlet is
liquid water evaporates [6] adopted as the boundary condition of GDL [9]. And the
arithmetical mean of other species molar fractions are
ṁphase = ke mliq,ca (pca xvap,ca − psat ), (32)
used.
where ke is the evaporation rate. And the molar fraction xO2 ,in − xO2 ,ca
of vapor can be obtained by xO2 |z=0 = . (37)
ln(xO2 ,in ) − ln(xO2 ,ca )
mvap,ca RT There are three mechanisms for water transport in
xvap,ca = . (33)
MH2 O pca Vca the membrane: electro-osmotic drag, back diffusion and
Not considering the capillary pressure between the convection [2–4]. The net water transport from the an-
gas phase and the liquid phase in the cathode flow chan- ode and the cathode is the comprehensive behavior of
nel, two phases share the common velocity and the liq- these three phenomena.
uid water outflow mass flow rate can be obtained by I I
m,dry d

=  − Dw
mliq,ca Wca,out F F Mm,dry dz
Wliq,out =
m,dry kp pca − pan 0.35
Vca
ca −  , (38)
mliq,ca Mm,dry liq m 16.8
= Wca,out . (34)
mO2 + mN2 + mvap,ca
where
m,dry and Mm,dry are the density and equivalent
2.6. MEA model weight of dry membrane, kp is the liquid water per-
meability in PEM, w the water viscosity, and m the
Although the empirical models [1] can predict the po- membrane thickness. There are many publications for
larization well, they seldom reflect the water transport the electro-osmotic drag coefficient,  [3,4,22] and the
in membrane-electrode assembly (MEA), which is the water diffusivity Dw [3,4,22,23]. By comparing these
bridge between the anode and the cathode. So an analyt- expressions, the following equations are adopted in this
ical model is used to analyze the phenomena in MEA. paper because of its good numeric property:
The multicomponent mass transfer in the gas diffu-
−1/4
1 1
sion layer (GDL) is described by Stefan–Maxwell equa- = + , (39)
tion. The effective diffusion layer thickness in this 1D (0.35)4 (1.47)4

 
model is approximated to the original size multiplied 1 1
by 1/0.6, thus the effects of serpentine ribs can be ne- Dw = 10−10 exp 2416 −
303 T
glected [21].
× (2.563 − 0.33 + 0.02642
dxi RT  xi Nj − xj Ni − 0.000673 ). (40)
=
dz p Dij 1.5
j The water content in the membrane  can be related to
(i, j = O2 , N2 , H2 O, H2 ), (35) the water activity, a = px vap /psat [3]
where Dij is the mutual diffusivity,  the porosity of ⎧
⎪  = 0.043 + 17.81a
GDL, and z the spatial coordinate. The species fluxes are ⎨
−39.85a 2 + 36.0a 3 for a
1,
related to the current density and the net water transport (41)
⎩  = 14 + 1.4 · (a − 1)
⎪ for 1
a
3,
coefficient.  = 16.8 for a > 3.
I I I
NH2 = , Nvap,an =
, NO2 = , Assuming a value of
, we can obtain two values of
2F F 4F the water content at the cathodic end of the membrane.
I
Nvap,ca = −(1 + 2
) , (36) One is from equations of the anode GDL and mem-
2F brane, and the other is from equations of the cathode
where all the species in MEA are considered in gas GDL. With the constraint that these two values should
phase, and the current density (I = Istack /Acell ) is equal be identical, the accurate value of
can be solved by
1888 C. Bao et al. / International Journal of Hydrogen Energy 31 (2006) 1879 – 1896

Fig. 5. (a) is comparison of the predicted polarization curve with experimental results. The open circuit voltage is 0.975 V which is from
experiment instead of Nernst equation. The active area of cell with Nafion䉸 112 membrane is 128 cm2 and the operating conditions are:
temperature is 343 K, fuel and air are both saturated, pressure is 3 bar, air stoichiometric ratio is 2.5 and hydrogen utilization is 80%. (b), (c)
Influence of air stoichiometric ratio and pressure on the polarization, and the open circuit voltage is from the Nernst equation. (d) Influence of
the pressure difference between the anode and the cathode on the net water coefficient for I = 0.32 A cm−2 . Except the processing parameter,
other operating conditions for (b)–(d) are that listed in Table 1. Note that the experiment cell in (a) is different from the cell in this model.

golden section algorithm. And the ohmic overpotential concentration. Neglecting the concentration overpoten-
can be obtained by the solved distribution of  tial, the cell voltage can be obtained by
 m
dz Vcell = Voc − act − ohm − Vloss , (45)
ohm = I , (42)
0 ()
where the open circuit voltage Voc is from the Nernst
where the membrane conductivity is related to the water equation and the voltage loss, Vloss because of the impu-
content [3] rity and the gas crossover is chosen as constant 0.15 V.

