Modeling and simulation of a PEM fuel cell humidification system

Maintaining proper fuel cell membrane humidification is a key challenge in achieving optimal fuel cell performance. For automotive applications, the load and environment conditions are constantly changing. Therefore, the membrane humidity needs to be properly controlled during transients. A humidifier system using water vapor exchange membrane is modeled and analyzed in this paper. The 4-state humidifier model is integrated with a fuel cell stack. Feedback and feed-forward control algorithms are developed so that the fuel cell maintains its highest membrane water content under a wide range of operation conditions without flooding.