Master thesis presentation Janitha Bandara & Umashankar Karthikeyan, MPSES

Abstract:
Fuel cells are known for their high energy density and ability to produce clean and sustainable energy. Unlike traditional combustion processes, fuel cells harness energy while producing minimal pollutants and greenhouse gases. When it comes to the industrial scale, one of the drawbacks is managing the exhaust water. One primary application is the capture and reuse of exhaust water for cooling purposes within the fuel cell system. The exhaust water can be used to remove the waste heat or cool the fuel cell system by reducing the need for external cooling systems.This enhances the overall energy efficiency of the fuel cell.
This study aims to analyze the quality of exhaust water samples from the Volvo Penta fuel cell setup, conduct a literature survey on various applications that can be used for exhaust water, and develop 1D and 3D models for two of the identified applications. The first application is to vaporize the water using a chimney/muffler, which is most suitable for mobile applications such as trucks and marine applications. Chimney size is optimized through a Matlab Simulink model. The other application is proposed to use water as a cooling agent for a radiator setup, which can be used for both stationary and mobile applications. A computational fluid dynamics analysis is done to simulate and optimize the setup using Creo-ANSYS by considering water storage, spraying patterns, and system dynamics. A comparison is conducted between radiator systems with and without water sprayers. The water sprayers increased the total efficiency of the system by 4.8%. This report clarifies how to improve fuel cell setups, which can be considered a feasible alternative to substitute conventional mobility methods.

Examiner: Björn Wickman
Supervisor: Fredrick Tholandar
Opponents: Ashwin Balaji & Joseph Lianminthang Naulak