  Fig. 5(a) validates the predicted polarization curve
1 1
() = exp 1268 − (0.514 − 0.326). compared with experimental results with reasonable
303 T agreements at low and moderate electrical loads.
(43) Fig. 5(b), (c) shows the influence of the air stoi-
The simple Tafel expression is used to calculate the chiometric ratio and the pressure on the polarization.
cathode activation loss Fig. 5(d) shows the effect of the pressure difference
 ref
between the anode and the cathode on the net water
RT I cO transport coefficient as I = 0.32 A cm−2 .
act = ln 2
RT , (44)
0.5F I0 pca xOm,d
2
3. Analysis
where xOmd2 is the oxygen molar fraction at the in-
terface between membrane and the cathode GDL, I0 Table 1 lists the parameters in this dynamic model.
ref the reference
the exchange current density, and cO This is a configuration with a stack of 150 kW and the
2
 C. Bao et al. / International Journal of Hydrogen Energy 31 (2006) 1879 – 1896 1889

Table 1
Parameter values

Description Symbol Value

Cell active area (m2 ) Acell 0.1

Cell number Ncell 540
Effective diffusion layer thickness (m) d 5 × 10−4
Porosity of GDL  0.35
Membrane thickness (m) m 89 × 10−6
Membrane equivalent weight (kg/mol) Mm,dry 1.1
Membrane density (kg/m3 )
m,dry 2 × 103
Liquid water permeability in membrane (m−2 ) kp 1.58 × 10−18
Exchange current density in 353 K (A m−2 ) I0 0.01
Atmosphere temperature (K) Tatm 298
Atmosphere relative humidity (%) RH0 50
Cathode inlet air relative humidity (%) RHc 100
Anode inlet relative humidity with humidifier (%) RHa 80
Stack operating temperature (K) T 353
Gear ratio between motor and compressor  5
Motor input constant (V V−1 ) km 30
Motor electromotive coefficient (V rpm−1 ) ce 0.0649
Motor torque coefficient (N m A−1 ) ct 0.62
Motor internal resistance (
) Rm 0.159
Mechanicalefficiency of motor shaft m 0.98
Equivalent friction coefficient (N m rad−1 s−1 ) feq 0
Equivalent inertia (kg m2 ) Jeq 2
Volume of cathode intake manifold (m3 ) Vca,in 7.0 × 10−3
Volume of lumped cathode (m3 ) Vca 10.8 × 10−3
Volume of cathode exhaust manifold (m3 ) Vca,out 2.4 × 10−3
Volume of lumped anode (m3 ) Van 9.6 × 10−3
Cathode inlet flow coefficients (kg s−1 Pa−1 ) kca,in 1.3672 × 10−5
Cathode outlet flow coefficients (kg s−1 Pa−1 ) kca,out 1.2524 × 10−5
Anode inlet flow coefficients (kg s−1 Pa−1 ) kan,in 3.6930 × 10−5
Nozzle flow coefficients of injector (kg s−1 Pa−1 ) knozzle 3.6930 × 10−5
Condensation rate (s−1 ) kc 100
Evaporation rate (Pa−1 s−1 ) ke 9.8717 × 10−4
Velocity correction coefficients of injector 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 0.95, 0.975, 0.9, 0.925
Minimum section area of nozzle in injector (m2 ) fP1 3.4636 × 10−6
Section area of mixing chamber in injector (m2 ) f3 2.1237 × 10−5
Number of injection pumps npump 3
Flow correction coefficient for nozzle flow Cd 0.9
Nozzle area of cathode proportional valve (m2 ) At0 2.303 × 10−4
Anode purge orifice area (m2 ) At,purge 6.1575 × 10−6

