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SPECIFICATIONS
DL HYDROGEN-B
FUEL CELLS SYSTEMS TRAINER
This trainer must be designed for the study of fuel cell systems. It must teach their engineering principles and it must allow performing
a set of experiments for educational purposes. It must be safe and easy to be operated.
Furthermore, it must be very flexible and suitable for the understanding of basic principles as well as more complex technology
concepts. Basically, the trainer must have modular structure consisting in a bench top frame where it must be possible to fix the
necessary isolated modules to perform the experiments.
The trainer must include the following modules:
- a storage canister module of 225 l
- a 100W PEM fuel cell module with performance: 14V at 7.2A; consumption of H2:
1.4l/min and it includes the electronic controller; this module shall be complete with sensors (pressure, flow and temperature) for
measuring and for further acquisition;
- a measurement instruments module, containing 2 voltmeters (f.s.: 40V), 1 ammeter (f.s.: 10A), and 3 displays for pressure, flow and
temperature
- a DC/DC converter module with output 12V, 8A
- a load with one halogen lamp (12V, 20W) and one LED lamp (12V, 3x1W)
- a variable logarithmic rheostat module (1.5Ω ÷ 17Ω, 100W, Imax:8A)
- a battery module.
Hydrogen Storage Module
Module that must be designed for a safe and reliable reversible storage of pure hydrogen according to the technique of metal hydrides.
Normal capacity: 18.9 g (0.212 Nm3) of Hydrogen
Metal Hydride alloy: AB2 model
Volume of the entire system: 0.5 litres
Mass of the entire system: 2.2 kg
Maximum working pressure: 30 bar
Maximum test pressure: 300 bar
H2 maximum pressure for charging: < 30 bar (static)
Cooling temperature for the minimum charge: > 5°C
Maximum working temperature: < 65°C
The storage system in metal hydrides shall consist of:
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1 outer casing of stainless steel for cooling/heating water
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7 internal modules: stainless steel pressure vessels certified to TPED (directive 99/36/EU)
with: a filled alloy metal (hydrogen storage alloy: AB model) and an integrated sintered metal filter
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1 stop valve or quick-action valve.
PEM fuel cell and sensors module
Main module of the trainer and it shall bring together the essential elements such as the PEM fuel cell, its controller and the necessary
sensors for the study. In particolar, it shall include:
Bourdon pressure gauge: instrument used to measure the pressure of the hydrogen coming from the storage module; hydrogen shall
reach the instrument already reduced to about 0.5bar through the kit, supplied and connected to its input (H2 IN), that shall be able to
bring pressure to these values.
Pressure sensor: designed for use with aggressive pressure media found in many industrial and process applications; the stainless steel
isolation diaphragm and fully welded stainless steel pressure module shall ensure excellent media compatibility without compromising
the performance. Integral electronics shall provide a two-wire 4 to 20mA output proportional to applied pressure (0 – 1bar). The
terminals of this pressure sensor shall be available on the right side identified by Pressure Sensor OUT.
The rated pressure range shall be exceeded by 4xFS without degrading performance and the containment is 6xFS.
The supply Voltage shall be 9 to 28 Vdc and its operating temperature range shall be -4°F to 176°F (-20°C to 80°C).
Flow sensor: high-accuracy sensing element with high precision and fast response. The main specifications shall be the following:
Flow Range 0 to 3 L/min
Supply Voltage 10.8 to 26.4 Vdc
Analogue Output
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Air: 1 to 5V
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Hydrogen: V = [(1.44 – 1)/1.4] x (L/min) +1
Accuracy ±5%
Temperature Range 0 to 50°C
The terminals of this sensor shall be available on the right side identified by Flow Sensor OUT.
Precision centigrade temperature sensor:
external and fixed device in direct contact with the PEM fuel cell to monitor its temperature. The output voltage shall be linearly
proportional to the Celsius (Centigrade) temperature. This sensor thus shall have an advantage over linear temperature sensors
calibrated in °Kelvin, as the user shall not be required to subtract a large constant voltage from its output to obtain convenient
Centigrade scaling.
The device shall not require any external calibration or trimming to provide typical accuracies of ±¼°C at room temperature and ±¾°C
over a full −55°C to +150°C temperature range. The main features shall be the following:
Calibrated directly in °Celsius (Centigrade)
Linear +10mV/°C scale factor
0.5°C accuracy (at +25°C)
Rated for full −55°C to +150°C range
Operates from 4 to 30 volts
Less than 60 μA current drain
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Low self-heating, 0.08°C in still air
Nonlinearity only ±¼°C typical
Low impedance output, 0.1 Ω for 1 mA load
The terminals of this temperature sensor shall be available on the right side identified by Temp. Sensor OUT.
H2 Supply Valve, PEM Fuel Cell and Purging Valve: the fuel cell controller shall be placed inside the module and shall act as controller.
The switch SCU shall be used to eliminate the effect “short-circuit” of the stack conditioning (off position) and the T sensor shall be
ntegrated into the fuel cell controller.
