Emulation of Fuel Cell systems

Though fuel cells are getting closer to a real market introduction thanks to technical improvements and environmental pressure, they still are very expensive today. When laboratories carry out experiments to test the behavior of generators as well as their interaction with the electric grid, it is quite interesting to use simulation at first, as it is safer, faster and less expensive. Between the numerical simulation and the real test, an emulator offers a good compromise. In the case of the emulation of a PEMFC (Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell), the stack is replaced by a programmable DC-source providing the characteristics of the real stack through a Simulink model that controls this source via a dSPACE system. Through the connection of this DC-source to an inverter that is itself connected to a real time grid simulator (ARENE) this device becomes an interesting hybrid simulator. In such a way it is possible to test the behavior of the whole system including power electronics devices without disposing of an expensive fuel cell stack.