rated net power of FCS is about 100 kW. Fig. 6 shows
the realization in MATLAB/SIMULINK environment.
The focus of the air supply system in a FCS is to
avoid oxygen starvation. Corresponding to a specific
electric load, the excess amount of reactant is described
by the stoichiometric ratio which is defined as the ratio
of reactant supplied to the reactant reacted. As the dom-
inant consumer of auxiliary powers, the compressor is
the only parasitic unit in this paper. With the increas-
ing air stoichiometric ratio and pressure, the stack gross
power improves and the compressor consumption also
increases. This trade-off and the steady-state optimum
operation conditions have been analyzed in Ref. [9].
As the net power increases, the optimal pressure keeps
rising and the optimal air stoichiometric ratio shows
non-monotonous trend. For simplicity, the desired air
stoichiometric ratio is chosen to be constant 2 (SR∗c =2)
and the desired cathode inlet pressure changes linearly
with the current density in this paper.
∗
pca,in = (I − 0.32)/0.17 + 3 (bar). (46)
In addition to avoiding fuel waste and humidifying
the hydrogen, maintaining the pressure difference be-
tween the anode and the cathode is another task for fuel
1890 C. Bao et al. / International Journal of Hydrogen Energy 31 (2006) 1879 – 1896

Fig. 6. The realization of this dynamic model of air stream, hydrogen flow with recirculation in MATLAB/SIMULINK environment.

supply and recirculation subsystem. Frequently changed and the stack voltage (Vstack = Vcell · Ncell ). The target
pressure difference will damage the membrane and the of controller is to obtain good transient and steady per-
convection phenomenon of water also influence the wa- formances of z which are the air stoichiometric ratio,
ter transport as shown in Fig. 5(d). Considering the an- cathode inlet pressure, the pressure difference and the
ode pressure and the cathode pressure are difficult to be net power of FCS, Pnet . The units of variables are scaled
measured directly, so we choose the target pressure at so that all states have comparable magnitudes: mass in
the anode inlet is 0.2 bar higher than that at the cathode grams, pressure in bar, angular velocity in 100 rad per
∗
inlet, p∗ = pan,in ∗
− pca,in = 0.2 bar. second, mass flow rate in gram per second, power in
The control problem for the nonlinear model in this kilowatts, voltage in volts, and current in amperes.
study can be described as For a set of given electric load (Istack ), the target
⎧ air stoichiometric ratio (SR∗c ), cathode inlet pressure
⎪ ẋ = fx (x, u, w), u = [um , uA , upv ]T , ∗
(pca,in ) and pressure difference between the anode and
⎪
⎪
⎪
⎪ w = [Istack , Fpurge ]T , the cathode (p∗ ), the steady-state values of the three
⎪
⎪
⎨ x = [m , pca,in , mO2 , mN2 , mvap,ca , mH2 , mvap,an , control inputs can be obtained by the nonlinear simu-
pca,out , mliq,ca ]T , lation (NSim). However, it is a complex calculation of
⎪
⎪
⎪
⎪ y = fy (x, u, w), y = [Wcp , pca,in , pca,out , pan,in , Eq. (47) as ẋ = 0. And a static feedforward (SFF) al-
⎪
⎪
⎪
⎩ Vstack ]T , gorithm can be used to get a close solution. The target
z = fz (x, u, w), z = [SRc , pca,in , p, Pnet ]T , dry air flow rate can be obtained by
(47)
∗ SR∗c · Istack · Ncell · Mair
where the control vector, u, includes the control voltages Wcp,dry = . (48)
4F · 0.21
of the compressor motor, back-pressure valve and pro-
portional pressure regulator. The stack current and the Because the compressor outlet pressure is equal to
anode purge impulse Fpurge , are considered as the exter- the cathode inlet pressure (pcp∗ = p∗
ca,in ), the target
nal inputs or disturbances, w. The measurement vector, compressor revolution (cp ) and efficiency (∗cp ) can be
∗

y is the combination of compressor inlet air flow rate, obtained from the corresponding neural network for the
cathode inlet and outlet pressures, anode inlet pressure compressor MAP. Then, the control input of compressor
 C. Bao et al. / International Journal of Hydrogen Energy 31 (2006) 1879 – 1896 1891

