Simulation and performance analysis of residential cogeneration systems based on low temperature and high temperature PEM fuel cells

In the Present study, in the first phase, "Sider30" a PEM fuel cell based residential micro-cogeneration plant is simulated in MATLAB environment. The developed model is validated using the available experimental data of the plant and the fuel cell manufacturer's data. Using the validated model, the electrical , thermal and overall first law efficiency and also the primary energy saving of the cogeneration plant is determined. In the second phase, a new simplified configuration is proposed in which the conventional low temperature PEM fuel cell stack is replaced by a high temperature one. In the proposed system, the fuel processor is simplified, the humidification unit is eliminated and the low pressure water circuit is modified. The developed high temperature stack model is validated using the available experimental data. The developed validated model is utilized in the next step in order to analyze the performance of the proposed system for different design conditions.