MECHANICAL ENGINEERING

CAL POLY POMONA

INTERDEPARTMENTAL CORRESPONDENCE
TO: Dr. Kevin R. Anderson
ORG: Mechanical Engineering

DATE: October 20, 2011

REF: G7/L1

FROM: Student Chuanye Liu, Me 407A-01 Wed. Fall 2011

SUBJECT: Hydrogen Fuel Cell Experiment

References:
[1] The official U.S. government source for fuel economy information website.
http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/fcv_pem.shtml
[2] Dr. Kevin R. Anderson Solar Thermal Engineering lecture notes.
[3] Dr. Henry Xues thermodynamics (ME 302) lecture notes (Spring/2010).
[4] Principles of Solar Engineering by D. Yogi Goswami, Frank Kreith, and Jan F.
Kreider; 2nd edition.
Summary:
In order to have a better understanding of how the solar energy is been collected and
translated into another form of energy, our group did the Hydrogen Fuel Cell Experiment
at a location nearby Building 17 at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona.
After carefully doing the experiment, and analyzing the data, the group found the fuel
production per Watt minute was found to be equal to 0.210W*min/mL, and the fuel
consumption per Watt minute was found to be equal to 0.063W*min/mL.
Background:
In order to function a proton exchange membrane fuel cell, a stream of hydrogen is
delivered to the anode side of the membrane. At the anode side it is catalytically split into
protons and electrons. This oxidation half-cell reaction is represented by:
The newly formed protons permeate through the polymer electrolyte membrane to the
cathode side. The electrons travel along an external load circuit to the cathode side of the
MEA, thus creating the current output of the fuel cell. Meanwhile, a stream of oxygen is

delivered to the cathode side of the MEA. At the cathode side oxygen molecules react
with the protons permeating through the polymer electrolyte membrane and the electrons
arriving through the external circuit to form water molecules. This reduction half-cell
reaction is represented by:

The whole process is showed in Figure 1[1], the overall reaction is represented by:

Figure 1. Proton exchange membrane fuel cell

Test Configuration:
The hardware were used in this lab include a few electrical wires, two proton exchange
membrane fuel cells, water, two 30 mL water container, one piece of 90 cm 2 solar panel,
an electrical motor, and a fan.
The group first carefully checked if there was any hardware was missing or been
damaged. Then the group followed the lab procedure from Dr. Anderson step by step,
and the setup is shown in Figure 2.

(a) Top view of the setup

(b) Side view of the setup

Figure 2. Fuel Cell Lab Setup
3

Test Methodology:
In this lab, the group used a solar collector to convert solar energy to electrical energy.
Then a proton exchange membrane fuel cell was used to transform the electrical energy
collected by the solar collector to chemical energy and store them in the form of
hydrogen. After gathered 30 mL of hydrogen, the group used another fuel cell to translate
the chemical energy to electrical energy again, and used this energy to power a fan.
Results/Discussion:
Fuel production per watt minute and fuel consumption per watt minute were calculated
by applying formula (Vavg.*Iavg.) / t. The results are shown in Table 1.

0.34
0.23
0.24
0.26
0.27

Volume
(mL)
5
15
22
30
N/A

Fuel Cell Temperature

(deg C)
27
27
27
28
27.25

N/A

N/A

N/A

Time, t, min

Voltage (V)

Current (A)

0
5
10
15
Average
Average
Power

1.57
1.55
1.57
1.58
1.57
0.419

Fuel
production
per Watt
minute
(W*min/mL)

0.210

(a) Fuel production per watt minute

Time (min)

Voltage (V)

Current (A)

Volume
(mL)

0
5
10
15
20
27
33
38
Average
Average Power

0.70
0.70
0.70
0.70
0.70
0.69
0.69
0.69
0.70
0.033

0.0491
0.0481
0.046
0.048
0.046
0.048
0.048
0.045
0.047
N/A

20
18
16
13
10
7
4
1
N/A
N/A

Fule
consumption per
Watt minute

0.063

Fuel Cell
Temperature
(deg C)
29
29
29
29
29
30
29
29
N/A
N/A

(W*min/mL)

(b) Fuel consumption per watt minute

Table 1. Fuel Production/Consumption per Watt Minute
Uncertainty Analysis:
The thermal losses due to heating at the electrolyzer and the fuel cell were calculated by
using formula Qloss=Qtotal Qstored. Therefore, the thermal loss at electrolyzer was
calculated by using formular:
Qloss= hconv. *(Te Tamb.) + 2*e**Te^4.
To calculate the convection coefficient hconvt., the following fomular was used (V is the
wind speed):
hconvt.=5.7+3.8*V
Since on the experiment day, the wind speed was very small, h conv is neglected. Similarly,
a thermal loss for the heating at the fuel cell was calculated as well. The asumptions and
results are shown in Table 2.
Thermal losses due to
heating at the electrolyzer

thermal loss for the heating

at the fuel cell

Assumptions:
Ta
Te
e
V
Constant

299.00
300.25
0.50
0.20

Assumptions:
Ta
Te
e
V
Constant

299.00
302.00
0.90
0.20

5.67e-8

5.67e-8

Results
Hc
Qloss

6.46
8.11

Results
Hc
Qloss

6.46
19.38

Qtotal loss

27.486

Table 2. thermal losses due to heating at the electrolyzer and the fuel cell
Summary:
By doing and analyzing this lab, the group was able to understand the basic theory of
collecting solar energy, converting solar energy into chemical energy, and also convert
this chemical energy back to electrical energy and put it into real application.

Prepared by:
Chuanyeliu Liu