Fig. 7. Transient performance of FCS related to continuous steps of the stack current and three control inputs.

motor, u∗m , can be obtained from the power balance injection pumps should be equal to the hydrogen con-
between the compressor and the motor. sumption
The cathode mixture pressure and outflow mass flow
Istack · Ncell · MH2
rate can be obtained by WP∗ = = f (pP∗ , pan
∗
, fP1 ), (52)
2F · npump
∗ ∗ ∗ ∗
pca = pca,in − Wcp,dry /yair,humd /kca,in , (49)
where f (·) represents the nozzle flow equation. Assum-
  ∗
∗ Istack · Ncell SR∗c Mm,ca ing the pressure of the pumped flow in the injection
Wca,out = · −1 · . (50) ∗ = p∗ ∗ ∗
4F 0.21 ∗
1 − yvap,ca pump is pan ca,in + p − 0.03 bar, the value of upv
can be obtained from pP . ∗
∗
Assuming the vapor in the cathode is saturated (xvap,ca = Fig. 7 shows the transient performance of fuel cell
∗ ∗ )
psat /pca ), the molecular weight of the mixture (Mm,ca system related to some steps of the stack current and
∗
and the vapor mass fraction (yvap,ca ) can be determined the corresponding control inputs from Nsim or SFF
by the thermodynamic condition of the mixture. So, the model. It can be seen that the discrepancy between the
total pressure in the cathode outlet manifold is control inputs and performance of SFF and Nsim is
small. As shown in Fig. 7(a), every step of the stack
∗ ∗ ∗
pca,out = pca − Wca,out /kca,out . (51) current lasts for 4 s, and the electric load during 18–22 s
is assumed the same as that during 14–18 s. As shown
In the steady-state condition, the outflow mass flow rate in Fig. 7(b)–(d), the three control inputs during 0–14 s
of the cathode outlet manifold is equal to its inflow are the steady-state values from Nsim or SFF model,
∗
mass flow rate, Wca,out . So, the control input of back- which is related to the stack current. Similar to keep-
∗
pressure valve (uA ) can be obtained by the nozzle flow ing the stack current constant in two continuous steps
equation. (14–22 s), the three control inputs after 14 s are fixed
Without the purge operation, the total steady- in specific steps, respectively, in order to simulate the
state mass flow rate of the pumping flow in all the mismatch between the electric load and control inputs.
1892 C. Bao et al. / International Journal of Hydrogen Energy 31 (2006) 1879 – 1896
Fig. 8. The transient compressor trajectory related to the same open-loop simulation as Fig. 7.
As the stack current increases, the dynamic response
during 0–14 s in Fig. 7(e) shows that the air stoichio-
metric ratio cannot follow this sharp disturbance and
decreases instantaneously because of the compres-
sor’s inertia. And the increased consumption of
oxygen makes the cathode inlet pressure decreased
synchronously as shown in Fig. 7(f). Then, the dy-
namics of the fuel cell system transfers gradually to
the new steady state under the updated control inputs.
With the step change of the control input, uA , the
early-decrement and late-increment of the cathode in-
let pressure reveals a characteristic of non-minimum
phase. In the time steps of 18–22 and 26–30 s, mis-
matching between the control inputs and the stack
current makes the air stoichiometric ratio, cathode inlet
pressure and pressure difference between the anode
and the cathode not be the desired values as shown
in Fig. 7(e)–(g), respectively. If the control inputs
are not corresponding to the variation of the stack
current, too sharp increment in electric load might
deplete the oxygen and collapse the fuel cell system.
In the other hand, although the ample air flow rate
and pressure increases the stack voltage and elec-
tric power, the excessive compressor parasitic power
degrades the net power as shown in Fig. 7(h)–(j),
which presents the trade-off between the stack and the
compressor.
Fig. 8 shows the running trajectory of the compres-
sor related to the same steps of the stack current and
the control inputs in Fig. 7. It can be seen that the com-
pressor almost works in the high-efficiency zone and
along the normal direction of efficiency contours. So
there is a good size match between the stack and the
screw compressor.
Fig. 9 shows the transient response of the nine states
during the same open-loop simulation as Fig. 7. Note
that the finite evaporation and condensation rate in
the cathode are adopted in this paper, so the partial
pressure of vapor is not equal to the saturation pres-
sure and it is the main reason that causes difference
between the control inputs of NSim and SFF model.
However, when the phase-change rate of water is cho-
sen big enough, the vapor partial pressure in the cathode
will be constantly the saturation pressure. Then the two
uncontrollable states of mvap,ca and mliq,ca translate into
parameters and the state vector reduces to be in seven
dimensions.
Fig. 10(a) shows the transient response of the hy-
drogen injection coefficient of the injection pump
when there is an anode humidifier. From the mass
conservation of hydrogen, the steady-state hydrogen
stoichiometric ratio is equal to the hydrogen injection
coefficient of the injection pump plus unity (SRa =
uH2 + 1). In most conditions, the hydrogen injection
 C. Bao et al. / International Journal of Hydrogen Energy 31 (2006) 1879 – 1896
Fig. 9. Dynamics of the nine states related to the same open-loop simulation as Fig. 7.
coefficient is more than unity, which means the good
performance of anode recirculation. At the time of 6 and
14 s, the control input of the pressure regulator decreases
related to the variation of the stack current, which makes
the pumping flow pressure of the injection pump lower
than the anode mixture pressure. So the anode mixture
flows backwards through the nozzle in the injection
pump and the injection pump behaves just as an orifice.
Fig. 10(b) compares the anode inlet relative humidity
in the case that there is or not an anode humidifier.
Although there is an obvious discrepancy between
the water contents in two cases, the stack voltage as
shown in Fig. 10(e) differs a little because of the thin
membrane. However, the stack degradation will be ev-
ident because of the anode dehydration when thicker
membrane is used (Nafion䉸 117).
In the MEA model, an iteration algorithm is used
to solve for the net water transport coefficient. How-
ever,
is obtained without iteration by neglecting
the mass transfer in GDL in some papers [12,17].
Fig. 10(c) shows the relative error of water con-
tent at the cathodic end of PEM. In the case of no
1893
iteration, the overestimated average water content
in the membrane leads to higher stack voltage as
shown in Fig. 10(e). Fig. 10(d) shows the transient
response of the net water transport coefficient in three
cases. In the case that there is no anode humidifier,
the steady-state value of
is equal to zero neglect-
ing the vapor condensation of the compressed flow
in the injection pump. In the time step of 18–22 s,
the convection water transport by the pressure dif-
ference is exaggerated in the case of no iteration.
Although it increases the numeration load, the iteration
algorithm is worthy of improving the model accuracy
for the future humidity estimation and control. More-
over, it is easier to consider the cathode flooding in the
case of iteration, which is discussed in the Appendix C.
Required by the vehicular application, rapid dynam-
ics of flow rate and pressure and proper net power
should be achieved. It is obvious that the transient re-
sponse of fuel cell system by the open loop control is
not satisfied. From the above analysis, there are some
difficulties in the controller design. For example, the
weak link of water transport between the anode and the
1894 C. Bao et al. / International Journal of Hydrogen Energy 31 (2006) 1879 – 1896

