純水素利用型燃料電池に関する負荷変動追従性の評価

抄録

This paper describes the electrical response in load change concerning a fuel cell system fueled by high-purity hydrogen. The purpose of this study is that the fuel cell system is applied to make up for unstable electrical output of a photovoltaic system as a renewable energy. As an alternative method of secondary battery, the fuel cell system, which is able to continuously generate power as long as fuel is supplied, is expected to provide power with high reliability and stability.
To evaluate the load-following capability of a polymer electrolyte fuel cell (PEFC) system, an experimental equipment was constructed with a 200W PEFC stack (number of cells: 20, cell area: 200cm²) which was supplied with hydrogen from a compressed hydrogen cylinder and a metal hydride canister. We measured the transient phenomenon of current and cell voltage when the PEFC stack was inputted step-up current loads that changed in the range of 0∼300mA/cm². As a result, we have found that the PEFC system with both hydrogen supply sources is able to response at a time constant of 6.6∼11.6μsec under enough oxygen supply and a load below the PEFC rated power.