Reference Based Fuel Cell Stack Simulator

This paper presents a test system which uses the current and voltage relationship of a single fuel cell or small scale stack as a reference for reproducing the electrical terminals of a full stack. The voltage of the reference cell is measured and amplified by the simulator to the voltage level that would be generated by a large scale fuel cell stack. This scaled voltage can be applied to a realistic load for studying stack / load interactions, stack electro-chemical performance characteristics and cell durability. This reference simulator system provides an alternative in stack / load studies to costly and cumbersome power level fuel cell stacks while providing more realistic results than model-based stack simulators. The simulator system was tested using a single InDEC Solid Oxide Fuel Cell (SOFC) scaled to simulate a 21 cell stack. Data from these tests are included and show good steady-state and dynamic accuracy.