Fig. 10. (a) is the hydrogen injection coefficient in the injection pump when there is an anode humidifier. (b) is the anode inlet relative
humidity as there is or no anode humidifier. (c) is the relative error of water content in the cathodic end of PEM calculated without iteration.
(d), (e) are the comparison of net water transport coefficient and stack voltage, respectively, among three cases: iteration and with anode
humidifier (default), no iteration and with anode humidifier, iteration and without anode humidifier.

cathode, the characteristics of non-minimum phase and
the inevitable coupling between control inputs and per-
formances, and so on. The detailed design of model-
based controller will be introduced in the next part of
this paper.
4. Conclusion
In this paper, a control-oriented dynamic model of
air stream, hydrogen flow with recirculation in a PEM
fuel cell system was build. Unlike other models only
for the air supply subsystem, the fuel recirculation is
integrated by an analytical model of injection pump.
The transient phenomena in FCS are captured by the
mechanical inertia of the compressor and flow filling
dynamics of the manifolds, lumped anode and cathode.
Considering the mass transfer and water transport in
0 are the
MEA, the analytical 1D fuel cell model provides good
accuracy and can be easily expanded to describe the
cathode flooding.
The methodology in this paper is suitable for other
configurations. Variation of gas temperature and dynam-
ics of humidifier will be included in the future work. The
model is the base of multi-input multi-output (MIMO)
controller design for the air stream and hydrogen flow
with recirculation, which will be addressed in the next
part of this two-part paper.
Acknowledgment
The financial support of the Fuel Cell City Bus project
in China 863 Electric Vehicle Program under contract
2003AA501100 is gratefully acknowledged.
Appendix A. Thermodynamic functions in the
injection pump
When the adiabatic velocity of flow is zero, the tem-
perature T0 , static pressure p0 and density
flow stagnation parameters. The ratio of the adiabatic
velocity va to the critical velocity a∗ (local velocity of
sound) is defined as [19]
va va
= =√ . (A.1)
a∗ (2k/(k + 1)) (R/M)T0
 C. Bao et al. / International Journal of Hydrogen Energy 31 (2006) 1879 – 1896 1895

