PEM Fuel Cell System : A practical approach for building, testing and controlling a self designed PEMFC stack

Abstract

Fuel cells are an effcient way to produce electricity, especially if it is combined with heat pro- duction. If designed to consume hydrogen, like PEMCF, the only byproduct is water in its purest form H2O. This would have a great impact in the endeavors for a cleaner environment in densely populated areas. The potential for this technology is widespread, seeing usage from user electronics to onsite power production for commercial buildings. We believe that this technology will be even more common in the future, and therefore we would like to create a simple, but useful, fuel cell system for educational purpose. An "easily taken apart and understood" approach will be focused for all the components and subsystems. The end product is a small PEMFC stack with a separate control system. This will function as a building platform for testing and improving