The external DC Battery (supplied with the trainer) must be connected to DC Battery IN terminals (+ and -), available on the right side,
according to the polarity. The battery voltage shall be indispensable for all the components that require power supply (sensors and fuel
cell controller) and shall be interrupted acting on the on/off Battery switch.
The FC terminals (FC+ and FC-) and the LOAD terminals (LOAD+ and LOAD-) shall be also available on the module and identified
respectively by Fuel Cell OUT (+ and -) and Load (+ and -); the Fuel Cell OUT terminals shall be taken directly from those available on the
fuel cell but the Load terminals shall be taken from the fuel cell controller.
PEM fuel cell shall have the following features:
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PEM fuel cell with air cooling and electronic control including a battery of 24 elements
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Nominal power: 100W
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Peak power: 102W
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Performance: 14V at 7.2A
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Reagents: Hydrogen and air
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External temperature: from 5 to 40°C
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Maximum temperature shutdown of the cell: 65°C
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Maximum current shutdown of the cell: 12A
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Maximum hydrogen pressure before the pressure regulator: 8 – 10bar
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Maximum hydrogen pressure at cell stack (after the pressure regulator): 0.4 – 0.5bar
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Minimum purity H2 gas supply: grade 4.5 (99.995%) dry
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Humidification: self-humidifying
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Cooling: air (integrated fan)
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Fuel cell type: PEM
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Consumption at maximum power: 1.4L/min
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Power on time: 2 – 3s
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Fuel Cell efficiency: 40% at 12V.
Measuring instruments module
It must be supplied by the Battery module; it also shall have a switch to disconnect the module when not in use, leaving the
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connections intact.
This module must include six digital instruments:
- H2 pressure instrument to monitor the hydrogen pressure reaching the PEM fuel cell through the pressure transducer; as mentioned
before the input terminals +/-, placed at the left of the instrument, must be connected to Pressure Sensor OUT; the measured value
shall be simply compared to the value indicated on the Bourdon Pressure Gauge at the output of the pressure regulator. The unit of
measurement shall be mbar.
- H2 flow instrument to monitor the hydrogen flow reaching the PEM fuel cell through the flow sensor; for this instrument also, the
input terminals +/-, placed at the left of the instrument, must be connected to Flow Sensor OUT; the unit of measurement shall be
ml/min.
- Fuel Cell Temperature instrument to monitor the temperature of the outer casing of the fuel cell and also the room temperature if the
cell is not operating; the input terminals +/-, placed at the left of the instrument, must be connected to Temp. Sensor OUT;
the unit of measurement shall be °C. For the internal temperature monitoring, the system shall be supplied with a T sensor located
inside fuel cell controller.
- Voltage instruments (2 units, for Load and for Fuel Cell) to measure the voltages delivered by the fuel cell and supplied to the load
directly or through a DC/DC converter. Their input terminals +/-, placed at the right of the instruments, shall be connected to Full Cell
OUT
and Load but the user could also use them as voltmeters (with full scale of 40Vdc) to measure other variables in the laboratory; the unit
of measurement shall be V.
- Current instrument to measure the current flowing through the load connected to the fuel
cell output or to the DC/DC converter; the input terminals +/-, placed at the right of the instrument, must be connected in series to the
selected load (the full scale is 10A).
DC/DC converter module
This module shall include a DC/DC converter useful to convert power from one DC voltage source to another DC voltage.
It shall be a regulated device, taking a possibly varying input voltage, and providing a stable, regulated output voltage, up to a design
current (amperage) limit.
It shall be a step-down DC to DC converter called also ‘buck’ converter.
This module must have the following specifications:
Input voltage: 9 ÷ 36 Vdc
Output Voltage: 12 Vdc
Output Current: Min. 0 mA Max. 8.3°
Input Current: No Load: 35 mA Full Load: 4902 mA
% Efficiency: 85
Lamps load module:
This module shall include two lamps with their respective switches and terminals; the upper one shall be an halogen lamp (12V, 20W)
and the lower one shall be a LED lamp (12V, 3x1W). The reason of a red terminal for the halogen lamp shall be to respect the polarity
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for supplying also a little fan, internally connected to the lamp, and serves to cool when it is used as a load for a long
time.
Variable rheostat module
This module shall be a variable logarithmic rheostat.
Values range: from 1.5 Ω to about 17 Ω
Maximum current: 8A
Maximum power: 100W
Battery module
Lead Acid battery universal;
Voltage: 12V;
Capacity: 7.2Ah.
With this trainer it must be possible to perform the following experiments:
Performance of the PEM Fuel Cell with fixed loads, without DC/DC Converter
Performance of the PEM Fuel Cell with fixed loads, with DC/DC Converter
Recording of the Current/Voltage Characteristic curve of the PEM Fuel Cell with variable load
Calculation of the Energetic Efficiency of the PEM Fuel Cell
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