Modelling and Examining Potential Losses of PEM Fuel Cell Using Nafion 117 at various Altitude Operation.

Fuel cells are ultimately one of the best promising devices that convert the potential energy in the reactants into the electrical energy after steps of sequential electrochemical processes with no hazards up on the environment. Examining and analysing of the major kinds of potential losses for PEM fuel at different level of altitude is vital point especially in application such as unmanned aerial vehicle UAV where the fuel cell is operating as prime source of power. This work is an attempt to determine the impact of these losses under different operational temperature, pressure, water content level, and membrane thickness upon the output voltage and performance.
The limitation properties of Nafion117 under different level of water content λ have been tested in order to determine the limit of maximum current density that could be drawn from the fuel cell for each value of λ. It has been concluded that operating PEM fuel cell using Nafion117 above 80% of its maximum current density must be avoided in order to prevent significant drop in the output voltage.
Mass flow rate of required air reacted inside the cathode of PEMFC at high altitude has been derived in this paper in order to determine the impact of lack of oxygen at high altitude up on output power of PEMFC.