The relative pressure and the relative density  is pressure, pup and downstream pressure, pdn of the noz-
the ratio of the adiabatic static pressure and density to zle, the flow characteristic is divided into two regions
the stagnation pressure and density [19] by the critical pressure ratio
     k/(k−1)
k − 1 2 k/(k−1) pdn 2
=
p
= 1−  pr crit = = . (B.1)
p0 k+1
, pup crit k+1

= = 1/k . (A.2) For subsonic flow, pr > pr crit , the mass flow rate W is

0 calculated from
√ 
As  = 1, the critical relative pressure and density Cd pup S M 2k
W=  [pr 2/k − pr k+1/k ]. (B.2)
should be RT up k−1
 k/(k−1) The parameter Cd is the discharge coefficient of the noz-
p∗ 2
∗ = = , zle, S the effective area of the nozzle and Tup the tem-
p0 k+1
 1/(k−1) perature of upstream flow. For sonic flow, pr
pr crit ,

2
∗ = ∗ = . (A.3) the mass flow rate is given by

0 k+1
√   (k+1)/(k−1)
Cd pup S M 2
According to the mass conservation, the ratio of mass W=  k . (B.3)
RT up k+1
flow rate at a specific section to the critical mass flow
rate, q is equivalent to the ratio of this specific section If the pressure different across the nozzle is small, the
area f to the critical area f∗ [19] flow rate can be calculated by the linear form of the
subsonic nozzle flow (B.2) [17]

va  f∗
q= = = . (A.4) W = knozzle (pup − pdn ), (B.4)

∗ a∗ ∗ f
where knozzle is the linear flow coefficient.
In this paper, the pumped flow and the compressed
flow in the injection pump are considered as the inelastic
Appendix C. Description of the cathode flooding
flow. So the following specific heat ratios can be used
to simplify their thermodynamic functions:
The cathode flooding can be modeled by introduc-
ing a two-phase model of the cathode diffusion layer.
kP = k, kH = kC = ∞. (A.5)
The gas-phase mass transfer in the cathode GDL is also
described by the modified Stefan–Maxwell equation [6]
Moreover, the static pressures of the pumping flow,
the pumped flow and the compressed flow can be con- dxi RT  xi Nj − xj Ni
= ,
sidered as their stagnation pressures because of their dz pca
j
Dij [(1 − s)]1.5
relatively low velocities in tubes. Given the ratio of the
i, j = O2 , N2 , vap, (C.1)
pumped flow pressure to the pumping flow pressure,
PH =pH /pP , the related thermodynamic functions can where s is the liquid saturation which is the volume frac-
be expressed as follows [19]: tion of liquid pore-water in the GDL. The Bruggemann
 correction of the effective mutual diffusivity reflects
k+1 the obstacle to mass transfer because of the cathode
PH = · [1 − ( PH )k−1/k ], (A.6) flooding.
k−1
According to the continuity,
   
k + 1 PH 1/k dNO2
qPH = 1 − ( PH )k−1/k . (A.7) = 0, (C.2)
k − 1 P∗ dz
dNvap,ca
Appendix B. Flow calculation = −Rw , (C.3)
dz
 
dNliq d
liq ds
The nozzle flow equation is used to calculate the = − Dc = Rw , (C.4)
mass flow rate between two volumes. For an upstream dz dz MH2 O dz
1896 C. Bao et al. / International Journal of Hydrogen Energy 31 (2006) 1879 – 1896

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